• Andreas Frei, Lydia Schönmeier, Marc Graf, and Birgit Völlm.
• Forensisch-psychiatrischer Dienst der Luzerner Psychiatrie, Luzern, Schweiz. andreas.frei@lups.ch
• Psychiatr Prax. 2011 Aug 1;38(6):287-92.

BackgroundHomicide-suicide and domestic homicide without consecutive suicide might be regarded as an extreme form of domestic violence. According to the national crime-register, however, there might be some relevant differences between the perpetrators of the two.MethodThe files of all cases of homicide-suicide (n = 24) and of all cases of domestic homicide without suicide (n = 21), which had been examined at the Institute of forensic medicine in Basle between 1987 und 2006, were compared.ResultsPerpetrators of domestic homicide without suicide were significantly younger, had a poorer educational background and were rather foreigners. About two thirds of the perpetrators of homicide-suicide used a gun compared with only one third of those committing domestic homicide.DiscussionMeasures as they are known from suicide prevention programmes like limiting the access to lethal instruments like guns might be useful in the case of homicide-suicide, measures for the prevention of domestic homicide should aim at better integration and education of the perpetrators and their family.© Georg Thieme Verlag KG Stuttgart · New York.

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