이 논문은 존속살해사건 특히 자식이 부모를 죽인 사건을 심리학적으로 해명한 것이다. 이 논문은 사례연구방법으로 수행했으며 부가적으로 외국의 친부모살해사건에 대한 연구결과를 본 사례연구와 비교했다. 사례연구의 대상은 2000년 5월에 발생한 이은석의 부모토막사해사건이다. 연구자는 이은석이 남긴 방대한 일기와 경찰 및 검찰 그리고 법정진술서를 참고로 그의 범죄동기와 과정을 분석했다. 더불어 이은석의 정신감정을 한 결과 즉 심리학자와 정신과의사들의 각종 심리검사들을 참고로 이은석의 정신상태를 분석했다.

The present study investigated the shocking parricide case occurred in 2000, Seoul, Korea. The criminal, a student of famous university in Korea killed his parents and chopped the body into 10 or 11 parts and threw them into garbage dump. The criminal case attracted mass media including criminal psychologists because the criminal seems normal and his parents are one of the elite members in the society. The study analyzed the voluminous diary that the criminal has written since he was in the middle school. The study find out that the criminal was abused by his parents especially by his mother physically and psychologically. Furthermore, the criminal was bulling in the middle school and in his service of the military. The criminal withdrew from his friends and his families and fell into the world of video types and computer games and lost his interests in the real world completely. He enjoyed bloody films such as “Taxi Driver” and “Born into the Killer”Several clinical psychologists tested MMPI including personality tests and reported that the criminal are normal although he has high score of depression scale in MMPI. The study find out that the indirect cause of the parricide is the first quarrel between the criminal and his mother on the issue of not paying any attention of his mother into the criminal and past experience of her mother`s abuse of him. Subsequent quarrel between his father and the criminal got the criminal frustrated with his parents. And thereafter the criminal and his parents disregard each other consciously avoiding physical contacts although they cohabitated in one compact apartment. The study considered the stress resulted from the disregard and indifference of parents toward the criminal as the direct motive of the homicide. The study discusses the negative influence of violent films and computer games and the problem of traditional value of children possessed by old generations. It also suggests the educating Korean parents the skills of child rearing including effective listening to their children.