Our family annihilators always men.

Not always, but according to Jack Levin, a professor of sociology and criminology at Northeastern

University.

People who commit these types of crimes, murdering their family, they are usually men. And these men

kill people Levin calls their family unit, not only their spouse or partner but

their immediate family, the loved ones living within their residence which often include but their up close and personal, which I have to say was a pretty

fucking grim and intimidating title when I found this book.

Levin talks about catalysts which can trigger family

annihilators, like loss of employment, gambling away the family's savings, or something that puts

the killer in a position which makes him unable to care for his family.

Or it's a different sort of catalyst like divorce, which means the killer is at risk of losing his family.

Maybe he can't imagine life without these people in and out of his view every day,

so he seeks to control the situation in any way he can.

Professor Levin was interviewed by Newsweek magazine in 2009

about his book, and he answered a question

I wondered when I researched this topic.

Family Annihilators aren't insane.

Levin said in many cases these crimes seem to happen out of nowhere,

although the killer may have suffered with a difficult situation

for an extended period of time.

It seems as if they snapped, but according to Professor Levin, some men plan these killings.

They may invest months deciding what they'll do, how they'll do it,

...