Child Murder by Parents and Evolutionary Psychology

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Key Points

  • Most child homicides are perpetrated by their parents. Mothers and fathers are responsible for similar numbers of deaths.

  • The highest risk of child homicide victimization is on the first day of life, known as “neonaticide”; these perpetrators are most often mothers.

  • Stepparents kill at much higher rates than genetic parents.

  • Evolutionary psychology helps explain some filicides as rational acts.

  • The most common motive for child murder by parents is fatal child maltreatment related to chronic abuse

Evolutionary psychology and filicide

In The Origin of Species, Darwin7 outlined a theory of evolution by “natural selection.” Natural selection acts to preserve and accumulate minor advantageous trait mutations within a given species, thus enabling that species to compete better in its ecologic habitat. Spencer8 later coined the term “survival of the fittest” to describe this process. Evolutionary theory has five underlying principles (Table 1): (1) variation, (2) competition, (3) offspring, (4) genetics, and (5) natural selection.

Nature of the problem: epidemiology

The United States has the highest rate of child murder among developed nations. It is the fourth leading cause of death from ages 1 to 11 in the United States. The most common perpetrator of child homicide is a parent. The highest risk to the child is on the first day of life.17, 18 In a North Carolina study, 2.1 per 100,000 infants were killed on the first day of life.19 In infancy, the US rate of homicide is 8 per 100,000, several times higher than Canada at 2.9 per 100,000.20 The rates of

Neonaticide

Neonaticide is the murder of an infant in the first day of its life. Neonaticide has consistently been described as being different than other filicides in motive and characteristics of the perpetrator.21, 22 In developing nations, there has been differential killing of female newborns for economic reasons.23, 24 Although this does not obviously match predictions according to Fisher’s concept of maintaining a 1:1 sex ratio, it does reflect a type of coercion strategy as discussed by Daly and

Motives of child murder by parents and the role of mental illness

Motives for filicide include fatal child maltreatment, unwanted child, partner revenge, altruistic, and acutely psychotic (Table 2).51

Preparation for the Forensic Evaluation

For general recommendations regarding conducting forensic evaluations, refer to the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law guidelines.56 Specific recommendations are provided here for the evaluator in cases of filicide. When evaluating a parent charged with filicide, the forensic examiner should obtain the precise standard for NGRI in the relevant jurisdiction from the referring attorney. Reviewing a copy of jury instructions is also useful. The attorney can also be asked to research

Summary

Despite public perception, a large percentage of filicides are committed by parents who are not seriously mentally ill. In the evaluation of parents who have killed, the motive for the filicide must be elucidated. Motives include fatal child maltreatment, unwanted child, partner revenge, altruistic, and acutely psychotic. The likelihood of mental illness varies with the motive for the filicide. Evolutionary psychology helps explain differences between evolutionarily normal rationales for

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    Disclosures: None.

    Portions of this paper were presented at the Royal Australia New Zealand College of Psychiatry (Forensic Section)/Australia New Zealand Academy of Psychiatry, Psychology and the Law meeting, Wellington, New Zealand, November 2011.

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