Filicide

This study aims to discuss the forensic and criminological implications of child homicides in the territory of Milan, Italy. The authors present a retrospective study on all the cases of child and adolescent homicides, that were observed at the Institute of Legal Medicine of Milan (Italy) in the last 30 years (from January 1991 to December 2020). A total of 46 child homicides were collected, focusing on the sociological features, by highlighting peculiar cases, risk factors, potential changing social trends, and comparing our cases with the current literature...

PURPOSE: This paper will investigate precursors to maternal filicide, focusing on domestic violence. While psychosis is often well described, less frequently explored are the connections between prior trauma, domestic violence, depression, and filicide. We will discuss reasons why a woman may not disclose domestic violence and suggest possible areas for intervention. METHODS: We present a case involving domestic violence, its impact on mental health, and eventual filicide...

BACKGROUND: Child homicide investigations are intricate, and the forensic examinations are of paramount importance in such cases. Despite this, the forensic profile of child homicides remains unexplored. OBJECTIVE: Our objective was to provide an overview of the forensic aspects and investigational challenges in Swedish child homicide cases spanning from 1998 to 2017, with a specific focus on enhancing investigative methods. PARTICIPANTS AND SETTING: 70 cases with 82 victims (41 girls, 41 boys) aged between 0 and 14 were included...

This study aims to explore the clinical and socio-demographic characteristics of 30 women who committed filicide and compare them to those of 60 postpartum women who did not commit filicide, including 30 with severe postpartum mental illness and 30 without a known history of psychiatric disorders. Clinical assessment included a face-to-face interview with the Structured Clinical Interviews for DSM-IV Axis I and Axis II Disorders. Information on socio-economic, medical, and personal factors was collected using the Clinical Interview for DSM-IV and organized in a clinical vignette and OPCRIT ratings...

Intrafamilial child/adolescent homicide is the murder of a child/adolescent by one or more family members. This study delves into the medical and sociological consequences of child homicide, shedding light on the broader impact beyond individual families, which extends into the local community. Two Internet search engines and the search engines of major national news websites were surveyed to identify the number of intrafamilial child/adolescent homicide cases that occurred in Greece from January 2010 to December 2020...

This Part II of the three-part presentation of the updated classification of combined-homicide published in the Journal of Forensic Sciences addresses intrafamilial homicide-suicides (H-Ss). Intrafamilial H-Ss in this classification includes all close relationships including dating and intimate partners, not just traditional family relationships, in contrast to extrafamilial H-Ss where the victim(s) of homicide are either strangers or in a more formal but nonintimate relationship with the actor. Intrafamilial H-Ss are further divided and classified as intimate partner, filicide, familicide, parricide, and siblicide H-Ss, respectively, and are typically so grouped in the literature...

We report a case of filicide which is an under-researched entity in Bangladesh. A 28-year-old lady visited with complaints of irregular eating followed by self-induced vomiting, poor anger control, irregular sleep, hopelessness, and suicidal thoughts for the last year. On the third visit, she admitted that she killed her 32-day-old baby by keeping it in a refrigerator. The case raises some forensic psychiatric complexities as the patient confessed it to the psychiatrist while family members know it as an accidental aspiration...

While much of work on homicide-suicide (HS) arises out of the USA and the UK, there is a paucity of research on HS outside of the Anglo-American sphere. This paper investigates HS in Hong Kong (HK), comparing the subtypes of filicide-suicide (FS) and mariticide/uxoricide-suicide (MUS) in that context as a means of testing the generalizability of past studies. Data from the HK Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) government and the HK Police Force reports retrieved 156 cases from 2000 to 2019. In that timeframe, HS resulted in 261 deaths, with MUS being the most prevalent type of HS...

The deliberate killing of a child by its mother is abhorrent and is associated in the minds of many with mental illness and in particular with postnatal depression. However, at least 50% of perpetrators are neither "mad" nor "bad", and mothers who kill children are not "unhinged" by pregnancy or childbirth. We propose a different explanation: "blind rage" or "overwhelmed syndrome", whereby parents, stressed to breaking point by sleep deprivation or incessant baby crying, respond by lethally harming their child contrary to previous behaviour...

No abstract text is available yet for this article.

Characterization of mentally ill maternal perpetrators of filicide assigned to a single psychiatric-forensic facility, including previous access to mental health services. A cross-sectional, retrospective analysis of medical records and legal documentation of maternal filicide patients at a single psychiatric-forensic facility (1990-2021) was performed. Socio-demographic, relationship, psychopathological, and criminological characteristics were collected. Data were compared according to previous perpetrators' access to mental health services or not and access within 1 year prior to filicide or not...

