Prevalence of Homicide-Suicide Incidents in Greece over 13 Years

Maria Alexandri, Maria Tsellou, Anastasia Antoniou, Efstathios Skliros, Andreas Nikolaos Koukoulis, Flora Bacopoulou and Stavroula Papadodima
Additional contact information
Maria Alexandri: Zagora Health Center, Magnesia, 370 01 Zagora, Greece
Maria Tsellou: Department of Forensic Medicine and Toxicology, School of Medicine, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, 115 27 Athens, Greece
Anastasia Antoniou: 2nd Department of Psychiatry, “Attikon” University General Hospital, School of Medicine, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, 124 62 Athens, Greece
Efstathios Skliros: Nemea Health Center, Corinthia, 205 00 Nemea, Greece
Andreas Nikolaos Koukoulis: Department of Law, School of Law, Democritus University of Thrace, 691 00 Komotini, Greece
Flora Bacopoulou: Center for Adolescent Medicine and UNESCO Chair in Adolescence Health Care, First Department of Pediatrics, School of Medicine, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Aghia Sophia Children’s Hospital, 115 27 Athens, Greece
Stavroula Papadodima: Department of Forensic Medicine and Toxicology, School of Medicine, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, 115 27 Athens, Greece

IJERPH, 2022, vol. 19, issue 13, 1-12

Abstract: Prevalence of homicide-suicides is difficult to determine in Greece due to the lack of a national tracking system. The aim of this study was to estimate the prevalence of the homicide-suicide incidents in Greece over the past 13 years, and to determine the circumstances under which they occurred, as well as the characteristics of perpetrators and victims. Two Internet search engines (google and yahoo), as well as the search engine of the major national news websites, were surveyed to identify the number of homicide-suicide cases that occurred in Greece from January 2008 to December 2020. Over the study period, 36 homicide-suicide incidents occurred in Greece, resulting in 36 suicides and 41 homicides. The above incidents reflect an annual homicide-suicide rate of 0.02 cases per 100,000 inhabitants. Most perpetrators were male (88.9%), whereas most victims were female (80.6%). Spousal-consortial cases accounted for 52.7% and familial cases for 41.7% of the total number of incidents. The use of firearms (mostly shotgun) was the most common method of homicide and suicide (58.3% and 63.9%, respectively). Women killed only their children, while men committed homicide and suicide mainly in the context of a former or current intimate partnership with the victim. Our results are in line with international homicide-suicide data. The establishment of a national surveillance system for homicides-suicides would be of paramount importance as it would facilitate accurate recording, identification of risk factors and characteristics of potential victims and perpetrators and it could ultimately be an aid to the prevention of such tragic events.

Keywords: homicide; suicide; Greece; firearms; intimate partner; familial; femicide; filicide (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
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