He Killed My Mommy!: Murder or Attempted Murder of a Child's Mother

• NCJ Number: 206901
• Journal: Journal of Family Violence Volume: 19 Issue: 4 Dated: August 2004 Pages: 211-220
• Author(s): Linda A. Lewandowski; Judith McFarlane; Jacquelyn C. Campbell; Faye Gary; Cathleen Barenski
• Date Published: August 2004
• Length: 10 pages
• Publication Format: Article
• Publication Type: Research Paper
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

This article reviews the literature concerning children who have experienced the murder or attempted murder of their mother and presents descriptive sociodemographic and contextual data on 237 children who experienced the murder (N=146) or attempted murder (N=91) of their mother.

Abstract

The death of a parent is a major life stressor, especially for a child or adolescent. The deleterious outcomes for children are more pronounced when the murder or attempted murder occurred in the context of domestic violence and in the presence of the child. Little is known about children who experience such a traumatic event; the authors review the available literature and then turn to their descriptive study of 237 children who experienced the murder or attempted murder of their mothers. The study is part of a 10-city study of predictors of intimate partner femicide. Participating children were drawn from closed police records in the 10 cities and solicited for participation via letter to their current caregiver. Interviews elicited information concerning demographic variables and contextual variables surrounding the violent incident and the marital relationship. The descriptive study revealed that a large percentage of children were exposed to their mothers’ murders or attempted murders, however, very few were availed of systematic interventions. While a significant proportion of the participants either witnessed the fatal attack or found their mother after the attack, all of the participants received little to no therapeutic intervention. The findings also revealed that there was a high prevalence of exposure to domestic violence among these children prior to the murder or attempted murder. African-American women of low socioeconomic status and their children suffered higher rates of violent victimization and murders than other demographic populations. The preliminary demographic descriptions presented here underscore the importance of community-based prevention and intervention strategies for high-risk families and aggressive outreach for children who experience the murder or attempted murder of their mother. Figures, tables, references