Chapter 9

Chapter 9.

THE MURDER BOOK

Children Who Kill

Prepared by Dr. J.L. Flexon

DEFINITIONS

• Juvenile is often interpreted to refer to children younger than 18 years; however, this term

is not used uniformly across all jurisdictions.

• The terms youth, juvenile, and children are used to refer to people younger than 18

years.

• Teen, teenager, or adolescent is used to refer to children who are under 18 years but at

least 13 years of age.

• Finally, those children under age 13 are called preteens or preadolescents.

HISTORY

• Cases of children killing are not new: Example, in 1874, 14-year-old Jesse Pomeroy was

found guilty for mutilating and killing a 10-year-old girl and a 4-year-old boy in separate

incidents.

• Girl murderers, although less frequent, are also not new: Example. Eleven-year-old Mary

Flora Bell was found guilty of the 1968 strangulation murders of 3-year-old Brian Howe

and 4-year-old Martin Brown in New Castle, England.

 U.S. Common Law does not consider children younger than 7 years capable of mens rea:

they are not believed to be capable of intending to commit a criminal act.

OFFICIAL DATA ON HOMICIDE BY CHILDREN

• Children who kill make up a relatively small percentage of those who kill. As Table 9.1

shows, less than 10%, or 2,821, of those arrested for murder and nonnegligent

manslaughter for the years 2002 to 2004 were younger than 18 years.

• As age increases, the number of arrests for homicide also increases.

TRENDS: ARE CHILDREN KILLING MORE OFTEN?

• Rates for those < 14 years are barely perceptible and hover very close to a rate of zero.

• BJS reports that among preadolescents (under age 14), homicide commission began

increasing in the late 1980s through the early 1990s peaking in 1994 at a rate of 0.4 per

100,000 for preadolescents; it has decreased to the lowest levels ever. Among those

ages 14 to 17, there was a very rapid increase after 1985 when the rate was 10.5 per

100,000.The rate continued to increase to a peak rate of 31.3 per 100,000 in 1993. Since

1993, the homicide offending rate among 14- to 17-year-olds has plummeted to the lowest

levels ever recorded. In 2002, the rate was 9.0 per 100,000.

SEX AND JUVENILE HOMICIDE OFFENDERS

• Males far outnumber females as juvenile homicide offenders.

• A 1999 SHR data (1980-1997) indicated that 93% of known juvenile homicide

offenders were male.

• At every age, boys are more likely to be arrested for murder and nonnegligent

manslaughter than girls.

• As age increases, the percentage of males arrested also increases. However, the

data for each year show this is not a stable relationship.

• The number of female juvenile homicide offenders has remained fairly constant over the

past 20 years with 130 girls committing homicide each year between 1980-1997.

• The numbers of juvenile male homicide offenders during this same period varied greatly

with the number decreasing between 1980 and 1984 and then increasing greatly to over

2,500 in 1993 and 1994 before decreasing to approximately 1,500 male juvenile homicide

offenders in 1997.

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RACE AND JUVENILE HOMICIDE OFFENDERS

• The 1999 SHR study (previous slide) also described race and juvenile homicidal behavior.

• 56 of every million juveniles in the United States were homicide offenders.

• The incidence varies by race with > half (56%) of known juvenile homicide offenders (1980 1997) were African American.

• The differences are striking: Thirty of every million white juveniles; 34 of every million Native American juveniles, and 44 of every million Asian juveniles committed homicide as compared to 194 of every million African American juveniles.

• African American juvenile offenders used guns in 72% of their offenses

• Asians used firearms in 67% of their offenses

• whites used guns in 59% of their offenses

• 48% of Native American juvenile offenders used guns.

• Youths were most likely to kill individuals of their own race:

• 90% of whites killing whites

• 76% of African Americans killing African Americans

• 58% of Asians killing Asians

• 48% of Native Americans killing other Native American youth.

• As a percentage of all their victims, white and Native American youth killed their family members (16% and 17%, respectively) more frequently than did African American (7%) and Asian (7%) youth (Snyder & Sickmund, 1999).

CHILDREN IN OTHER COUNTRIES

• The numbers and percentages of youth arrested and who commit homicide in the United States is much higher than the numbers of children who kill in other Westernized countries.

