A Descriptive Analysis of Siblicide: Examining Ten Years of Incidents Reported in the National Incident-Based Reporting System (NIBRS), 2013-2022

Siblicide, the killing of one sibling at the hands of another, is an extreme act along the arc of sibling violence, situated within the family violence paradigm. Purpose: Siblicide in the human population remains poorly understood and under-examined in need of contemporary baseline descriptive profiles examining victim, offender, and incident-level characteristics to develop a new base of knowledge, without age or sex limitations, to facilitate future research and practice opportunities including intervention, prevention, and policy. Methods: The study draws on 10 years of officially reported siblicide in National Incident-Based Reporting System (NIBRS) data, 2013-2022, (N = 862). Results: Analyses suggest siblicide is more frequent among adult siblings than youth siblings. Fratricides are more prevalent than sororicides and more likely to include a firearm and result from an argument. Sororicides are more likely to include multiple offenders and/or victims. Conclusion: Assessing large-scale data to better understand the scope and scale of the problem, including the nexus of victims, offenders, and incident criteria, is an important step toward a framework of knowledge to facilitate micro-level study within the family dynamic leading to early intervention and prevention of siblicide.