Men who kill their own children: paternal filicide incidents in contemporary Fiji.
نویسنده
چکیده
OBJECTIVE Filicide, or parental murder of offspring, constitutes a major portion of lethal violence perpetrated against children worldwide. Despite the global nature of the phenomenon, researchers have focused their studies on the developed industrialized societies with the consequent neglect of small, developing societies. Second, there is a paucity of empirical data on child homicide committed by fathers. This study therefore explores the nature and extent of paternal filicides in Fiji, a non-Western society, and the social and cultural forces underlying them in order to enhance our knowledge of the phenomenon. METHOD Information was obtained from a number of sources, including (a) a police homicide logbook, (b) newspaper reports of homicide, and (c) detailed interviews conducted with criminal justice and medical personnel. Information from these data sources were consolidated to construct case histories of paternal filicides. These cases were then analyzed for dominant themes. Case illustrations are presented in the text. RESULTS Several of the study's findings are congruent with other studies of paternal filicides: poor, working class fathers were the offenders in all cases. As a corollary, their victims were from low socioeconomic backgrounds. Regarding location, paternal filicides occurred in the home of the offender and victim. The filicides were the culmination of stresses and strains associated with marital disharmony and excessive corporal child-control strategies. CONCLUSIONS The general conclusion of this study is that further research in non-Western societies has the potential to increase our understanding of the social factors and processes involved in paternal child murders. We will then be better positioned to craft effective intervention strategies.
منابع مشابه
Filicide: Mental Illness in Those Who Kill Their Children
BACKGROUND Most child victims of homicide are killed by a parent or step-parent. This large population study provides a contemporary and detailed description of filicide perpetrators. We examined the relationship between filicide and mental illness at the time of the offence, and care received from mental health services in the past. METHOD All filicide and filicide-suicide cases in England a...
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The purpose of this phenomenological study was to identify commonly occurring factors in filicide-suicide offenders, to describe this phenomenon better, and ultimately to enhance prevention of child murder. Thirty families' files from a county coroner's office were reviewed for commonly occurring factors in cases of filicide-suicide. Parental motives for filicide-suicide included altruistic and...
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Murder followed by suicide (M-S) is a rare phenomenon that has been studied in several countries. Previous studies show that offenders of M-S are predominately men who live in an intimate relationship. Amorous jealousy is often the trigger to commit M-S. Shooting is the most common way to kill a partner and/or children. In general, women are likely to become victims. The aim of this study was t...
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ورودعنوان ژورنال:
- Child abuse & neglect
دوره 27 5 شماره
صفحات -
تاریخ انتشار 2003