• In Australia in 2003–2004, 15% of homicide offenders were age 19 or younger; During the same years, in the United States, 22% of those arrested for homicide were under 20 years old (FBI,2004,2005; Mouzos,2005).

• *The problem of juvenile homicide is not shared equally across the United States.

• No juvenile homicides were reported in 88% of the more than 3,000 counties that reported crimes to the FBI in 1997.

• Only one juvenile homicide offender was known to have committed a homicide in 6% of the reporting counties.

• Over a quarter (26%) of juvenile homicide offenders in 1997 were located in the following eight cities, which together make up only 12% of the U.S. population: Baltimore, Chicago, Dallas, Detroit, Houston, Los Angeles, New York, and Philadelphia (Snyder & Sickmund, 1999).

 Large urban populations with all the problems associated with such cities experienced much higher juvenile homicide rates than less densely populated places.

VICTIM/OFFENDER RELATIONSHIP: WHO DO C...

• Male and female juvenile homicide most often killed acquaintances.

• 54% of young male offenders and 46% of females killed their acquaintances

• Boys ,were more likely than girls to kill strangers (34% of male victims were

strangers and 15% of female victims were strangers).

• Family members made up 9% of victims killed by males and 39% killed by females

• Differences are seen in victim type and weapon use: young girls are far more likely

than young boys to kill their own infants.

• 18% of female juvenile homicide offenders killed victims under the age of 1

year. Male juvenile homicide offenders was also approximately 1%, although

Snyder and Sickmund (1999) note that because there are so many more male

juvenile homicide offenders, the annual number of infants killed by males and

females was nearly equal each year between 1980 and 1997, with each sex

killing approximately 25 infants each year.

PARRICIDE

• Parricide technically refers to the killing of a close relative, the term has come to mean the killing of one’s parent.

• The killing of one’s father is called a patricide

• The killing of one’s mother is called a matricide.

• Parricide is most often committed by an adult daughter or son. However, a small number of parricides are committed by offenders who are younger than 18 years.

• Commonly, the parricide offender is a white upper-middle or middle-class male who does not have a juvenile record.

• More typical of other juvenile homicide offenders, the typical parricide offender is 16 to 18 years old (Hegadorn,1999).

 Heide notes that her case studies of adolescent parricide offenders have found many of the offenders to be good students who were believed to be close to their family while living a secret life of abuse (Heide, 1992).

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YOUTH GANG MURDERS

• Much of youth homicide revolves around gang activity.

• A comparison of gang and nongang homicide in Los Angeles showed that gang homicides were more likely than nonganghomicides to occur in the streets, involve autos, guns, and unidentified assailants.

• Injuries to those other than the homicide victim and fear of retaliation were also more common in gang homicides than in nongang homicide.

• Offenders and victims in gang homicide were more likely to be male and Hispanic than those involved in nongang homicide.

• On average, suspects in gang homicide were younger than those involved in nongang homicide.

• *The average age of Los Angeles gang homicide suspects was 19.4 years of age so many but not all of the killings described by this study would involve juveniles.

• The connection among gangs, drug trafficking, and murder has been used to explain the decreases in U.S. murder rates that occurred in the 1990s as attributed to changes in the crack cocaine market and the reduction of gang wars over territory. Gang related violence persists as an issue: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SIsd6zja68A

• Also, the “pharmacological”effects of drugs may contribute to violent behavior committed by the offender.

• Drug users may also commit crimes so they can afford to buy illicit drugs, which are often expensive because of their illegality.

• Violence is commonly used by those in the illegal drug business to secure and maintain territory for drug sales or as a way of deterring those in the business from violating business norms.

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WEAPON USE AND CO-OFFENDERS: HOW DO

CH...

• Weapons:

• Male juvenile killers are more likely to kill with firearms (nearly 75%) than are female juvenile offenders (41%).

• Boys used knives in 14% of the homicides whereas girls who used knives in 32% of homicides.

• Boys used other methods in 14% of their murders compared to girls who 27% if the time used other methods such as drowning, strangling, or beating their

• According to the data from 1980 1997, the number of juvenile offenders who had a co offender increased with the offender’s age.

• About 50% of juvenile homicide offenders age 14 17 killed with a co offender.

• Only 14% of children under 10 years killing with another.

