Matricide by Mentally Disordered Sons

• DOI: 10.1177/0306624X14545772
• Date: 01 December 2015
• Published date: 01 December 2015
• Subject Matter: Articles

International Journal of

Offender Therapy and

Comparative Criminology

2015, Vol. 59(14) 1550 –1563

© The Author(s) 2014

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DOI: 10.1177/0306624X14545772

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Article

Matricide by Mentally

Disordered Sons: Gaining a

Criminological Understanding

Beyond Mental Illness—A

Descriptive Study

Roberto Catanesi1, Gabriele Rocca2, Chiara Candelli1,

and Felice Carabellese1

Abstract

Matricide is one of the rarest of reported murders and has always been considered

one of the most abhorrent crimes. Psychiatric investigations as to why a son might

murder his mother yield indications of a high rate of mental illness, primarily psychotic

disorders, in perpetrators. In an attempt to gain an in-depth understanding of the role

of the mother–son bond in the etiology of matricide by mentally disordered sons, this

article presents a qualitative study of nine cases of matricide examined at two Italian

Forensic Psychiatry Departments between 2005 and 2010 and retrospective analysis

of forensic psychiatry reports on the offenders. Most matricides suffered from

psychotic disorders, especially schizophrenia. Nevertheless, not all the perpetrators

had psychotic symptoms at the time of the crime. A “pathologic” mother–son bond

was found in all cases. However, mental illness is not the only variable related to

matricide and, taken alone, is not enough to explain the crime. Several factors in the

history of the mother and son need to be probed, especially how their relationship

developed over the years. The peculiar dynamics of the mother–son relationship and

the unique personalities and life experiences of both subjects are the real key to cases

of matricide.

Keywords

forensic psychiatry, matricide, etiology, mental illness, mother–son bond

1University of Bari, Italy

2University of Genoa, Italy

Corresponding Author:

Gabriele Rocca, Section of Criminology and Forensic Psychiatry, DISSAL, University of Genoa, Via A. de

Toni 12, Genoa 16132, Italy.

Email: gabriele.rocca@unige.it

545772IJOXXX10.1177/0306624X14545772International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative CriminologyCatanesi et al.

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