Mothers who kill: Crosscultural patterns on contemporary maternal filicide

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Mothers who kill Cross-cultural patterns on
contemporary maternal filicide

• Based on research by Michelle Oberman (2003)

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Maternal filicide

• Is not random or unpredictable crime
• It is actually imbedded in
• And responsive to the society in which it occurs

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One fundamental similarity

• Mother was unable to parent their child
• under the circumstances dictated by
• Position in society
• Place
• Time

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Best way to protect children

• Reevaluate societal norms which govern motherhood
  and womens status

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Neonaticide

• Killing of ones offspring within the first 24
  hours of life
• Typically involve young women
• Wide range of socio-economic, religious and
  racial background
• The women deny that they are pregnant

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• Denial triggered by fear they will be cut off by
  social support network
• Boyfriends almost always leave as soon as they
  realize their condition

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Neonaticide

• Have a true sense of fear regarding their
  pregnancy
• Tend to be deeply ambivalent
• Due to religion, culture, money, ambivalence and
  immaturity, they are unable or unwilling to
  pursue either abortion or adoption

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Disassociate

• From their own bodies during pregnancy
• Deny the inevitable
• Mistake labor pains for a need to defecate
• Overwhelming majority give birth on the toilet

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• Often give birth in complete silence
• This could be caused by psychotic dissociation
• Subsequent psychiatric evaluation reveals that
  prior to pregnancy
• Suffered from severe dissociative states
• Associated with history of early abuse and
  chaotic family life

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Fatal child neglect

• Not intentional killings
• Usually occurs when mother is distracted from or
  inattentive to her childs needs
• Example babies who die in tub while mom answers
  phone in another room

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• Occasionally the mom was socializing while the
  child is left unattended
• Majority of these moms live alone
• Isolated
• Relatively poor

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Historically

• Fatal child neglect would have been treated as
  tragic accidents
• Contemporary U.S. this is treated as homicides

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Abuse-related maternal filicide

• Women who kill during an episode of violent abuse
• Sometimes it is a single act of violence
• Majority of cases there is a long history of
  child abuse

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Predictable patterns in abuse-related deaths

• Specific hours during each day children are most
  at risk of death by homicide
• Coincide with mealtimes and bedtimes
• Often stressful, arguments and need to disciple
  (even in stable loving households)

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Assisted or coerced maternal filicide

• Women who kill in conjunction with their male
  partner
• Reflects the overlapping problems of domestic
  violence and child abuse
• Most of these moms fail to intervene to protect
  their child from harm

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Purposeful maternal filicide

• Mothers manifest some degree of mental illness
• Combination of moms mental illness and her
  relative isolation as primary caretaker
• Occurs when severely ill women who are expected
  to care for their children, without any outside
  support for extended periods

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Andrea Yates

• History of suicidal behavior and post partum
  depression
• Hospitalized one month prior to drowning her five
  children
• Doctor and family knew she was suicidal

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Andrea felt pressured to

• Return home to her family
• Home schooling four of her children
• Caring for newborn
• Attending to her frail mother
• Mourning the death of her father from Alzheimer's

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• Rusty Yates worked long hours
• He refused to have outside babysitters in his
  home
• Andreas only relief was when her mother-in-law
  visited (which was rare)

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Contemporary India

• In developed nations sex ratio is 1050 females to
  100 males
• In India sex ratio is 927 females to 1000 males
• Only explanation for a sex ratio that favors
  males is social intervention

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Excessive female child morality is caused by
several factors

• Female maternal filicide
• Prenatal screening and sex-selective abortion
• Neglect of the nutritional and health care needs
  for girl children

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Underlying cause of female maternal filicide in
India

• Low status of women
• Decreasing fertility
• Son preference
• Spread of dowry across all caste groups

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Unlike in the U.S.

• Women who commit neonaticide do not conceal their
  pregnancies
• They are married and not isolated
• Families are aware of their pregnancies
• And often insist unwanted daughters are destroyed

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Contemporary Fiji

• Majority of the population are of Indian descent
• Unemployment rate is high
• Most live in rural setting
• Access to family planning services is limited
• Abortion is illegal
• Births outside marriage are scorned

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Similar to U.S.

• Most neonaticidal moms concealed their pregnancy
• Little evidence of gender specific maternal
  filicide
• No dowry system

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Historically

• When a culture has stringent restrictions on
  womens sexuality
• Including illegal abortions, lack of
  contraception and single parenting is not
  accepted
• Neonatides will increase

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Contemporary Fiji

• Domestic violence is common
• No neglect-related maternal filicide occurs

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Contemporary Hungary

• Declining birth rate (-0.5)
• Government has pronatalist policies
• Police statistics one child is murdered by its
  mother every week
• 50 of these cases involve infants

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Starting in 1994

• Government introduced new measures
• Halted funding of contraceptive pills
• Monthly income is 100 (U.S.) and the pill costs
  3.50

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• 80 of adolescents are sexually active
• Large percentage do not usual any form of
  contraception
• Abortion is restricted. Woman must prove a
  crisis situation before it is allowed

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Vulnerabilities of Hungarian women

• Hard to secure employment and housing
• Sexual harassment in the workplace is virtually
  epidemic
• There are no laws against sexual harassment
• Domestic violence is commonplace
• Few shelters, no restraining orders exist

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• Rape is viewed as a private crime
• Age of consent is 14
• Rape victims behavior is seen as material
  element in the case

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Hungary is learning the hard way

• Restricting abortion does not necessarily result
  in higher birth rates
• Good sex education and subsidized contraceptives
  are needed
• You cannot force women to have babies against
  their wishes