ABSTRACT
Felonious violent crimes against the person include acts in which physical injury is inflicted against one or more others, including criminal homicide, aggravated assault, forcible rape or attempts to inflict such injuries. What has reen referred to as "suicide by proxy," where a despondent and depressed person kills his or her loved ones and himselfJherself in order to spare them humiliation, falls into the same category (Livingston 1992, 165). So-called "assisted deaths" (in the style of Dr. Jack Kevorkian), wherein one person aids and abets the death of another, have been defined legally as homicides. Kidnapping involves the element of physical force, and child abuse sometimes also involves the use of force and violence against the person; Armed robbery involves an element of force, such as the use of a gun, knife or threat of violence in obtaining money, jewelry or other items of value.
