Child murder by depressed parents.

Abstract

Although it is common practice to try to assess the risk of suicide in depressed patients the possibility of homicidal tendencies is often overlooked. Homicidal acts are frequently directed towards children by either parents or strangers and there is also a risk that children may be killed by parents suffering from severe depressive illness. It is proposed that early recognition might lead to the prevention of this type of crime. The terms infanticide, filicide, and neonaticide are used idiosyncratically by the different authors and may therefore be confusing. Infanticide in Canada is a medicolegal term; it indicates a relationship between child murder and child birth. All other cases of child killings are designated as murder. In Canada there were 1,276 incidents of homicide over a period of five years, (19641968). Of these 141 (11 per cent) were incidents of child murder - child murder being defined as the killing of a person 16 years and under. Seventy-six (54 per cent) of these were caused by parents, 41 were mothers and 35 were fathers. The mothers killed their children only, but 40 per cent of the fathers also murdered their wives. Suicide or attempted suicide following the crime was more likely to occur in those cases where the father was the assailant. Most children killed by their parents are between one and five years of age. Sixty-five (46 per cent) of child murders were caused by non-relatives and 32 per cent of these assaulted their victims sexually, the crime occurring most frequently in the evening. The dynamics of child murder by depressed parents has been reviewed. It is proposed that a child is particularly vulnerable when a depressive illness is superimposed upon a constellation of parental factors which can be recognized and specified.