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The Sudden MurdererA Comparative Analysis
JAMES M. A. WEISS, M.D.;
JOSEPH W. LAMBERTI, M.D.;
NATHAN BLACKMAN, M.D.
AMA Arch Gen Psychiatry 1960;2(6):669-678.
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In this study, the "sudden murderer" is defined as a person who, without having been involved in any previous serious aggressive antisocial acts, suddenly, unlawfully, and intentionally kills (or makes a serious attempt to kill) another human being. The murder is "sudden" in the sense that it appears to be a single, isolated, unexpected episode of violent, impulsive acting-out behavior—behavior which is never well thought out, behavior which has no obvious purpose or hope for personal advantage or profit foreseeable as a result. Of 153 criminal offenders referred for psychiatric evaluation between July 1, 1956, and Dec. 30, 1957, to the Social Maladjustment Study Unit at the Malcolm Bliss Mental Health Center in St Louis,* 13 could be called "sudden murderers" by this definition. Although in this group of patients the crime as a function of the personality of the patient concerned proved most
. . . [Full Text PDF of this Article]
Author Affiliations
St. Louis
From the Malcolm Bliss Mental Health Center and the Department of Psychiatry and Neurology, Washington University School of Medicine.
Footnotes
Submitted for publication Dec. 22, 1959.
This study is based in part on a paper read at the 115th Annual Meeting of the American Psychiatric Association, Philadelphia, April 27-May 1, 1959.
This Unit is described in detail in References 2, 3, and 24.
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