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Report ONOF (September 18–24, 2025): Psycho-Criminological Analysis and Profiles of Family Homicides. Introduction and ONOF-CIPR Operational Context. 
By Massimo Lattanzi¹²³, Tiziana Calzone¹²³, Vanessa Alterino¹²³

¹Associazione Italiana di Psicologia e Criminologia (AIPC), Rome, Italy ²Centro Italiano di Psicotraumatologia Relazionale (CIPR), Pescara-Rome, Italy ³Osservatorio Nazionale Omicidi Familiari (ONOF), Rome, Italy

This report provides an in-depth and comparative analysis of data related to family crimes that occurred in the week of September 18–24, 2025, emphasizing the disaggregation of criminological variables and their interpretation through the lens of Relational Psychotraumatology. The data was collected by the National Observatory on Family Homicides (ONOF), promoted by the Italian Association of Psychology and Criminology (AIPC), with the analytical contribution of the work of Dr. Tiziana Calzone and Dr. Massimo Lattanzi.

1.1. The National Observatory on Family Homicides (ONOF) and the AIPC Mission

The AIPC, a Third Sector Entity (ETS) founded in 2001, operates through a multidisciplinary team for the study, prevention, and treatment of violence in a circular sense, addressing victims, perpetrators, and family members. ONOF, the analytical pillar of AIPC, works in close synergy with the Italian Centre for Relational Psychotraumatology (CIPR). This collaboration is essential to move beyond mere statistical accounting and to decode the "grammar of violence" in Italy, investigating how dysfunctional relational dynamics and unresolved trauma prepare the ground for lethal escalation. The approach is based on preliminary journalistic data, recognized as timely though not definitive, and leverages institutional collaborations with entities like the Ministry of Justice and various Police Headquarters.

1.2. Relational Psychotraumatology as an Interpretive Lens

The theoretical framework of CIPR and AIPC highlights how homicide is often the extreme outcome and the "narrative of relational trauma." Trauma due to human action, unlike natural catastrophes, breaks the fundamental "empathic dyad" and the trust between human beings—mechanisms rooted in early attachment relationships. Violence in family homicides is interpreted as the culmination of unresolved trauma and deep emotional dysregulation, amplified by interpersonal traumatic resonance within significant relationships. To address these etiological roots, the integrated scientific protocol A.I.P.C. Scientific Violence Screening (A.S.V.S.), structured in 2011 by Calzone, Pellino, and Lattanzi, provides a clinical, psychophysiological, and psychodiagnostic assessment, followed by a therapeutic path integrating psychotraumatology, mindfulness, and sensory-motor therapy. The clinical objective, also promoted through the Spotify channel "MENTE | CRIMINE | TRAUMA," is to shift the focus from control to care, intervening on the dysregulation that increases the risk of impulsive and lethal acting-out.

1.3. Operational Definition of "Family Crime" and Methodological Caution

For ONOF analysis purposes, the concept of "family crime" is extended and functional to detect the real scope of severe interpersonal violence. It includes homicides, attempted homicides, and related phenomena (suicides or attempted suicides) that occur between people linked by various levels of proximity: partners, ex-partners, relatives, but also colleagues, neighbours, or friends, all reclassified under the macro-category of "Familiarity."

It is important to state beforehand that, as specified in the methodological note of the reference document, the analyzed data is collected from articles published in journalistic sources and not from institutional sources. The ONOF weekly column, curated by expert figures such as Dr. Tiziana Calzone, Dr. Vanessa Alterino, and Dr. Massimo Lattanzi, digs deep. It is essential to consider attempted homicides (N=7 out of 11 total crimes this week). The inclusion of this variable, which reflects the high level of violence perpetrated and the failure to contain the impulse, prevents the analysis from being limited solely to fatal outcomes (N=4).

If you prefer to browse the weekly column ebook, download it and read it whenever you want. Click on Report ONOF (September 18–24, 2025).

