chapter 10

Chapter 10.

THE MURDER BOOK

Child Murder and Infanticide

Prepared by Dr. J.L. Flexon

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HISTORY

• The homicide of children is not new.

• Infanticide, the killing of infants, in particular, has existed throughout history.

• Infanticide is believed to have been practiced by primitive people and, to some degree, by nearly every culture and every class of people since primitive times.

• During the seventeenth and eighteenth century in France, fathers legally decided whether to let their children live or die.

• In 1741, in London, infanticide was so common that Thomas Coram established a foundling home to provide refuge for infants and young children cast away by their mothers because he found it disturbing to see babies dying in the gutters and rotting on trash heaps (deMause, 1988; Smith, 2006).

• Infanticide causes over time:

• Simple abuse and neglect

• Unmarried women have killed their babies because of stigma

• Infants have also been sacrificed for religious reasons

• A method of population control,

• Because their parents could not afford to raise them

• It has also been acceptable to kill babies with birth defects

• Because they are female.

• In present day China,for example,because females are culturally less valued than males, girl children are often killed.

OFFICIAL DATA ON CHILD HOMICIDE

• In most parts of the world, the murder of children is far less common than the murder of

adults, e.g., children make up 10% to 20% of all homicide victims in Australia, Canada,

the United Kingdom, and the United States.

• In a study of 26 high-income countries (1990s), the CDC found that the homicide rate

for children (younger than 15 years) in the United States was five times higher than

that for children in the other 25 countries combined (2.57 per 100,000 compared with

0.51).

• The rate of child homicides in most other parts of the world is much lower than it is in the

United States, but the number of homicides of children in some South American countries

is far worse than it is in the United States:

• Estimated 6 child homicides occur each day in the Brazilian streets of Rio—this is

the same as that given for the US. A comparison of the population size of Rio and the

US shows the child homicide rate in Rio is 47 times greater than the already high

rate of child homicide in America.

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TYPES OF CHILD KILLING

• Neonaticide is the murder of a newborn within the first 24 hours of his or her life.

• Most common methods: strangulation & suffocation followed by head trauma, drowning, exposure, & stabbing

• Known Risk factors: Low birth weight (child), late or no prenatal care, and social and economic stresses; many mothers who commit neonaticide also are lacking in formal education

• Neonaticide is far from uncommon. Example, LA police report 5 8 newborns a year.

• Infanticide is defined as the killing of an infant child who is generally less than 1 year old.

• US, homicide ranks 15th leading causes of death for children in their first year of life.

• Homicide risk is greater for a child in his/her 1st year of life than in any other year before age 17yrs.

• The risk for infanticide is greatest during the first 4 months of life and is most likely on the first day of life.

• For the years 1989 1998, Paulozzi and Wells (2001) found the homicide rate for the first day of life was ten times greater than the rate during any other time of life; 7.3% of all infant homicides occurred on the day of birth and thus could be defined as neonaticides.

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TYPES (CONT.)

• In the UK and Australia, infanticide is defined within the law as a crime committed by the mother during the first 12 months of her infant’s life; father cannot by definition commit infanticide in these countries (though of course they do)

• In the US, infanticide is generally included in homicide statutes, and in common usage refers to the killing of infants without regard to who the offender is or how the offender may be related to the victim.

• Data (US) indicates that both women and men kill infants, but are most likely to be killed by their mother up until they are a week old and then they are more likely to be killed by a male typically their father or stepfather.

• Prolicide is the killing of one’s offspring, includes both infanticide & killing of a fetus in utero.

• A more common term for the killing of one’s own children is filicide, which refers to the killing of one’s own child (including a stepchild) and thus could include the killing of an adult child.

• More frequently refers to the killing of a minor child and thus could include both neonaticides and infanticides.

• Children under 5 years of age only: fathers (including stepfathers) make up a slightly higher percentage (31% vs. 30%) of killers than do mothers (including stepmothers) (Bureau of Justice Statistics, 2003).

CONTINUED…

• No clear pattern has emerged in the data outside of the US either.

