Deaths of children who are killed by their parents often make the news. Cases of maternal infanticide may be particularly shocking, since women are expected to be selfless nurturers. Yet when a child is murdered, the most common perpetrator is their parent, and mothers and fathers kill at similar rates.1
As psychiatrists, we may see these cases in the news and worry about the risks of our own patients killing their children. In approximately 500 cases annually, an American parent is arrested for the homicide of their child.2 This is not even the entire story, since a large percentage of such cases end in suicide—and no arrest. This article reviews the reasons parents kill their children, and considers common characteristics of these parents, dispelling some myths, before discussing the importance of prevention efforts.
Types of child murder by parents
Child murder by parents is termed filicide. Infanticide has various meanings but often refers to the murder of a child younger than age 1. Approximately 2 dozen nations (but not the United States) have Infanticide Acts that decrease the penalty for mothers who kill their young child.3 Neonaticide refers to murder of the infant at birth or in the first day of life.4
Epidemiology and common characteristics
Approximately 15%—or 1 in 7 murders with an arrest—is a filicide.2 The younger the child, the greater the risk, but older children are killed as well.2 Internationally, fathers and mothers are found to kill at similar rates. For other types of homicide, offenders are overwhelmingly male. This makes child murder by parents the singular type of murder in which women and men perpetrate in equal numbers. Fathers are more likely than mothers to also commit suicide after they kill their children.5 The “Cinderella effect” refers to the elevated risk of a stepchild being killed compared to the risk for a biological child.6
In the general international population, mothers who commit filicide tend to have multiple stressors and limited resources. They may be socially isolated and may be victims themselves as well as potentially experiencing substance abuse.1 Some mothers view the child they killed as abnormal.
Less research has been conducted about fathers who kill. Fathers are more likely to also commit partner homicide.5,7 They are more likely to complete filicide-suicide and use firearms or other violent means.5,7-9 Fathers may have a history of violence, substance abuse, and/or mental illness.7
Neonaticide
Mothers are the most common perpetrator of neonaticide.4 It is unusual for a father to be involved in a neonaticide, or for the father and mother to perpetrate the act together. Rates of neonaticide are considered underestimates because of the number of hidden pregnancies, hidden corpses, and the difficulty that forensic pathologists may have in determining whether a baby was born alive or dead.
Continue to: Perpetrators of neonaticide...