NCJ Number
246055
Journal
Journal of Forensic Sciences Volume: 58 Issue: 2 Dated: March 2013 Pages: 419-424
Date Published
March 2013
Length
6 pages
Annotation
This study reports some results on homicides-suicides, in the mother-child relationship, occurred in Italy between 1992 and 2010.
Abstract
The international literature shows that in 40-50 percent of the cases, homicides-suicides involving children under the age of 10 are committed by mothers. Here, researchers report some results on homicides-suicides, in the mother-child relationship, occurred in Italy between 1992 and 2010. The researchers examined 36 cases of filicide-suicide mothers by consulting the archives of RAI, daily newspapers, and the ANSA news agency. The study focused on: mothers and children's age, place of residence, date and place of the murder, number and sex of the murdered children, and modality of the homicide-suicide. At the time of the homicide-suicide, the average age of mothers was 35.4. The number of children killed by each mother was one, except in seven cases. All the women had underestimated psychopathological disorders and only six women were regularly treated. The dynamics and characteristics of the events were much more similar to suicides than homicides, so one can consider them as "extensive suicides." Abstract published by arrangement with John Wiley & Sons.