• Australia data indicate that biological mothers have been more likely to kill their

children than biological fathers -except for children under 1, 55.8% were killed by

their fathers

• In Canada, children under 1 are equally likely to be killed by their mother/father.

• In Fiji, biological mothers the perpetrator in 75% of the 49 child homicide cases

1982-1994 (in which a biological parent was responsible for the crime)

• Stepchildren are overrepresented among child victims (more often killed by step-father)

• For biological mothers and fathers only, the data may show that biological mothers edge

out biological fathers among filicide offenders.

FILICIDE-SUICIDE

• Filicide-suicid occurs when children are killed by their parents as part of a murder-suicide

• Tend to share some commonalities regardless of which parent:

• Child victims of filicide-suicide and the parent offenders tend to be older

• Far more likely that the offender is a biological parent vs. stepparent

• The perpetrators tend to kill all of their children rather than leaving any of them alive

• Parents who kill more than one of their children are more likely to commit suicide than those who kill only one of their children.

• Fathers kill connected to a disagreement with the child’s mother

• Mothers tend to kill their children because they fear their children will not have anyone to care for them once the mother commits suicide.

• Suicidal filicide mothers that Adler and Polk (2001) studied in Victoria, Australia, were more likely to have tried to get psychiatric treatment than suicidal-filicide fathers.

• Filicide-suicides by fathers who kill their children and themselves are far more likely than suicidal homicidal mothers to also kill their spouses = familicide

FAMILICIDE

• Familicide, is sometimes referred to the killing of a whole family, but is more often used

to define a multivictim homicide in which the offender kills his or her spouse or former

spouse and at least one or more of either of their children

• When women kill they are most likely to kill their partners or their children; they rarely

kill both their children and their spouse in one

• Committed more often by fathers

• England, Wales, and Canada data suggest that the percentage of children killed by

gunshot is higher in familicides than the percentage of children killed by their parents

or stepparents in nonfamilicide likely because many children who are killed by their

parents in these countries are beaten to death or otherwise die at the hands of their

parents as opposed to the parents using a weapon

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WEAPON USE: HOW ARE CHILDREN

MURDERED?

• Weapons most commonly used to kill children in the US changes from personal weapons such as hands, feet, and fists to firearms as the age of the children increases.

• Young children who are killed die as the result of child abuse by their caretakers.

• Victims < 5 years were most often killed by personal weapons, such as the killer’s hands, feet, or fists.

• The most frequent weapon used to kill those ages 5 8 were firearms (29.3%); and 17% in this age group were killed by personal weapons.

• Among those age 9+, the most common weapon was a firearm, and as age increases so does the percentage killed by firearms.

• 9 12; (46.3%) killed with firearms

• 13 16; (74.8%) killed with firearms

• 17 19; (80.8%) killed with firearms

• Children in each age category were also killed with knives, blunt objects , fire, asphyxiation.

• Strangling and poison were used, but not across all age categories

• US; Guns are more likely used

• Firearm related homicide for children younger than 15 years is far higher in the United States than in other countries (See CDC study)

KILLING TIMES AND SEASONS: WHEN ARE CH...

• The peak time of the day for child homicide is different than the peak time for adults .

• Child homicides: higher during daytime hours compared to nighttime hours, peak on weekdays as opposed to adult homicides that are higher on the weekends

• Seasonal differences are also seen and the homicide of children varies by age of the child victim.

• Winter is when we see increases in the homicide of children who are younger than 2 years. In contrast, the homicide of children ages 5 to 14 is higher in the summer

• Children of school age are likely to have increased risk for homicide in the summer because they are out of school and have more opportunity to be victimized by both strangers and family members.

• For infants, the winter months may be more stressful for parents (those most likely to kill infants), who are more likely to be feel trapped alone in the house with their small children and perhaps even with small children who are suffering from winter colds and thus less pleasant to be around than usual.

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AGE, SEX, AND RACE: WHO IS KILLED?

• Age: Older teens are most at risk for homicide, with 17 19 far outweighing the other age categories (Figure 10.3)

• Very young children, age birth to 4 years, follow teens in the most likely risk for homicide.

