Abstract
Research on filicide, the killing of a child by a biological or a de facto parent or parents, has largely focused on mothers. However, little is known about how filicidal women compare to filicidal men or whether they differ from women who commit non-filicide murder. The study explores pre-incarceration negative life events and mental health histories of women incarcerated for filicide as compared to men incarcerated for the same offense and women who were incarcerated for non-filicide murder. Extensive gender differences in filicidal parents were found in terms of economic marginalization, physical and sexual abuse, mental health problems. Filicidal women had more mental health problems and lower monthly income than women incarcerated for non-filicide murder, but there were more similarities than differences detected between the two groups of female offenders. The paper concludes with policy recommendations.
Highlights
Filicide, the killing of a child by a biological or a de facto parent or parents, is a rare but disturbing occurrence
The current study examines the pre-incarceration negative life events and the mental health histories of 55 women incarcerated in the United States for killing their child or stepchild
The purpose of this study was to fill some of the gaps in understanding by focusing on the victim and offense characteristics, negative life events, and mental health histories of filicidal women as compared to filicidal men and for non-filicidal women
Summary
The killing of a child by a biological or a de facto parent or parents, is a rare but disturbing occurrence. According to data from the United States, filicides comprise about 3% of all reported homicides (Dixon et al 2014; Weekes-Shackelford and Shackelford 2004). Both mothers and fathers commit filicide, but the gender distribution varies depending on the type. A recent American study analyzing 32 years of arrest data found that women comprised 51.2% of offenders who killed infants and 44.4% of offenders who killed victims between the ages of 1–17. Especially murder, are rarely perpetrated by women (Fox and Fridel 2017) Mothers are overrepresented in cases of the murder of younger children—neonaticide, a murder of a child in the first 24 h after birth, and infanticide, a murder of a child between one day old and one year old (Bourget et al 2007).
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