Parricide: a forensic approach

Parricide is the act of murdering one's father (patricide), mother (matricide) or other close relative, but usually not children (infanticide). It is a rare event and little information is available on this topic. This study aims to increase knowledge about this phenomenon, promoting the timely detection of problematic cases and avoiding fatalities. A retrospective study based on the autopsy reports of parricide victims performed by the North Services of the National Institute of Legal Medicine and Forensic Sciences of Portugal between 2003 and 2011, as well as on the judicial outcome of each case, was performed. Seven cases of parricide were found, corresponding to 1.7% of all the homicides undergoing forensic evaluated. Victims and perpetrators were typically males. The assaults occurred all at home, in the presence of witnesses, and the perpetrator remained at the scene after the crime. The main alleged reasons were untreated psychiatric illness and financial conflicts in the cases of adult parricide, and attempts to protect the mother from intimate partner violence in younger ones. The judicial outcomes ranged from acquittal for nonimputability to conviction for murder, manslaughter or involuntary manslaughter. This study was carried out on a forensic sample and it is useful to implement strategies to prevent parricide.