• Elementary school age children (5 to 12 years) are least at risk.

• Australia data differs, the peak for those in the infant category is higher than that of the teenage category

• Sex: the rate of homicide does not differ significantly for boys and girls at younger ages; There is a difference by sex in the teenage years.

• Boys make up 79% of the youngsters killed in the 13 to 16 year age category and 87% of those killed in the 17 to 19 year age group and are most likely to be killed by other teenage males.

• Young females are more likely than boys of the same age to be victims in sexually motivated abduction homicides.

• CDC data (2002 National Center for Injury Prevention) 669 boys ages 13 17 were the victims of homicide, 3rd most common cause of death among boys in this age group and most (86.1%) were killed with firearms and 6.4% were stabbed. During this same year, 192 girls between the ages of 13 17 were victims of homicide in the US, the 4th leading cause of death for teenage girls. Like teenage boys, most teenage girls were killed with firearms (63%); however, indicative of sexual victimization, many female teenage homicide victims were stabbed (9.4%) or suffocated (12%).

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AGE, SEX, AND RACE: WHO IS KILLED? (CONT.)

• Race: (1997 data; rate)

• African American children rate was 9.11 per 100,000

• Hispanic juveniles rate was 5.0 per 100,000

• White children rate 1.8 per 100,000

• (2003 data in Table 10.1) present the numbers of children killed in each age and race category.

• More white children are killed than children in other race groups in the three categories under the age of 12 by the numbers, but whites make up approximately 75% of the U.S. population (U.S.Census Bureau,2000).

• Approximately 15% of children in the United States are African American and as child victims of homicide outnumber other race categories in the three oldest age group categories: In 2003, nearly half of 9 to 12 year old victims and over half of the 13 to 19 year old victims were African American.

• The victim/offender relationship varied for the different racial groups.

• Approximately two thirds (67.7%) of white child victims were believed to have been killed by family members

• Family members were suspects in just under half (48.8%) of African American child homicides

• Family members were suspects in just over a third (37.2%) of Hispanic child homicides

TRENDS: IS CHILD HOMICIDE INCREASING O...

• What can be said about child homicide varies by the age of the children and base rates must be clear.

• Infanticide; infanticide nearly doubled from 4.3 per 100,000 in 1970 to 9.2 per 100,000 in 2000 and then decreased to 7.8 per 100,000 in 2003. According to CDC data, there were 303 infanticides in 2002 and 318 in 2003.

• <18 year olds; US DOJ data, the 1,610 juveniles) murdered in the United States in 2000 reflected the lowest number of juveniles murdered since 1985. The peak was 2,880 in 1993

• Sex differences: the murder rate for girl children remaining approximately the same from 1980 to 1998 before it dropped to the lowest it had been in 21 years in 2000. At this same time, the murder rate among boy children increased 117% between 1984 and 1993 before dropping to 8% above its lowest level in the previous 21 years in 2000.

• Race differences: despite decreasing rates among black children, the rates have remained higher for black children as compared to their white counterparts.

• The murder rates among juveniles ages 12 to 17 show a similar pattern with an increase of 163% for blacks and an increase of 49% for whites between 1980 and 1993. The years between 1993 and 2000 saw a decrease of 64% for blacks 12- to 17 years old and a decrease of 51% for whites in this same age group

WHO KILLS CHILDREN?

• Individuals who are known to the child are far more likely to be the perpetrators of child homicide than strangers (i.e., parents, family members, ect)

• Unlike other types of homicide, child homicide is frequently committed by women, but patterns vary by age.

• Women are more often the offenders in neonaticide and infanticide cases, e.g., two thirds of children who are killed in the first 6 days of life are killed by their own mothers.

• Most children are killed by adults (75%); 21% by children; 4% by a child and adult

• Child homicide victims who are killed by other children are most likely to be adolescents, e.g., 39% of all child murders with victims 12 to 17 years of age were committed by other children. Only 9% of those younger than 2 and 11% of those between ages 2 and 11 are killed by other children.

