Filicide is the killing of a child by a parent or parent equivalent. Between 2000–01 and 2011–12, there were 238 incidents of filicide in Australia involving the death of 284 children. This paper examines the characteristics of custodial parents, non-custodial parents and step-parents charged with the murder or manslaughter of their children. Offender circumstances and characteristics differed according to the offender’s gender and custodial relationship with the victim. As filicide is difficult to predict, intervention strategies should focus on families with multiple risk factors and address the needs of parents as well as those of children at risk.
References
URLs correct as at April 2014
Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) 2018. Recorded crime – Offenders, 2016–17. ABS cat. no. 4519.0. Canberra: ABS. https://www.abs.gov.au/AUSSTATS/abs@.nsf/Lookup/4519.0Main+Features12016-17?OpenDocument=
Bourget D & Gagné P 2005. Paternal filicide in Québec. Journal of the American Academy Psychiatry and the Law 33: 354–360
Bourget D, Grace J & and Whitehurst L 2007. A review of maternal and paternal filicide. Journal of the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law 35(1): 74–82
Brown T, Lyneham S, Bryant W, Bricknell S, Tomison A, Tyson D & Fernandez Arias P 2019. Filicide in Australia 2000–2012. A national study. Report to the Criminology Research Advisory Council. CRG 52/14–15. Canberra: Australian Institute of Criminology. https://www.aic.gov.au/crg/reports/crg-5214-15
Brown T & Tyson D 2012. An abominable crime: Filicide in the context of parental separation and divorce. Children Australia 37(4): 150–159
Brown T, Tyson D & and Fernandez Arias P 2014. Filicide and parental separation and divorce. Child Abuse Review 23(2): 79–88
Bryant W & Bricknell S 2017. Homicide in Australia 2012–13 to 2013–14: National Homicide Monitoring Program report. Statistical Report no. 2. Canberra: Australian Institute of Criminology. https://www.aic.gov.au/publications/sr/sr2
Butler A & Buxton E 2013. Trends and issues in filicide deaths: A review of all NSW filicide deaths in the context of domestic violence. Addressing Filicide: Inaugural International Conference for Cross National Dialogue, Prato, Italy, 29–30 May
Daly M & Wilson M 1994. Some differential attributes of lethal assaults on small children by stepfathers versus genetic fathers. Ethnology and Sociobiology 15(4): 207–217
Dixon S, Krienert JL & Walsh J 2014. Filicide: A gendered profile of offender, victim, and event characteristics in a national sample of reported incidents, 1995–2009. Journal of Crime and Justice 37(3): 339–355
Eriksson L, Mazerolle P, Wortley R & Johnson H 2014. Maternal and paternal filicide: Case studies from the Australian homicide project. Child Abuse Review 25(1): 17–30
Frederico M, Jackson A & Dwyer J 2014. Child protection and cross-sector practice: An analysis of child death reviews to inform practice when multiple parental risk factors are present. Child Abuse Review 23(2): 104–115
Friedman SH, Hrouda DR, Holden CE, Noffsinger SG & Resnick PJ 2005. Filicide-suicide: Common factors in parents who kill their children and themselves. Journal of the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law 33(4): 496–504
Harris GT, Hilton NZ, Rice ME & Eke AW 2007. Children killed by genetic parents versus stepparents. Evolution and Human Behavior 28: 85–95
Johnson CH 2008. Intimate partner homicide and familicide in Western Australia. Keynote Paper. Australian Institute of Criminology. International Conference on Homicide. Surfers Paradise, Queensland, 3–5 Dec
Kaspiew R, Gray M, Weston R, Moloney L, Hand K & Qu L 2009. Evaluation of the 2006 family law reforms. Melbourne: Australian Institute of Family Studies. https://webarchive.nla.gov.au/awa/20110408173547/http://www.aifs.gov.au/institute/pubs/fle/index.html
Kirkwood D 2012. ‘Just say goodbye’: Parents who kill their children in the context of separation. Discussion Paper no. 8. Melbourne: Domestic Violence Resource Centre Victoria. https://webarchive.nla.gov.au/awa/20190403173113/https://www.dvrcv.org.au/knowledge-centre/our-publications/discussion-papers/just-say-goodbye
Kunz J & Bahr SJ 1996. A profile of parental homicide against children. Journal of Family Violence 11: 347–362
Liem M & Koenraadt F 2008. Filicide: A comparative study of maternal versus paternal child homicide. Criminal Behaviour and Mental Health 18(3): 166–176
Mariano TY, Chan HCO & Myers WC 2014. Towards a more holistic understanding of filicide: A multidisciplinary analysis of 32 years of U.S. arrest data. Forensic Science International 236: 46–53
Mouzos J & Rushforth C 2003. Family homicide in Australia. Trends & issues in crime and criminal justice no. 255. Canberra: Australian Institute of Criminology. https://www.aic.gov.au/publications/tandi/tandi255
Pritchard C & Bagley C 2001. Suicide and murder in child murderers and child sexual abusers. Journal of Forensic Psychiatry 12(2): 269–286
Pritchard C, Davey J & Williams R 2013. Who kills children? Re-examining the evidence. British Journal of Social Work 43(7): 1403–1438
Putkonen H, Amon S, Eronen M, Klier CM, Almiron MP, Cederwall JY & Weizmann-Henelius G 2010. Child murder and gender differences: A nationwide register-based study of filicide offenders in two European countries. Journal of Forensic Psychiatry and Psychology 21(5): 637–648
Resnick PJ 1970. Murder of the newborn: A psychiatric review of neonaticide. American Journal of Psychiatry 126(10): 1414–1420
Resnick PJ 1969. Child murder by parents: A psychiatric review of filicide. American Journal of Psychiatry 126 (3): 325–334
Rhoades H, Graycar R & Harrison M 2000. The Family Law Reform Act 1995: The first three years. Sydney: University of Sydney & Family Court of Australia. https://webarchive.nla.gov.au/awa/20040601113752/http://www.familycourt.gov.au/papers/pdf/famlaw.pdf
Sidebotham P 2013. Rethinking filicide. Child Abuse Review 22(5): 305–310
Sidebotham P, Brandon M, Bailey S, Belderson P, Dodsworth J, Garstang J, Harrison E, Retzer A & Sorensen P 2016. Pathways to harm, pathways to protection: A triennial analysis of serious case reviews 2011 to 2014. Final report May 2016. London: UK Department for Education. https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/analysis-of-serious-case-reviews-2011-to-2014
Somander L & Rammer L 1991. Intra- and extrafamilial child homicide in Sweden 1971–1980. Child Abuse & Neglect 15(1–2): 44–55
Stroud J 2013. Responding to and understanding filicide: Challenges and psychosocial perspectives. Addressing Filicide: Inaugural International Conference for Cross National Dialogue, Prato, Italy, 29–30 May
Stroud J & Pritchard C 2001. Child homicide, psychiatric disorder and dangerousness: A review and an empirical approach. British Journal of Social Work 31(2): 249–269
Weekes-Shackelford VA & Shackelford TK 2004. Methods of filicide: Stepparents and genetic parents kill differently. Violence and Victims 19: 75–81
West SG, Friedman SH & Resnick PJ 2009. Fathers who kill their children: An analysis of the literature. Journal of Forensic Science 54: 463–468