II. Descriptive Statistical Analysis: September 18–24, 2025

In the week of September 18–24, 2025, 11 family crimes were registered: 4 completed homicides (36%) and 7 attempted homicides (64%). The clear prevalence of attempted homicides reflects a phase of intense emotional dysregulation and external aggression in the analyzed sample.

2.1. The Aggregated Criminological Profile (N=11 Family Crimes)

The geographical distribution of total family crimes shows a significant polarization between the North (40%, with 4 cases) and the South and Islands (40%, with 4 cases), while the Central area records 20% (2 cases). This pattern, with a lower incidence in the Centre, suggests that contexts of greater socio-economic density or conflict, both in the North and South, may act as catalysts for conflicts among acquaintances that escalate into lethal or near-lethal violence.

In terms of gender, out of 11 total victims, 8 are men (73%) and 3 are women (27%). This male preponderance in total victimization indicates that, in the week under examination, the focus of violence has shifted from Intimate Partner Violence (IPV) dynamics to social or instrumental conflict involving men in roles of status, business, or extended interpersonal disputes. Correspondingly, out of 10 presumed perpetrators, 9 are men (90%) and 1 is a woman (10%). Regarding the overall age of perpetrators, the 36–53 age bracket holds the highest percentage with 40% (4 out of 10), closely followed by the 18–35 bracket with 30% (3 out of 10).

2.2. Specific Profiles of Homicide Victim and Perpetrator (N=4)

The analysis of completed homicides alone offers a more targeted picture. Contrary to the aggregated data on total crimes, lethal homicide in the week of September 18–24 is distributed equally: 2 female victims (50%) and 2 male victims (50%).

• Homicide Victims (N=4): The most affected age bracket is young adults 18–35 (50%), which includes one woman and one man. The geographic area of completed homicides is equally divided between the Centre (50%) and the South/Islands (50%), with no homicides in the North. In terms of weapons, both the Stabbing Weapon and the Firearm were used equally (50% each).
• Homicide Perpetrators (N=4): The perpetrator profile shows a clear male prevalence (75% - 3 men), with 1 woman (25%). The prevalent age is the 36–53 bracket (50%). The analysis of the weapon used reveals a high degree of intentionality in men: male perpetrators favoured the firearm (67% - 2 men), while the female perpetrator used the Stabbing Weapon exclusively (100% of her cases). As highlighted by AIPC, the exclusive use of firearms is a dramatic signal of escalation and intentionality—an enormous risk factor that screening protocols like A.S.V.S. seek to identify.

2.3. Attempted Homicides (N=7): Risk and Dysregulation Profiles

Attempted homicides represent the true basin of risk and emotional dysregulation for the week of September 18–24. Victimization is almost entirely male: 6 men (86%) and 1 woman (14%). Perpetrators, similarly, are totally men (100% - 6 men). The majority of these acts were carried out in the North, where 5 victims of attempted homicide were recorded (71% of total attempted homicides), and 4 perpetrators (100% men).

The most used weapon in non-lethal acts perpetrated by men is the Stabbing Weapon (50% of male perpetrators). This prevalence is often indicative of furious quarrels and impulsive acting-out, where the perpetrator reacts in a dysregulated manner using easily accessible objects.

III. The Relational Anomaly: The "Acquaintances" Factor (100%)

The most structurally anomalous data point for the week of September 18–24, 2025, is the absolute dominance of the "Acquaintances" factor, which covers 100% of victims (11 out of 11) and perpetrators (10 out of 10) of all family crimes (homicides and attempted homicides).

3.1. Interpretation of Extended Familiarity

According to AIPC/ONOF methodology, the "Acquaintances" category qualifies people with whom relationships are maintained at various levels (colleagues, neighbours, friends, acquired kinship) that do not fall into the categories of Partner, Ex-Partner, or Close Relatives.