• Killed by Strangers: Rare occurrence, but happens

• As the age of child victims of homicide increase, the likelihood that they were murdered by a stranger increases, especially for males, but does not mean it was an abduction homicide.

• As children age, so does the likelihood that they will be killed in the context of another crime, i.e., gang violence or homicides, for instance, involving drug dealers or confrontational homicides (see Chapter 7).

MOTIVES

• Sociological Perspective: Different structural factors are associated with infant and child homicide

• Homicides of children are highest in countries where women have more responsibility for raising children without the assistance of the children’s fathers.

• High rates of illegitimacy, higher numbers of births to teenage mothers, and high divorce rates are associated with child homicide -but only in countries where the level of government spending on social programs is lower.

• Infant homicide is also more likely in countries lacking social welfare programs and where rates of births to teenage mothers are higher.

• Rates of child homicide are higher where there are larger percentages of racial minorities, greater poverty, and urbanization

• Concern: ecological fallacy -just because aggregate measures are related that they don’t necessarily explain individual cases. For example, if divorce rates are associated with higher rates of child homicide, it is not necessarily the case that children whose parents are divorced are more likely to be victims of homicide.

MOTIVES (CONT.)

• Psychological Perspectives: likely label those who kill children, especially mothers who

kill their own children, as mentally ill.

• Examples: Münchhausen by proxy & postpartum depression

• Münchhausen syndrome by proxy, otherwise known as factitious disorder, is a

controversial diagnosis. Caretakers suffering from Münchhausen syndrome by proxy

report fictitious symptoms or, worse, cause symptoms in a person they are taking

care of so they can gain attention. Mothers most often diagnosed.

• Münchhausen syndrome by proxy is rare, with an estimated 600 cases a year in the

United States, and importantly, most individuals diagnosed with the syndrome do not

kill their children. However, the syndrome has been linked to a few cases of homicide

in which mothers have killed their own children.

ABUSE AND CHILD HOMICIDE

• In one study, murdered children were 3.14 times more likely to have come to the attention of social service professionals because of abuse than those who died from unintentional injuries

• More than half of the murdered children (57.3%) in this study had no official history of abuse or maltreatment.

 It is likely that many children who are abused never come to the attention of social service agencies, and thus their deaths may not be recorded as child abuse deaths.

• Children also die from neglect.

• Maternal stress has been implicated in child murder

 SIDS: some child fatalities caused by abuse may be incorrectly recorded as injuries or as sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS)

• The sudden death of a child younger than 1 year is labeled SIDS if an extensive investigation of the death finds no viable explanation. SIDS remains a mystery, although national campaigns encouraging parents to place babies face up in their cribs have reduced the number of SIDS deaths.

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CRIMINAL JUSTICE PROCESSING: WHAT HAPP...

• Has not been well studied.

• Mann (1993) study of maternal filicide in which women killed their preschool age children in six cities in the years 1979 1983 finding 84% were charged with murder and 16% were charged with manslaughter initially.

• Manslaughter was the most common ruling, with 42.8% of the cases ending in a disposition of murder.

• 10 sentenced to prison, 9 were sentenced to probation, 3 cases were dismissed or never processed, 1 woman committed suicide, and 2 cases of juvenile neonaticide were sealed by the court.

• In 2005, Mandy Locke, for the The News & Observer, summarized the results of 44 cases of children who died from violent shaking in North Carolina from 1999 2003.

• 2 people were sentenced to prison for life after being found guilty of shaking a baby to death.

• 21 others were sentenced to prison, but more than half of them received sentences of less than ten years.

• For the remaining 18 cases of shaken baby death, no prison sentences were ordered, and in 10 cases, no one was charged in the death.

 Prosecutors cite a lack of forensic evidence and witnesses make these cases difficult to prosecute

LINKS

• National Center for Missing and Exploited Children:

• http://www.missingkids.com/home

• Causes of Death by Ag Group (and race). These charts are also applicable to the earlier

material reviewed so far:

• http://www.cdc.gov/injury/wisqars/LeadingCauses.html