Date of Award

12-2025

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Arts in Criminal Justice

Department

Criminal Justice

First Reader/Committee Chair

Marteache Solans, Nerea

Abstract

Familicide is generally defined as the killing of multiple family members by a relative. However, there is no single, universally accepted definition of familicide, and different studies use varying definitions with different inclusion criteria. Sometimes, very restrictive definitions are used that exclude many similar cases (e.g., father kills spouse and children). Conversely, broader definitions sometimes overlap with other phenomena, such as mass murder. Only a few studies have examined this phenomenon, primarily from an exploratory standpoint.

Case data was collected from the Gun Violence Archive, an online database that records shooting incidents in the United States, for familicidal events that occurred between 2019 and 2021. Descriptive statistics and chi-square tests were used to analyze how familicide characteristics vary depending on its definition by comparing three different definitions: the definition of familicide as a subtype of mass murder, the traditional definition of familicide, and a newly proposed definition that reflects modern family structures. Additionally, conjunctive analysis of case configurations was applied to explore the contextual characteristics of familicide using the proposed definition.

Results indicate that all three definitions are similar in spatial and temporal features but differ in victim profiles. Significant differences were observed in the number of victims and the involvement of children, significant others, and extended family. Additionally, conjunctive analysis showed that the most common familicide profile involved two to three victims, included extended family members, and did not involve child victims. These findings suggest that extended family members outside the core family are frequently victims in familicidal cases but are often not included in current research. Excluding this group limits our understanding of familicide and hampers prevention efforts. Future research should consider extended family and limit the number of victims required to categorize an event as a familicide.

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