Parricide: Children Who Kill Their Parents

This thesis is a scholarly investigation of adolescents who kill their parents. The research centers on who is the offender, why he or she has used parricide as a solution to an unresolvable problem, and how the criminal is treated by the justice system. Following a review of the available literature, both the issues and controversies surrounding the disposition of these juveniles are examined in detail. Based on the results of the literature review three conclusions were reached. First, adolescents who commit parricide have been victims of severely abusive home situations. The murder event is the attempt by the parricide to save himself or herself from further victimization at the hands of their abuser. Secondly, the treatment of these adolescents by the criminal justice system varies greatly depending on the willingness of the court to accept the violent family situation of the parricide as a mitigating circumstance. Thirdly, there is a visible absence of research conducted by criminal justice scholars in the area of parricide. This violent crime is a by- product of the escalating phenomenon of family violence. Without the availability of adequate research, decision makers are unable to formulate policies which offer preventive measures which can assist juveniles at risk as well as those who have committed parricide as a solution to a life made unbearable by the subculture of violence.