Homicidal Ideation in a Sample of Capital Murderers: Prevalence, Morbidity, and Associations With Homicide Offending

Abstract

Homicidal ideation is an important, but understudied construct in criminological research. Unfortunately, previous investigations into homicidal ideation are limited by reliance on small convenience samples, larger correctional samples with limited access to the most serious and violent criminal offenders, and single-item measures of the central construct. The current study improves and extends existing research by examining the link between three unique measures of homicidal ideation spanning its frequency, chronicity, and severity on murder and attempted murder among an enriched sample of death-sentenced prisoners in California. Many individuals in these data have extensive criminal careers and multiple homicide offenses. Homicidal ideation frequency and severity were significantly associated with both murder and attempted murder convictions, homicidal chronicity had null effects. Implications for research and practice are discussed.