Portraits of pain

With lives marred by psychological abuse, a lack of attachment with caregivers, parental neglect, difficulties growing up, complex home circumstances and shattered intergenerational relationships, it seems as if the odds were against children who kill family members.
By making extensive use of in-depth case studies, based on interviews with various stakeholders, court and psychological records, as well as visits to incarceration facilities, the author used a phenomenological lens to delve into the psyche of young people in their teens and early twenties, committing murders that have captured the attention of the South African public.
Portraits of Pain: Children who Kill Family Members aims to explore why a child would commit family murder and to what extent it can be predicted.