NCJ Number
184241
Journal
Criminal Behaviour and Mental Health Volume: 10 Issue: 2 Dated: 2000 Pages: 136-147
Date Published
2000
Length
12 pages
Annotation
This article presents five cases of the killing of a child by the mother in New Zealand and explains how the cases demonstrate the interaction of factors that the literature reports as separate categories of filicide.
Abstract
The current classifications of maternal filicide have relied on categories based on the immediate antecedents or motivations to the impulse to kill. The most useful outcome of these approaches has been to specify that the group that kills newborns differs from other groups in terms of their age, demography, relationship profile, and motivation. The remaining groups are diverse and overlapping. Common themes in these five cases included mental illness, vulnerability factors, social isolation, and difficulty in forming successful relationships. Findings indicated that developing an understanding that has clinical relevance and may be useful in risk assessment requires examination of a range of factors, including mental state, relationship factors, and the impact of developmental experience. Tables and 20 references (Author abstract modified)