THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT 
              Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: Wednesday, December 27, 1995           TAG: 9512270074
SECTION: LOCAL                    PAGE: B2   EDITION: FINAL 
SOURCE: BY TERRI WILLIAMS, STAFF WRITER 
                                             LENGTH: Short :   47 lines

EXPERTS DEBATE REASONS BEHIND FAMILY SLAYINGS

Slayings among family members are nothing new, but finding the reasons behind them has sparked debate within the social science community and motivated police around the nation to involve the community.

``Three-fourths of all homicides involve spouses or family members,'' said Mike Aamodt, a Radford University psychology professor who often works with police and criminologists. ``The first thought is, you're going to look at a spouse or someone in the family.''

One theory that has generated sharp debate holds that heredity may play a greater role than environment in determining whether someone is prone to homicidal violence, Aamodt said.

``What you find oftentimes,'' he said, ``is if you have one violent sibling, you find another who has a predisposition toward violence. Alcohol and drugs often exacerbate the situation.''

However, police working the daily crime beat say environment also plays a significant part in violent behavior.

Officer Fred Panton, who with officer Junius Jackson serves on a community policing team in Suffolk, agrees that victims and their killers often know each other. But he said that homicides like those in Suffolk this year - three of four involved men are charged with killing their brothers - aren't common.

``Generally, the violent crimes aren't done family to family,'' he said. ``Usually, it's a combination of things: disagreements, drug trade, robberies.''

Still, Panton concedes that strong families and a stable economy can't save everyone.

``I've come across some people who are just mean, and they come from very supportive, loving families,'' he said.

Aamodt said clues to trouble ahead sometimes surface - a previous threat to a family member's life, for example, or talk of buying or using weapons.

Suffolk police say neighbors can take a more active role in protecting their communities by working together to identify and report suspicious behavior.

In working to improve relations with citizens, the community-based police hope to get leads and help residents combat crime themselves - before it has a fatal end. by CNB