The article I"m writing about is social psychology and why some kids kill their parents. The article states that there are 3 types of people that murder their parents. The first one is the severely abused child who is pushed beyond this or her limits. Second is the severely mentally ill child and the third is the dangerously anti-social child.
The articlE states that the abused child is the most common type of offender. Paul Mones, an Los Angeles attorney who specializes in defending these offenders says that 90% have been abused in one form or another. And that the children killed their parents as a act of desperation; basically it was a way out of a no win situation.
The second child is the mentally ill child. Most of these children have lost touch with reality and have a record of previous treatments that failed.
The third child is the anti-social child who kills without remorse. Studies have shown that these children often come from loving, caring homes. These children often kill for some selfish, Instrumental reason.
The scientific research of the article conducted interviews with 75 children charged with murder. 7 were youth who killed their parents. 6 were male all were white and ranged in ages from 12 to 17. 6 out of the 7 were abused; the 7th one was diagnosed as having a paranoid disorder. The studies findings found that the children were not violent. The 6 children who were abused were found to be fairly passive until the homicide. 5 even thought of themselves as being in control. Most were abused either verbally or psychically or both. Their parents were more then likely substance abusers. They were either drinkers or drug users or both, and were also isolated mostly due to the problems in the home.
The sad part Of the article was that most of the children had tried to get help before murdering their families and they killed only when they felt that nobody could help them, and that they had no other choice.