Family Survivors Of Homicide Victims: Theoretical Perspectives And An Exploratory Study
INTRODUCTION
The burgeoning literature on the psychological impact of crime has neglected a group of profoundly traumatized victims: surviving family members of criminal homicide victims (henceforth referred to as survivors). Criminal homicide is defined as "the willful (nonnegligent) killing of one human being by another" (FBI Uniform Crime Reports, 1985, p. 7) and includes the crimes of murder and nonnegligent manslaughter. Few would dispute the seriousness of homicide. A national survey asking respondents to rate the severity of 204 illegal acts found the six rated as most serious involved homicide (Rand et al., 1983). Yet, the indirect victims, those who have lost a loved one to homicide, are nearly invisible in the existing literature. We have no information concerning the number of survivors, and have only scant information about the impact of homicide on their psychological adjustment. Experts have recently begun to acknowledge that homicide produces indirect victims who suffeice...
Additional Resource: Family Survivors of Homicide Victims: Theoretical Perspectives and an Exploratory Study