Juvenile Homicide: The Need for an Interdisciplinary Approach zy John C. Rowley Charles Patrick Ewing, J.D., Ph.D. Simon I. Singer, zyxw Ph.D. zyxw Most of the empirical literature on juvenik? homicide zyxw has emergedfrom the clinical experience of mental health professwnrrLF who have diagnosed andlor ireated youngsters who killed. After a zyxw critical review of this &mature, data on 787 juvenile homicidi offenders are presented and discussed. These data indicate that intrafamilial Wings represent but a smullfroction of zy aU homi- cides perpetrated by juveniles and that there are ckar &flerences between intrafamilial and extrafmlial juvenile homicides. Although juveniles who kill represent a small fraction of homicide perpetrators (US. Department of Justice, zyxwv 1985), their homicidal acts zyxw are of major concern to society and the legal system. These juveniles not only challenge longstanding and widely held conceptions of childhood and adolescence, but also create a serious dilemma for the criminal and juvenile justice systems. The legal dilemma posed by these youngsters is reflected perhaps most acutely in the continuing debate over how the law should deal with juveniles who kill-eg., whether they should be tried as juveniles or adults and whether they should be subject to capital punishment (Anders, 1986; Brody, 1986). The fact that this lengthy debate has generated more heat than light should come as no surprise. Any meaningful and generally accepted resolution will, in the final analysis, require answers to difficult questions: Who zyx are the youngsters who kill? Why do they kill? What, if any, continuing threat do they pose to society? What, if anything, can be done to rehabilitate them and reduce the magnitude of that threat? Although the courts and other legal authorities are already asking ind “an- John C. Rowley is a Resear& Assistant at the Center for the Study of Children and Youth, SUNY at Buffalo. Charles Patrick Ewing, J.D., Ph.D. is an Associate Pmfeswr of Law and Psgchology, SUNY at Buffalo. Sion I. Singer, Pb.D. is an Assistant Professor of Sociology, SUNY at Buffalo. This research was supported in part by the Center for the Study of Children and Youth and by a William J. Magavern Fellowship awarded to Dr. Ewing. Pleare address all cor- respondence and reprint requests to: Dr. Charles Ewing, 420 O’Brian Hell, SVNYB&lo, Buffalo, zy h’Y 14260. Behavioral Sciences & the Lmv, Vol. 5, No. 1, pp. 1-10 (1987) 8 1987 JOHN WEEY & SONS, INC. CCC0735-3936/87/01ooO3-08$04.00