Current evolutionary psychological (EP) perspectives on filicide perpetration propose that it is an extreme behavioral manifestation of psychological mechanisms that evolved due to their function toward enabling ancestrally adaptive discriminative parental investment. Predictions concerning the characteristics traits of filicide derived from this hypothesis have been empirically supported cross-culturally. Still, it remains a theoretical and empirical question whether EP perspectives on filicide are applicable in societies where the general population is alleviated from ancestrally salient cues to reproductive conflict between individuals and children in their care and the opportunities for lethal caretaker behaviors are highly constricted...

This narrative review examines different aspects of homicide among mentally ill individuals to compare the rates of homicide by offenders with and without mental illness and investigate the stigma of mental illness and its consequences. It also evaluates the motives of mentally ill perpetrators and their characteristics and explores weapons of choice in homicides related to different mental disorders. Studies confirmed higher homicide rates among specific categories of mentally ill individuals who experienced maltreatment, unemployment, abuse in childhood, and substance abuse resulting from stigma and discrimination...

INTRODUCTION: The present research aims at analyzing criminological and medico-legal characteristics of intra-familiar homicides occurred in two major Italian cities (Milano and Monza) from the beginning of 2006 to the end of 2021. METHODS: Cases were identified using the Institutional database of the Institute of Legal Medicine of Milan, where all the autopsies of victims were performed. Data about these cases were obtained from autopsies findings, preliminary investigation reports, local papers and victim relatives' interviews...

Background & Objective: Filicide is an act of killing a child up to the age of 18 years committed by his or her parent(s) or parental figure(s), including guardians and stepparents. There is absence of data and research regarding filicide in South Asia. The present study aimed to address the empirical lacuna in South Asia and to expand the literature in order to broaden the understanding of filicide. Method: The search was conducted in the databases of PubMed, PubMed Central, Scopus, and Google Scholar...

Introduction: Consistent with international promulgation on the criminalization of filicide, Ghana's Children's Act 1998 (560) and the Criminal Justice Act criminalizes any form of torture against children. Yet, perpetrators of filicide in Ghana may go unpunished due to the beliefs in cultural norms that justify filicide acts. The cultural narratives of filicide can impede on the application and effectiveness of the laws of filicide. Method: The study employed a vignette approach to explore the views of 19 adults, who were parents between 69 years of age and 30 years of age, in rural and urban Ghana on the laws of filicide in Ghana and filicide intervention measures...

Despite the tremendous evidence of the harmful effects of maternal filicide on the lives of offenders, there is a scarcity on studies of their negative emotions and personal wellbeing especially in sub-Saharan Africa. Thus, this study was primarily aimed at assessing the prevalence of negative emotions experienced by filicide mothers and how they were associated with personal wellbeing in Rwanda. With an institutional-based cross-sectional study design, we measured the symptoms of anxiety, anger, shame, guilt, depression and personal well-being in a convenient sample of 55 filicidal mothers (mean age = 26...

Prevalence of homicide-suicides is difficult to determine in Greece due to the lack of a national tracking system. The aim of this study was to estimate the prevalence of the homicide-suicide incidents in Greece over the past 13 years, and to determine the circumstances under which they occurred, as well as the characteristics of perpetrators and victims. Two Internet search engines (google and yahoo), as well as the search engine of the major national news websites, were surveyed to identify the number of homicide-suicide cases that occurred in Greece from January 2008 to December 2020...

BACKGROUND: Most of the research on filicide mothers suggests that they experience negative feelings before they kill their child. However, little is known about whether these negative feelings can be expressed after one-year post-offense among incarcerated filicide mothers with no history of psychiatric problems. In this study, we aimed to conduct a qualitative analysis to (a) understand negative feelings evolving from negative emotions such as anger, guilt, shame, depression, and anxiety among filicide mothers incarcerated in Nyarugenge Prison in Rwanda, (b) identify the impact of experienced negative feelings on their personal wellbeing, and (c) explore their coping strategies...

At an international level, the risk assessment and management process of violent offenders follows a standard method that implies well-defined theoretical models and the use of scientifically validated tools. In Italy, this process is still highly discretionary. The aim of this study is to highlight the advantages deriving from the use of risk assessment tools within the framework of a single case study; Methods: Recidivism risk and social dangerousness of an Italian woman perpetrator of filicide were assessed through the administration of the Level of Service/Case Management Inventory (LS/CMI) instrument supported by Historical Clinical Risk-20 Version 3 (HCR-20 V3); Results: The administration of LS/CMI showed that, in this single case, the subcomponents represent a criminogenic risk/need factor are: Family/Marital, Companions, Alcohol and Drug Problem and Leisure; while constituting strengths: employment and the absence of a Pro-criminal Orientation and an Antisocial Pattern; Conclusions: Data collected through LS/CMI indicated life areas of a single case, which should be emphasised not only to assess the risk of re-offending and social dangerousness but also for a social rehabilitation programme more suited to the subject...