Maternal Filicide: A Review of Psychological and External Demographic Risk Factors

ABSTRACT

Filicide is an extreme form of homicide defined as the murder of a child at the hand of their parent. Women who kill are often portrayed in the media as angry, psychopathic, vengeful murderers, and their own experiences are often not included. Understanding filicide is complex; it is a mix of both social and psychological factors. This article focuses on a review of literature from 1961–2020. We also review a classification model which identifies filicidal motives including altruistic, acutely psychotic, unwanted child, accidental, and spouse revenge. Characteristics of filicide victims, including age and gender will also be discussed. Additionally, characteristics of maternal perpetrators, including marital status, education level, feelings of rejection, and exposure to neglect or substance abuse will be explored. This paper also reviews psychological risk factors associated with filicide through highlighting differences between psychotic and non-psychotic female perpetrators Lastly, prevention of filicide, including a focus on providing education of risk factors and appropriate language in order to avoid miscommunication and oversight will be explored.

KEYWORDS:

• Filicide
• psychiatric illness
• female offenders
• psychological risk factors
• external risk factors
• psychosis

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).