The total absence of crimes involving partners or ex-partners this week is a clear element of discontinuity compared to broader trends in relational violence. It suggests a migration of the locus of violence from domestic intimacy to the extended social sphere and contexts of public dispute. This phenomenon pushes the analysis towards conflict dynamics based on the failed resolution of economic, honour, territorial, or status disputes.

3.2. Proactive Violence and Status Conflict

The dominance of the Man/Acquaintance/Firearm dyad in completed homicide and the prevalence of Man/Acquaintance/Stabbing Weapon in attempted homicide define a criminological framework where the motive is not primarily "passionate" or linked to separation management (typical of IPV), but is often instrumental and proactive.

Proactive violence (intentional) differs from reactive violence (dysregulated in response to an emotional trigger). The use of the firearm (67% of male homicide perpetrators) suggests a lucid, albeit pathological, decision to resolve the conflict through the elimination of the contender. In attempted homicides, the use of the stabbing weapon (50% of male perpetrators) can still be read as the expression of sudden and severe dysregulation, typical of lethal acting-out, but triggered by the breakdown of trust or honour suffered in a social relationship (the "Acquaintance") rather than in the sentimental relationship.

VI. Conclusions and Strategic Recommendations

6.1. Summary of Main Results

The analysis of the week of September 18–24, 2025, in comparison with previous September data, reveals a family violence profile dominated by non-intimate dynamics. The most relevant data point is the exclusive involvement of the "acquaintances" category (100%) in all family crimes. This is associated with a high rate of attempted homicides (64% of total crimes), where the typical victim is a man (86% of attempted homicide victims) injured by another man (100% of attempted homicide perpetrators), often with a stabbing weapon, indicating social or status-based violence. In completed homicides, the male perpetrator (75%) is more mature and shows high intentionality, evidenced by the preponderant use of the firearm (67% for male perpetrators).

September 2025 highlighted an etiological transition: from Reactive and Intimate Violence (IPV, September 4–10) to predominantly Proactive and Instrumental Violence (September 18–24). This fluidity confirms the need for a methodological approach that, like the ONOF/CIPR one, considers "family crime" in a broad sense, including every form of severe violence occurring in significant relationships, as they all share roots in relational trauma.

6.2. Recommendations for Prevention and Clinical Intervention

Prevention and the fight against violence cannot be limited to the sphere of Intimate Partner Violence but must extend to extended interpersonal dynamics, as suggested by the analysis of "Acquaintances."

• Differentiated Approach to Violence: It is crucial that clinical and criminological interventions differentiate between Reactive Violence (often driven by the fear of abandonment) and Proactive/Instrumental Violence (driven by narcissistic rage and the need for dominance).
• Systematic Implementation of the A.S.V.S. Protocol: The A.I.P.C. Scientific Violence Screening (A.S.V.S.) protocol must be a priority for risk assessment. A.S.V.S., with its integrated evaluation, is the necessary tool to intercept the severe emotional dysregulation and intentionality that precedes the use of high-lethality weapons like firearms.
• Circular and Intergenerational Prevention: True prevention must be clinical, shifting the focus from control to care. The holistic and circular approach of AIPC must prioritize breaking the cycle of intergenerational trauma, starting with the children of dysfunctional families.

Join the Network for Healing!

Associations, entities, professionals: if your mission is to combat relational trauma and violence, this is the time to join forces! AIPC and CIPR offer a specialist approach and advanced tools (like biofeedback) for prevention, criminological analysis, and care.

Don't act alone: healing and prevention are stronger together.

Contact us immediately for collaborations and partnerships:

• Email AIPC/CIPR: aipcitalia@gmail.com
• Reference Website: www.associazioneitalianadipsicologiaecriminologia.it
• WhatsApp Phone: +39 3924401930

Together, we can break the cycle of repetition.

You can listen to the podcast on the AIPC Editore Spotify Channel "MENTE|CRIMINE|TRAUMA" and find the report Omicidi familiari: La grammatica della violenza e il trauma relazionale ad agosto 2025. This video discusses the analysis of family homicides, a key topic in your translated report.