The specifics of homicide-suicide in France

Homicide and suicide are two causes of violent death. This study focuses on situations in which these two types of violent death occur at the same time, known as homicide-suicide.

The aim of this study is to review the circumstances surrounding homicide-suicides as well as the features of the victims and perpetrators in France at a recent period. The article characterizes homicide-suicides by comparing them with simple homicides in order to determine whether they exhibit distinctive characteristics and significant links.

The data analyzed are based on detailed police operational information collected about 1622 homicides that occurred in France in 2019 and 2020. After presenting the characteristics of all homicide-suicides, this article specifically compares those that take place within the family, whether they result in the suicide of the perpetrator or not, using bivariate tests (chi-square). The tests are based on a distinction between domestic homicide-suicides within a couple and between other family members.

Analysis shows that 7 % of them were followed by the suicide of the perpetrator (203 cases). Almost all of them take place within family (91 %), and most often within the couple (60 %). Apart from couple configurations, familial homicide-suicides target the children (21 %) or parents (5 %) of the perpetrators. The perpetrators are mainly men, while most of the victims are women. Analysis revealed significant links between certain variables and suicide (or attempted suicide by the alleged perpetrator) in the context of couple homicide: the modus operandi, the spatio-temporal setting, the gender and average age of the victim and history of domestic violence suffered by the victim, as well as all the variables relating to the alleged perpetrator (age, gender, police and psychiatric history, alcohol consumption, etc.). Among other family members, these variables do not have a significant influence on whether the perpetrator commits suicide following the homicide. Perpetrators of domestic homicide-suicides are less likely to be under the influence of alcohol (8 %), to be known to the police (19 %), and to have a psychiatric history (11 %) than those who do not commit suicide following the homicide (respectively 41 %, 54 %, 22 %). There is also less record of domestic violence when the perpetrator commits suicide (20 %) than when they do not (48 %).

Homicide-suicides are to some extent similar to simple couple homicides. Women are therefore overrepresented among domestic homicide victims; likewise, they are also overrepresented among the victims of homicide-suicides, which are mostly committed in family circumstances. The most significant risk factors are the presence of firearms in the household and history of domestic violence within the couple.

The results suggest two areas for action: the screening (interpersonal conflicts, alcohol, depression, domestic violence, presence of a firearm) and the prevention of intra-family homicides. Prevention should focus on screening specific elements: the presence of a firearm, domestic violence, interpersonal conflicts, depression, and alcohol. Prevention could also take place with elderly people at the end of their lives.