title: Comparing Homicide-Suicides in the United States and Sweden.
abstract: Research on homicides followed by suicides has largely relied on very localized samples and relatively short time spans of data. As a result, little is known about the extent to which patterns within cases of homicide-suicides are geographically specific. The current study seeks to help fill this gap by comparing twenty years of homicide-suicide data for Sweden and a large U.S. county. Although some of the underlying patterns in the two countries are similar (e.g., decreasing rates), a number of important differences emerge, particularly with respect to incidence, weapons used, perpetrator age, and relationship of the perpetrator to the victim.
authors.affiliation: Cleveland State University, Sociology & Criminology, Cleveland, OH.
authors.forename: Wendy C
authors.initials: WC
authors.lastname: Regoeczi
authors.affiliation: National Council for Crime Prevention, Stockholm, Sweden.
authors.forename: Sven
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Granath
authors.affiliation: University of Akron, Akron, OH.
authors.forename: Rania
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Issa
authors.affiliation: Cuyahoga County Medical Examiner's Office, Cleveland, OH.
authors.forename: Thomas
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Gilson
authors.affiliation: National Board of Forensic Medicine, Karolinska Institute & Stockholm University, Stockholm, Sweden.
authors.forename: Joakim
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Sturup
mesh_terms: D004777:Environment; D006708:Homicide; D006801:Humans; D013405:Suicide; D013548:Sweden; D014481:United States; D054041:Weapons
keywords: cross-national; forensic science; homicide; murder; suicide; toxicology