Unit.B.6.2.
Homicide (single/serial/mass)
Australia |
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New Zealand
"Due to the rare and extreme nature of mass killings,
it is argued that they should be managed as human disasters
by the professionals involved and that stress debriefing
should be available for all potential primary, secondary
and tertiary victims" (Brinded & Taylor, 1996,
p.316).
"Multiple
killings are rare, but involve intense reactions in
the general public, emergency personal and health
professionals" (Brinded & Taylor, 1996, p.316).
"Multiple
and other forms of mass killing are sufficiently dramatic
and rare enough to excite great interest from clinicians,
criminologists and behavioural scientists for whom
the media and public often expect ready answers and
solutions" (Holmes & DeBurger, 1988; cited
in Brinded & Taylor, 1996, p.316).
"Multiple
killings galvanize the police into a frenzy of activity
as they seek to contain suspects, ensure that victims
get medical attention, secure the crime scenes, call
forensic scientists, take statements from witnesses,
preserve incriminating evidence, keep bystanders and
the press at bay, and prepare cases for prosecution"
(Brinded & Taylor, 1996, p.316).
"Multiple
victim killers present a number of unique challenges
to those involved with their psychiatric evaluation.
These offenders tend to provoke unusually strong emotions
in the wider community, coupled with demands for retribution.
Psychiatric explanations of the behaviours may seem
inadequate at least in the eyes of the public"
(Brinded & Taylor, 1996, p. 319).
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Canada |
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International |
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New Zealand |
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"Due to
the rare and extreme nature of mass killings, it is argued
that they should be managed as human disasters by the professionals
involved and that stress debriefing should be available
for all potential primary, secondary and tertiary victims"
(Brinded & Taylor, 1996, p.316).
"Multiple
killings are rare, but involve intense reactions in the
general public, emergency personal and health professionals"
(Brinded & Taylor, 1996, p.316).
"Multiple
and other forms of mass killing are sufficiently dramatic
and rare enough to excite great interest from clinicians,
criminologists and behavioural scientists for whom the media
and public often expect ready answers and solutions"
(Holmes & DeBurger, 1988; cited in Brinded & Taylor,
1996, p.316).
"Multiple
killings galvanize the police into a frenzy of activity
as they seek to contain suspects, ensure that victims get
medical attention, secure the crime scenes, call forensic
scientists, take statements from witnesses, preserve incriminating
evidence, keep bystanders and the press at bay, and prepare
cases for prosecution" (Brinded & Taylor, 1996,
p.316).
"Multiple
victim killers present a number of unique challenges to
those involved with their psychiatric evaluation. These
offenders tend to provoke unusually strong emotions in the
wider community, coupled with demands for retribution. Psychiatric
explanations of the behaviours may seem inadequate at least
in the eyes of the public" (Brinded & Taylor, 1996,
p. 319).
Scotland |
focus
points
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"Dunblane,
Scotland Massacre, March 13, 1996 - A lone gunman Thomas
Hamilton, murdered 16 children (5 and 6 year olds) in a
Scottish primary school. In a brief rampage, Hamilton, a
resentful loner and suspected pedophile, slaughtered 16
children, and their teacher, and injured 12 other children
and two teachers. He then killed himself" (Dolan, 1996,
p. 20).
"This article
explains how the nursing staff at Stirling Royal Infirmary
A&E Department, located five miles from the nearby town
of Dunblane, Scotland, dealt with the tragedy on that Wednesday
morning, March 13, 1996 , and the incident's effects on
their lives (Dolan, 1996, p. 20).
"Dunblane,
Scotland Massacre, March 13, 1996 - "The shooting of
a teacher and all but one of a class P1 was a terrible tragedy,
but one that is almost unique in this country" (Wright,
1996, p. 18).
"The deaths
of so many children in such a brutal killing has never occurred
before in the UK and is rare anywhere else, even in the
USA where the previous worst case took place in Stockton,
California in 1989 when 6 children were shot at a MacDonalds"
(Wright, 1996, p. 18).
"For nursing
staff there is no training, no previous experience that
could prepare them for a unique situation. No one could
ever have expected that one day they would walk into the
type of scene at Dunblane Primary School gymnasium"
(Wright, 1996, p. 18). (Wright, 1996, p. 18).
"The aftermath
of such an incident is likely to resonate in their lives
for some time to come, particularly as Dunblane and the
surrounding area is such a small, tight-knit community"
(Wright, 1996, p. 18).
United Kingdom |
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points
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"The
"political" serial or mass killers par excellence
were the Nazi doctors who engaged in ethnic cleansing
and the Japanese doctors who engaged in biological warfare,37-40
although Dr Jean-Paul Marat, one of the most bloodthirsty
intellectuals behind the French revolution, was a trail
blazer in political serial killing "by proxy."
Marat wrote: "In order to ensure public tranquillity,
200 000 heads must be cut off" (Kinnell, 2000,
p. 1594).
"The previous BMA chairman, among others, is on
record as saying that Harold Shipman is unique, yet
medicine has arguably thrown up more serial killers
than all the other professions put together, with nursing
a close second.1-4 Dentistry too has had its notorious
characters, yet among veterinarians homicide seems to
be almost unknown " (Kinnell, 2000, p. 1594).
"Jack the Ripper," the perpetrator of five
unsolved murders in 1888 in London, is thought to have
been a member of the medical profession, although there
is no conclusive evidence. Sir William Gull, "physician
in ordinary" to Queen Victoria, and Dr Thomas Barnardo
were prime suspects, and there were advocates for Montague
John Druitt, a barrister (he was from a respected medical
family and may have passed himself off as a doctor);
a Dr Stanley (he may have been fictitious); the Polish
Dr George Chapman (real name Severin Klosowski); and
the Russian Dr Alexander Pedachenko.5-7 Nor has conclusive
evidence been found for Gaylord Sundheim (a psychotic
who had studied medicine) being the "mad butcher"
of Cleveland, Ohio, in the 1930s.8 " (Kinnell,
2000, p. 1594).
"Dr Thomas Neill Cream, the London "Prostitute
Poisoner," was the first male serial killer to
be hanged in Britain (1892).27 He also killed three
women in America. Dr Michael Swango ("Dr Poison"),
one of America's most prolific serial killers, also
killed several people in Africa in the 1990s, yet the
medical establishment seemed unable to believe a doctor
could be such a monster.28 He was sentenced to life
imprisonment last September. As with Swango, Dr Marcel
Petiot, France's worst ever serial killer, was another
doctor who began as a petty criminal.29 He murdered
up to 100 people during the second world war for their
possessions under the pretence that he would help them
escape " (Kinnell, 2000, p. 1594).
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United States |
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focus points here
Focus Points
Reference
Brinded, P.M.
& Taylor, A.J. (1996). A mass killing in New Zealand.
Australian and New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry, 29
(2), 316-320.
Dolan, B. (1996).
Bad days and sad days….the shooting at Dunblane. Nursing
Standard, 11, 13-15, 20-21.
Kinnell, H. G.
(2000). Serial homicide by doctors: Shipman in perspective
British Medical Journal; 321(7276), 1594-1597. Retrieved
July 22, 2002, from ProQuest database
Schramm, C.A.
(1991). Forensic medicine: What the perioperative nurse
needs to know? AORN American Operating Nurses Journal,
53 (3), 669-692.
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B - Forensic Psychiatry > Section B.6.0. Forensic Concepts >
Unit.B.6.2. Homicide (single/serial/mass)
