ABSTRACT
Steven Stack, who is the most published sociologist on suicide, has presented the best review on the research on homicide-suicide. The genius of Stack is that he not only presents the findings, but also corrects the methodological problem of previous investigations, namely the erroneous and misleading comparison with a homicide group. Returning to the topic of sex differences, David Fishbain offers one of the best methodological and interesting studies on the topic of homicide-suicide and the only one on female perpetrators of homicide-suicide. The genesis of homicide-suicide lies in a frustrated, chaotic, intimate, long-term personal relationship and contributes to the risk of violent behavior. The homicide-suicide would be likely to be found in intimate relationships is suggested by qualitative work on morbid jealousy and homicide-suicide. From the qualitative work on homicide-suicide, the triggering event is often a separation or threatened separation from one’s love object.
