The Routledge International Handbook of Juvenile Homicide is the definitive work on juvenile homicide. This volume provides an up-to-date, comprehensive, and in-depth exploration of what is known about juveniles involved in murder. Taking an interdisciplinary approach to juvenile homicide, this handbook brings together the leading experts in social sciences, mental health, and law from many countries. The volume covers the phenomenon of juvenile homicide from beginning to end, by addressing the questions “Why do kids kill” all the way to “How does society stop them from killing”? The tough issues involved in sentencing youths who take the lives of others, often deliberately and in horrific ways, are confronted through chapters addressing the legal issues, child development factors, risk assessment, public attitudes, and ethical concerns. The volume brings together research specifically conducted for this volume, in addition to summaries and discussions of clinical and empirical findings. Each chapter ends with key takeaway points. Contributors include psychologists, psychiatrists, criminologists, sociologists, lawyers, economists, biologists, epidemiologists, and public health and public policy experts. Uniquely, they examine murder by juveniles across the globe. The volume includes research pertaining to the causes, correlates, and theoretical explanations of juvenile homicide offending. Moving beyond discussions of juvenile homicide offenders (JHOs) as a homogenous group, the volume includes research on specific types of JHOs, and research investigating age and gender differences among JHOs. In addition, it draws attention to the empirical factors associated with juvenile homicide offending, effective treatment of JHOs, recidivism, and prevention of violent behavior. The volume also makes recommendations for policy and practice, including how to shift government policy from punishing lawbreakers to saving lives. This volume is essential reading for scholars and students researching youth violence/juvenile homicide across a variety of disciplines including criminology, criminal justice, law, psychology, psychiatry, sociology, social work, public health, and education. It is also an invaluable reference for mental health professionals, practitioners in the juvenile and criminal justice systems, policymakers, and government leaders.

Practitioners in the animal welfare field, law enforcement circles, and social services arena have often maintained that childhood cruelty to animals is a forerunner to violence against people. Does this behavior serve as a red flag with respect to extremely violent offenders, such as serial killers? Is it part of the cycle of violence associated with domestic abuse? Perez and Heide provide the first scientific examination of this relationship and examine issues of cruelty across different types of animals (pet, wild, stray, farm). The authors evaluate both qualitative and quantitative data to identify correlations between childhood cruelty and adult violent behavior, utilizing interviews and criminal records of violent and nonviolent inmates in a maximum security prison. Their findings will be of importance to a diverse audience, including researchers and practitioners in the field of juvenile justice, violence and domestic abuse, social welfare, animal welfare and animal rights and developmental psychologists and counselors, as well as law enforcement officers, district attorneys and judges, county and municipal officials, animal control officers, veterinarians, and school administrators, especially those concerned with intervention and prevention strategies.

From the summer of 1972 through 1975, Kenneth Wooden visited correctional facilities in thirty states where juveniles between the ages of five and sixteen were being held. During his research he uncovered an astoundingly high incidence of emotional and physical abuse, torture, and commercial exploitation of the children by their keepers, individuals who received public funds to care for them. After observing the brutal treatment of these youths, a significant number of whom were not criminals but runaways or mentally disabled, Wooden described the conditions in which these children lived in Weeping in the Playtime of Others.

Why is the number of homicides committed by youths rising in the United States? An escalating problem in this country, Juvenile Homicide has been considered an epidemic by mental health professionals as well as practitioners in the juvenile justice and criminal systems. In her book Young Killers, Kathleen M. Heide blends compelling case studies with an empirical assessment of male adolescent murderers, creating a readable and interesting scholarly text. This book explores several factors that contribute to the rise of juvenile homicide including home and family environments, role models, the witnessing of violence, access to weapons, the availability of drugs and alcohol, personality characteristics, and the cumulative effect of having little to lose. Although this book focuses on male juvenile offenders, Heide also addresses the changing percentage of juvenile females arrested for homicide and examines gender issues in juvenile homicide. She discusses the reasons girls may be more likely to kill family members than boys are and examines the effects of the women?s movement on girls and crime. Heide also addresses psychological assessment, treatment issues, and prevention strategies aimed at reducing the incidence of juvenile homicide. Young Killers is written with clarity, making it accessible to a wide-ranging audience. This definitive work on juvenile homicide will benefit both undergraduate and graduate students, and professionals in criminal justice, criminology, sociology, social work, counseling, and clinical psychology.

