Matricide

The act of killing one's own mother, a term derived from the Latin matricida, combining mater, meaning mother, with a suffix denoting a killer, and one that has been culturally regarded as one of the most heinous crimes throughout history. The offense is rare, accounting for roughly zero point six eight percent of all homicides, and in the United States between 1976 and 1998 it made up less than two percent of homicides committed, occurring less often in Western countries than patricide, which itself accounts for under four percent of murders across North America and Europe. Most perpetrators are adult sons, frequently diagnosed with a psychotic disorder such as schizophrenia, and the killing is typically unpremeditated, often taking place in the mother's bedroom following a minor dispute, with the relationship between perpetrator and victim commonly described as ambivalent and hostile-dependent and perpetrators frequently describing a domineering mother. Cases involving a stepmother are comparatively rare, making up only about five percent of matricides overall, and the perpetrators in those cases tend to be younger, with sixty four percent under the age of twenty five compared with thirty five percent in cases involving a biological mother.