Filicide
Filicide refers to the intentional killing of a child by a parent or parental figure, encompassing both biological parents and stepparents. The term derives from Latin roots meaning "son/daughter" and "to kill." Although it is a rare occurrence, filicide remains a deeply troubling crime that evokes significant public interest due to its horrifying nature. Historically, filicide has been documented since ancient times, with varying societal perceptions and legal implications across cultures. In the modern context, studies indicate that a notable portion of filicides is committed by mothers, often driven by severe mental health issues such as psychosis or postpartum depression.
Research has identified several motives behind filicide, including altruistic reasons, where a parent believes the child is better off dead, and acutely psychotic actions without clear rationale. Risk factors commonly associated with filicide include mental illness, social isolation, and a history of abuse. While maternal filicide garners more attention, paternal filicide also exists, often linked to feelings of jealousy or socioeconomic stress. Understanding filicide requires a nuanced approach that recognizes the complex psychological and social dynamics at play, as well as the historical and cultural context surrounding this tragic phenomenon.
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Subject Terms
Filicide
Filicide is the deliberate killing of a child by his or her parent. The word is from the Latin filius/filia, meaning "son/daughter," and the English –cide, derived from the Latin caedere, meaning "kill." The term filicide may refer to killing of one's own child who is a blood relative, or to the killing of a child by a stepparent, guardian, or other parental figure.
Filicide has a long history in human civilization, and has been described in ancient texts and works of literature. Medea, a figure in Greek mythology, punished her husband for his infidelity by killing their children. Although an uncommon crime, it is so horrifying and unfathomable that it generates a great deal of attention.
Filicide has been on the rise since 1950. Between 1976 and 2004, 30 percent of all children younger than five years old who were murdered were killed by their mothers, while 31 percent were killed by their fathers. A study by Brown University showed that from 1976 to 2007, on average, there were 500 cases of filicide a year in the United States.
Background
Filicide is an ancient practice. Paternal filicide was legal in ancient Greco-Roman times. Newborns in particular might be killed because of disability, gender preference, illegitimacy, or because the parents were unable to provide for another child. After Christianity began to dominate European culture, filicide continued, although it was often explained away as accidental suffocation.
By the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, Europeans became more concerned about child murder. England and France made filicide a death-penalty crime. This remained the norm until England passed the Infanticide Acts of 1922 and 1938. These recognized that new mothers' mental health could be affected by childbirth and caring for an infant. Women found guilty of infanticide were no longer eligible for the death penalty. Some other countries passed similar laws.
In the United States, psychiatrists recognized the significance of recent childbirth in acts against infants. In 1927, the field divided infanticide based on whether the mother was still lactating, or breastfeeding. Many cases were attributed to exhaustion or what was then called lactation psychosis, a recognition that hormonal changes and the stress of parenting a newborn could affect one's well-being. In 1957, a study divided women who committed neonaticide, or the killing of a newborn within the first twenty-four hours of life, as either young, immature first-time mothers with no background of legal problems or women prone to unethical or violent behavior. Most cases of maternal neonaticide fell into the first category.
Much of modern research on filicide arose from the 1969 work of Phillip J. Resnick. His study examined 131 cases of filicide in psychiatric literature from 1751 to 1967. He also coined the term neonaticide.
Overview
Filicide is extremely rare, but maternal filicide in particular generates attention because it is such a heinous crime. Experts say most women who kill their children are experiencing extreme mental illness, such as a psychotic breakdown or postpartum depression. The Washington Post cites a Brown University study in 2014 that found three thousand filicides occur each year in the United States. The paper also cites Department of Justice statistics indicating that women commit just 14 percent of violent crimes in the United States, yet commit almost half of all filicides. Although fathers are slightly more likely to kill their offspring, most of the attention and literature focus on maternal filicide.
Resnick found that mothers who kill their children have one of five motives: altruistic filicide, or the belief that the child is better off dead (usually because the parent intends to commit suicide and does not wish to leave the child alone or because the child has a real or perceived disability); acutely psychotic filicide, or no understandable reason; fatal maltreatment filicide, when a mother abuses the child but does not necessarily intend to kill the youngster; unwanted child filicide, when a mother wants to be free of the child she feels is holding her back (possibly because a new partner does not want stepchildren or the parent seeks a benefit such as insurance money); and spouse revenge filicide, when a mother kills the child to wound the father for actions such as abandonment or infidelity, as in the myth of Medea. Altruistic filicide is the most common—Resnick found that it accounted for 49 percent of the cases reviewed—while spouse revenge filicide is the rarest at 2 percent. Among maternal infanticides, or the killing of a child younger than one year, perpetrators were often unemployed women in their early twenties.
