PROTOTYPES OF INTRAFAMILY HOMICIDE AND SERIOUS ASSAULT AMONG INSANITYACQUITTEES

Public concern with societal violence is intensified when persons who have been found not guilty by reason of insanity (NGRI) of having comm itted a homicide or serious assault are returned to the community. Suc cessful management of such acquittees in the community requires a soph isticated understanding of the person and the illness within the large r context of the violent incident, the family, the community, and the culture, In this article, we present an analysis of psychotic violence within a family context. A qualitative study of 64 subjects who were found NGRI of killing or seriously injuring a family member resulted i n four prototypes of intrafamilial homicide/assault: Till Death Us Do Part; Overwhelming Burden, Elimination of the Limit Setter; and Family -Focused Delusional Killing. The prototypes are presented as a model f or developing management strategies both for future risk assessment an d for successful transition of the insanity acquittee into the communi ty.