• Approximately a quarter of 10 year olds (28%) and exactly a quarter of 11 year olds killed with a co defendant. Almost a third (32%) of 12 year olds and 42% of 13 year olds had co offenders.

• Older juveniles were more likely than younger juveniles to kill with adults. Younger children who had co offenders were more likely to kill with other youngsters (Snyder & Sickmund, 1999).

• Heide (2003) has also reported that girls are more likely than boys to employ accomplices to kill the girl’s family members (with the exception of their own infants)

MOTIVE: WHY DO CHILDREN KILL?

• Many homicidal children have been exposed to violent and abusive environments and often the children themselves have displayed aggression in the past.

• In a review of the literature in 2003, Kathleen Heide noted that studies indicate it may be important to differentiate between adolescent and preadolescent homicide offenders when attempting to determine why young people kill.

• Children under the age of 9 who kill may not understand the reality of death and fail to realize the irreversibility of their actions

• Preadolescent killers tend to kill on impulse, whereas adolescent killers are apt to be influenced by their involvement in gangs or in response to particular situations, such as in confrontational homicide situations

• Abuse is not uncommon in the backgrounds of adolescent and preadolescent homicide offenders

• Many young homicide offenders have records, as do many of their parents

• Gang affiliation, alcohol abuse, and educational problems are also common among these offenders

• Still others have noted that violence may be associated with early factors in children’s development such as what one’s mother ingested while pregnant, nutritional deficiencies, ineffective discipline, and even lack of consistency by caregivers (crimelibrary.com).

MOTIVE (CONT.)

• Katherine Newman’s (2004) book about school shootings, uses a sociological perspective (culture and social structure of schools) to examine school shootings noting that media violence, gun culture, a culture of violence, family problems, peer relations, mental illness, bullying, demographic change, and copycatting have all been blamed for school shootings.

• She contends that all of these explanations hold some water –but one reason alone does not account for murderous rampages by children. She proposes five causes that are necessary for such a killing to happen, although she notes that these are not sufficient causes:

• 1. The young shooters’ self-perceptions are that they are marginal.

• 2. The shooters are experiencing psychosocial problems that make their marginality more extreme than it is in reality.

• 3. A cultural script of masculinity in our society suggests that shooting people will gain them the respect they desire.

• 4. The organization of public schools in the United States makes it difficult to recognize warning signs given off by the young killers. The signs are missed by teachers and administrators, and if recognized by peers, the children do not report to the administrators.

• 5. The easy availability of guns in U.S. society.

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CRIMINAL JUSTICE PROCESSING: WHAT HAPP...

• The 1st juvenile court was established in Illinois (1899) under the belief that did not possess the mental capacity that would make mens rea possible and Labeling children could cause more harm than good: intervention in their lives and help set them on a better path.

• Juvenile Offender Act of 1978 (also known as the “Willie Bosket Law”) allowed juveniles as young as 13 years old to be tried in adult courts (New York)

• In the 1980s and 1990s, legislatures began enacting laws that allowed juveniles to be treated as adults following New York’s lead, and by 1999, juveniles could be tried as adults in all 50 states.

• Juvenile Court Waivers: Previously left to a judge, between 1992 1997, 44 states added or amended their transfer provisions, making transfer to adult court more likely.

• Youth can be waived to adult court in several ways (varies by jurisdiction): judges, legislative mandate given characteristics of the offender and crime, prosecutorial discretion.

• In most cases, one or all three of the following criteria are required: the current crime for which the child is being charged must be serious (e.g., murder or manslaughter), he or she must be of a particular minimum age, and he or she must have a previous record of serious offending.

• Due Process: In all states, the juvenile court is required to hold a hearing in which the prosecution and defense may present evidence in support or in opposition to the waiver. Usually, for a juvenile to be waived there must be a preponderance of evidence in support of bounding the youth to adult court. Usually the Juvenile Court must consider not only the best interest of the public but what would be best for the youth, although the exact balance between the public and the youth’s interest varies by state

LINKS

• CrimeTime: Inside the Mind of Killer Teens:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R70TMYZPVsM

• HBO Documentary: Child of Rage http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g2-Re_Fl_L4

• Gangs of Chicago (Documentary; not all about youth –but adolescents are intimately

connected to the gang issue): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ttgj-Twf2Bo