"Although the book is about murder. Heide does not limit herself to purely individual or family-based analysis. She is interested in connecting all the factors which lead to these tragic situations, in good and bad parenting and in social reform. It is this breadth of analysis which makes the book so readable and so useful." --Judith Bevan in ACCO Child Psychology & Psychiatry Review "This book is a compassionate examination of adolescent patricide offenders (APO's) in the United States of America. It could be commended to anyone interested in how children are initiated into society." --Joanna Adler, University of Kent at Canterbury Kathleen Heide's sensitive and important account of family life gone wrong examines the shocking phenomenon of adolescents who kill their parents. Using actual case studies and a careful analysis of FBI data, Kathleen M. Heide discusses the motivations and backgrounds of these troubled adolescents, and what emerges is a tragic portrait--the adolescent murderer is almost always a terrified victim of severe child abuse, neglect, and dysfunctional parenting who kills out of desperation. Drawing upon her skill and experience as a scholar, clinician, and expert witness, Heide asserts that a combination of five interconnected problems creates the conditions for parricide: The youth is raised in a chemically dependent or otherwise dysfunctional family; the child is severely abused sexually, physically, and/or verbally; violence in the child's family escalates; the youth becomes increasingly vulnerable to stressors in the home environment; and the child has ready access to a firearm. Why Kids Kill Parents begins with a foreword by notable criminologist Hans Toch, and concludes with an examination of types of intervention that are effective in treating severely abused children who kill their parents. Heide proposes ways in which the media and the educational system can prevent child abuse and parricide by fostering functional families and mitigating the effects of dysfunctional ones. Why Kids Kill Parents is essential reading for all those who care about the nurturing of children and families in today's society, as well as professionals in juvenile justice, criminology, law, mental health, education, and youth advocacy. "Heide's book offers an integrative understanding of both the dysfunctional family and child who kills. Of particular interest to clinicians is the chapter on assessment. This volume is the most comprehensive resource found on children who kill." --Youth Violence "The resolution of such questions as `What is a just response to a parricide by an abused child?' is a societal one. Our society permits divergent ideas (and data) to surface and to compete for adoption. In such a system a scientist and clinician such as Kathleen Heide can play a precious role. The work summarized in Why Kids Kill Parents is a testament to this role. It is also a credit to its author, who cares about ameliorating suffering and reducing despair." --from the Foreword by Hans Toch "Why Kids Kill Parents contains a goldmine of material for diverse theoretical and practical applications, from aggression theory and legal analysis to specific, practical suggestions for therapy. Kathleen Heide has produced a valuable resource that, I hope and expect, will become a model for similar investigations and serve as a foundation for rational policy development." --Carolyn Rebecca Block, Illinois Criminal Justice Information Authority, Women & Criminal Justice Vol. 6 No. 2 1995 "I have read Dr. Heide's book, Why Kids Kill Parents, and believe it is the best available book on the topic. . . . Unlike the other books on this topic, Why Kids Kill Parents indicates a comprehensive knowledge of the prior literature and of the frequency and pattern of juvenile homicide. No other book covers etiology and treatment. Dr. Heide is a scientist, advocate, and clinician, and her book reflects all these perspectives." --William Willbanks, Florida International University "In an unprecedented fashion, Kathleen Heide offers comprehensive definitions of childhood maltreatment that delineate the nature and scope of various types of abuse and neglect, which the adolescent parricide offender endures in a family where violence is all too common an experience. . . . This book is a must-read for all professionals who are involved in the care of and in contact with children and adolescents." --Susan Crimmins, MSW, Clinical Social Worker and Researcher, Journal of Contemporary Criminal Justice Vol. 9 No. 2 1993 "It is easy to see why this book has captured a commendable degree of media attention. It is well-written, fascinating in fact, so it is extremely interesting to read. Underlying this is a crucial observation, that Kathleen Heide's work has been well-received within legal, clinical, and other professional circles--that it has affected and is likely to have further implications for the way that adolescent parricide offenders are handled by the courts." --Patricia Van Voorhis, Assistant Professor, University of Cincinnati