A study of 866 family homicides in Italy: 1996-2004

Abstract

The authors analyse the type of family homicides committed in Italy by examining 886 murder cases that took place in the period between 1 January 1996 and 31 December 2004. Data were gathered by carrying out a meticulous review of the daily press, both on-line and paper versions. Every case found was cross-checked individually against all other information available on the web, thus enhancing the reliability of the information collected. Although the homicides examined do not represent the total number of cases occurring, the number of cases is nonetheless high. This factor, together with the long time-span reviewed, as well as the numerous variables taken into account by our study, enabled us to form a detailed picture of nearly a decade of family homicides in Italy. Data were studied via monovariate, bivariate and trivariate analyses using the statistics software SPSS 16.0.