Demographic, Psychological Factors and Motives for Murder in Intentional Homicide Prisoners Referred to Khorasan Razavi Province Forensic Medicine Organization

Intentional homicide is one of the most violent crimes against humanity. The aim of this study was to investigate the demographic, psychological factors and motives for murder in intentional homicide prisoners referred to Khorasan Razavi province forensic medicine organization.

This cross-sectional descriptive study was conducted on intentional homicide prisoners referred to Khorasan Razavi province forensic medicine organization during 2018-2020, that among them 105 people participated in the study by available sampling method. The data collection tool was a researcher-made questionnaire with an interview. Data were analyzed using SPSS 21 software and descriptive statistics methods and Chi-square test.

Most of intentional homicide prisoners were men, married, aged 21-30 years, with the educational level of cycle, self-employed, and the middle child of the family and born and lived in the city of Mashhad. Most of the motives for the killings were related to the killings that followed the fight and revenge. The most commonly used means of murder were sharp objects that hit the chest. Most of the murders took place in public places and the victims were mostly friends. The most common way to remove a corpse was to burn it. There was a significant relationship between gender, age category, marital status and birth rank with committing murder (p<0.001).

Mental health officials must take steps to prevent homicide by addressing material and spiritual deficiencies, training life skills, and dealing effectively with problems.