Who kills whom in Portugal?
To clarify the relationship between people who have committed homicide and been convicted (murderers) and homicide victims, and between murderers and suicide victims, their profiles were compared in Portugal from 1970 to 1987. Correlations were found between the age group, marital status and occupation of murderers and homicide victims. Murderers and suicide victims were only correlated by occupation. Since 1983, there has been a trend towards an increasing prevalence of murderers among younger people and single people, and of homicide victims among older people. The correlation between murderers and suicide victims can be explained by alcoholism, and murderers tend to kill their relatives and peers as a result of conflict situations. The emerging trend towards young people murdering old and defenceless people points towards a colder and financially motivated killer, perhaps increasingly among young drug addicts.
de Castro
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EF
Miguel Bombarda Hospital, Lisbon, Portugal.
Pimenta
F
F
Martins
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I
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005190:Family / Q000523:psychology; D005260:Female; D006708:Homicide / Q000523:psychology / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D008297:Male; D008393:Marriage; D008875:Middle Aged; D011174:Portugal / Q000453:epidemiology; D012737:Sex Factors; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D013405:Suicide / Q000523:psychology / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*