ABSTRACT
In Philadelphia, Marvin Wolfgang found that the suicide occurred soon after the murder in most cases, and the victim was more likely to be a relative or lover than in other murders. The suicidal murderers were more likely to be male and more often brutal in their killing, perhaps because of greater frustration and anger. Some murderers kill themselves immediately after their crime. The suicidal murderers were more often white and older, and their victims were younger. Wolfgang found that husbands who murdered wives were more likely to commit suicide than wives who killed husbands. He found that only 9 percent of the wives had played a role in provoking their husbands into killing them versus 60 percent of the husbands. However, these murderers were less likely to have prior arrest records and so seem to be more law-abiding and conforming than other murderers.
