An Abominable Crime: Filicide in the Context of Parental Separation and Divorce

Abstract

The victims of filicide in the context of parental separation and divorce have recently been identified as the largest group among all filicide victims in Australia. Nevertheless, research into this group of victims has been sparse, fragmentary and contradictory, with the consequence that confusion has prevailed. This article critically reflects on the existing research on filicide and argues that it has been insufficiently comprehensive and reliable and, therefore, is not suitable for use as a knowledge base for professional individuals, programmatic and policy interventions, and prevention. The article suggests ways of developing more reliable research for knowledge building and details the data developed so far that underpins their recommendations for a national programme of research.

Indirect Abuse Involving Children During the Separation Process

“…Of the 98 domestic homicide cases from 2005 to 2008 reviewed by the Arizona Coalition Against Domestic Violence, 22 of them involved children (as cited in Jaffe et al, 2012). Separation and prior history of intimate partner violence have been identified as preceding factors in child filicide (Bourget, Grace, & Whitehurst, 2007;Brown & Tyson, 2012;Jaffe et al, 2012). There have been a number of high profile cases where abusers have murdered children as an act of revenge for the victim beginning the process of separation (Jaffe, Campbell, Olszowy, & Hamilton, 2014).…”

Longitudinal Analysis of Australian Filicide Perpetration Trends: Filicide in Victoria, 1860–1920

“…At the committal hearing, he stated that 'this is all caused by my wife drinking and going with other men' (VPRS264/P0001/6). This mirrors contemporary offenders' motives for killing their families (Brown and Tyson 2012;Debowska, Boduszek and Dhingra 2015). Domestic abuse figured in two cases.…”

“…The 'motivational' approach to filicide has received criticism, with Silva and colleagues (1998) arguing that social and cultural environments should be taken into account, and that understanding motive alone leads to ineffective evaluations of the crime. Nevertheless, motive continues to inform filicide research through five key categories: altruistic, fatal abuse (sometimes referred to as accidental), retaliatory, neonaticide and mental illness (Brown and Tyson 2012).…”

filicidio en España.

“…El término filicidio suele emplearse, en general, para referirse a la muerte de un hijo a manos de alguno de sus padres, biológicos o no (Bourget et al, 2007;Brown y Tyson, 2012;Palermo, 2002;Putkonen et al, 2009). Este fenómeno tiene una estrecha relación con otros homicidios que se dan en el ámbito familiar, como son el neonaticidio o el infanticidio.…”

“…En el uso del propio término filicidio existen discrepancias entre los autores, ya que algunos lo usan para referirse únicamente a la muerte de un hijo menor de edad (Putkonen et al, 2010), mientras que otros no limitan los casos a una edad concreta (Brown et al, 2019;Mariano et al, 2014). La existencia y utilización indistinta de diferentes denominaciones para el mismo fenómeno, así como las diferentes conceptualizaciones de lo que es un filicidio, dificultan la cuantificación, comparación y, en general, el estudio de este fenómeno (Bourget et al, 2007;Brown y Tyson, 2012).…”