![handle is hein.journals/asjrcrm2 and id is 1 raw text is: Asian Criminology (2007) 2:1-18
DOI 10.1007/s11417-007-9031-2
Hostility in Homicide-Suicide Events: A Typological
Analysis with Data from a Chinese Society,
Hong Kong, 1989-2003
Ching Yee Aris Chan
Received: 22 September 2006 /Accepted: 30 April 2007 /
Published online: 10 July 2007
© Springer Science + Business Media B.V. 2007
Abstract As many as one-quarter of uroxicides [Johnson and Hotton (2003) Homicide
Studies 7:58-84] and filicides [Wilczynski (1997) Child Homicide, London: Greenwich
Medical Media] end in the suicide of the offender. As in homicide- or suicide-only events,
homicide-suicide (HS) can arise from a variety of circumstances, ranging from relationship
breakdown, to financial and health problems. However, to date our understanding of this
disheartening phenomenon remains limited. As an HS event comprises both a homicidal
and a suicidal component, the question of whether HS is primarily an extended suicide
dominated by weariness or an alternate form of homicide overwhelmed by anger is a
contentious topic. This article argues that there are at least two types of HS, with one type
being dominated by hostility against the victim, whilst in the other hostility is not apparent.
Based on HS events that occurred between 1989 and 2003 in Hong Kong, significant
differences are found between these two types of HS in terms of offender and victim
characteristics, antecedent, offender-victim relationships, situational factors and modes of
killing. This is the first HS typological classification built on the hostility debate that has
been validated with empirical data.
Keywords Homicide-suicide - Hong Kong - China - Hostility . Homicide - Suicide
Introduction
Whether homicide followed by suicide (also referred to as homicide-suicide, HS) is
primarily a homicidal or a suicidal act has been a subject of debate. At the core of this
debate the existence of hostility occupies a very special position. To summarize briefly, if
The tendency toward homicide and the tendency toward suicide are in antagonism ... within which the latter
tends to substitute itself for the former... (Morselli 1897, as cited in Unnithan et al. 1994, p 18
C. Y. A. Chan (E)
Centre for Criminology, The University of Hong Kong, Flat C, 20/F, Block 9, Tung Chung Cresent,
Tung Chung, Lantau Island, Hong Kong
e-mail: arischan2000@yahoo.com.hk
' Springer](ViewImageLocal?handle=hein.journals/asjrcrm2&div=1&collection=&method=preview&ext=.png&size=3)
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