ABSTRACT
For many years I have been endeavoring to disentangle the complicated ingredients that contribute to the relatively uncommon crime of homicide. Although I have collected startling and at times shocking data in great quantities, there appeared to be no precise, underlying formula. Years ago I suggested the possibility of an intrapsychic patterning to which, naively, I gave the name blueprint for murder. Although this phrase was too sensational perhaps, it may be useful here. What I used to term a "blueprint" is quite common in people who do not commit discernible attacks on life processes. It also seems to be present in more people who commit crime than is readily recognized. What goes on in the inner worlds of conscious, and especially, unconscious, fantasy in these people requires investigation. Is homicide only one of the possible end points? Attempted suicide is common in the premurderous histories of persons incarcerated for homicide. Also, a large number of murderers attempt to or actually commit suicide after committing homicide. During the course of serious and persistent at16tempts to give psychotherapy to convicted murderers in one of Great Britain's prisons, I observed that when the responsibility for the crime begins to be recognized and owned, the murderer usually develops hypochondriacal complaints accompanied by an increased incidence of psychosomatic illness ranging from colds to rectal bleeding or even, in one case, a radiologically confirmed peptic ulcer. Another man developed leukemia and died, though cause and effect cannot be proved.