Some researchers have attempted to identify characteristics that could help medical professionals assess the likelihood of filicide. A 2005 study attempted to identify risk factors for filicide. The strongest indicator was a history of mental illness such as psychosis, suicidality, and depression. The mothers at highest risk of filicide were often socially isolated, impoverished, full-time caregivers, and victims of domestic violence. The women in the study who were in psychiatric care were usually married, used alcohol, did not work, and had been abused. Those incarcerated in the correctional system were usually unmarried and unemployed, and had no social support, little education, and a history of substance use.
Many studies have found similarities among women who kill their children. Researchers looked at women who were charged with filicide and were found to be insane. One study found that 38 percent of the women had a history of physical and sexual abuse, including 5 percent who were victims of incest; 49 percent had been abandoned by their mothers. Separation from one's mother, due to abandonment, abuse, alcoholism, mental illness, or other reasons, has been found among many women who commit filicide. More than a third of women in several filicide studies attempted or committed suicide, and up to 29 percent of all mothers who kill their children then commit suicide.
Although less studied, paternal filicide has generated some research. Most men who kill their children are in their late twenties. Fathers rarely commit neonaticide. Studies have found that the reason for killing one's child is usually related to how the father views a child's behavior. A common example is jealousy because the child seems to prefer the mother. Many were poor, uneducated, and unemployed, and lacked social support. About 60 percent of fathers who commit filicide attempt or commit suicide, and in up to 60 percent of cases, the men also attempted to kill their spouses.
While stepparents can also be responsible for filicide, studies have shown biological parents are more likely to commit filicide. The Brown study showed that 90 percent of the cases were instances where the biological parent was the perpetrator and only in 10 percent of cases was a stepparent the perpetrator.
Bibliography
Brown University. "Analysis: 32 Years of U.S. Filicide Arrests." Brown University News from Brown, 21 July 2014, news.brown.edu/articles/2014/02/filicide. Accessed 11 Dec. 2024.
Dawson, Myrna. "Canadian Trends in Filicide by Gender of the Accused, 1961–2011." Child Abuse & Neglect, vol. 47, 2015, pp. 162–74.
Dovey, Dana. "Parents Who Kill: Most Extensive Study Ever on Filicide Creates Profile for People Who Commit This Heinous Crime." Medical Daily, 29 Oct. 2015, www.medicaldaily.com/parents-who-kill-most-extensive-study-ever-filicide-creates-profile-people-who-commit-359632. Accessed 11 Dec. 2024.
Friedman, Susan Hatters, and Phillip J. Resnick. "Child Murder by Mothers: Patterns and Prevention." World Psychiatry, vol. 6, no. 3, 2007, pp. 137–41.
Friedman, Susan Hatters, et al. "Child Murder by Mothers: A Critical Analysis of the Current State of Knowledge and a Research Agenda." American Journal of Psychiatry, vol. 162, no. 9, 2005, pp. 1578–87.
Lettieri, Richard. “Why Would a Parent Kill Their Own Child?” Psychology Today, 27 Apr. 2021, www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/decoding-madness/202104/why-would-a-parent-kill-their-own-child. Accessed 11 Dec. 2024.
Resnick, Phillip J. "Filicide in the United States." Indian Journal of Psychiatry, vol. 58 (Suppl 2), 2016, pp. 203–09.
West, Sara G. "An Overview of Filicide." Psychiatry (Edgmont), vol. 4, no. 2, 2007, pp. 48–57.
Wilson, Rebecca F., et al. “Trends in Homicide Rates for US Children Aged 0 to 17 Years, 1999 to 2020.” JAMA Pediatrics, vol. 177 no. 2, 19 Dec. 2022, 187-97, jamanetwork.com/journals/jamapediatrics/fullarticle/2799356#google‗vignette. Accessed 11 Dec. 2024.