Physical Violence

Abstract

Infanticide is usually committed by mentally ill mothers, violent fathers, or poor families. Some parents commit suicide after committing filicide. One researcher reported that 10 percent of parents who committed filicide had histories of substance abuse (Eliason, 2009). Some experts believe that this figure may be a low estimate. Substance abuse correlates with poverty, depression, trauma, and suicide. Drugs and alcohol significantly correlate with crime in numerous studies, yet filicide does not have a high correlation with history of criminal behavior. Only 25 percent of fathers and 10 percent of mothers who committed filicide had any criminal history. In general, murder-suicide tends to correlate with people involved in lawsuits; typically older couples. More than three-quarters of people who commit murder-suicide are employed full time. However, researchers found that, within populations that committed filicide-suicide, 90 percent of fathers and 30 percent of mothers were employed. Thus, among mothers who commit filicide-suicide, traditional suicide predictors may not be present; but fathers’ criminal history, poverty, and other factors may be more predictive (Nau, McNiel, and Binder, 2012). Older perpetrators may be more likely to be afflicted with mental illness. Younger women who are unmarried may be more likely to be motivated by emotional, spiritual, and social problems.