As shocking as it might be, parents are arrested for filicide around 500 times a year in the United States. And while fathers account for about 54% to 58%, mothers commit roughly 40% of these horrible crimes.
Parental Filicide and Maternal Filicide are considered rare if we compare how many times that takes place with the entire population of the United States. Because the nearly 500 total Parental Filicide arrests annually taking place are happening in our population of approximately 342.6 million people, that's considered something extremely rare.
Of course, that 500 figure is probably low because it's a crime that's likely underreported. And then there's this to think about, when a crime is severely underreported, its presence in official police registries or databases can make it appear deceptively rare, unusual, or virtually non-existent, when it shouldn't be.
Other categories of crimes that are considered rare in official datasets primarily because they are heavily underreported are "Corporate and White-Collar Fraud" like embezzlement, insider trading, corporate fraud, and wage theft appear to happen infrequently. They seem rare because victims are often completely unaware they have been defrauded, such as in the case of identity theft or small, incremental financial skimming.
Another reason that they are unreported has to do with settling such matters privately or terminating the employee without involving law enforcement to avoid public embarrassment, stock drops, or damage to their brand reputation.
Another heavily underreported crime is "Labor Exploitation and Modern Slavery."
Official reports of human trafficking, forced labor, and modern slavery are relatively low, that masks the fact that they are actually taking place. The reasons that go unreported has to do with victims often being physically or socially isolated, and they have problems speaking English. Some victims suffer such crimes because they had their identification documents confiscated by the very people who are exploiting them.
Another reason that many victims don't say anything has to do with them being threatened, blackmailed, are coerced into believing that contacting the police will lead to their own arrest or deportation rather than them receiving justice. That all helps the modern-day Slave Traders to keep their crimes almost entirely invisible to local law enforcement.
Fear is one way of keeping their victims silent. Victims fear retaliation from the perpetrators within their own neighborhoods or assume the police will not take the crime seriously.
I was told many years ago that "Domestic Abuse and Violence" was only second to Rape when it comes to unreported crimes. While violent offenses like commercial robberies or vehicle thefts have higher tracking, non-fatal domestic abuse, coercive control, and stalking appear disproportionately lower in baseline arrest statistics than they are in anonymous household victimization surveys.
The problem is that victims are frequently financially, emotionally, or socially dependent on the abuser. And yes, the fear of escalating violence, retaliation, or a sense of deep personal shame prevents victims from bringing law enforcement into their private homes.
As for Rape and Sexual Assault being seen as the most underreported violent crimes in the United States and globally, that's just a fact. In fact, it is believed that between 65% and 80% of all sexual assaults go unreported to law enforcement.
Estimates indicate that only 20% to 37% of sexual assaults are ever formally reported to police, which means that that's only a fraction of actual occurrences. Just on college and university campuses also, studies show that more than 90% of survivors do not report the assault to authorities. The result is that because of underreporting and barriers within the legal system, it is estimated that only about 5 to 6 out of every 1,000 perpetrators (less than 1%) will ever face prison time.
Why not report the crime? The process of reporting, and undergoing invasive forensic medical exams, and navigating the legal system often causes survivors to fear secondary victimization or re-traumatization. And really, the culture of "Self-Blame" has many survivors falsely blaming themselves for the assault.
Another reason for Rape going unreported has to do with survivors fearing that they won't be taken serious of believed. The fear of not being believed, and facing social stigma is very real. Of course, victims of Rape also stay quiet because there's the very good probability that they will experience some sort of physical retaliation from the perpetrator.
Let's remember that in approximately 80% of Rape cases, the victim knows their attacker. He is usually an acquaintance, family member, or intimate partner, which of course makes the decision to report what happen even more complicated as well as traumatic.
As for Parental Filicide, which is "child murder by a father," and Maternal Filicide which is "child murder by a mother," they are significantly underreported because in many cases their were inaccurate Coroner rulings, concealment of pregnancies and births, and the misclassification of fatal abuse as accidental deaths.
The majority of homicides in very young children stem from severe domestic violence. Sometimes it's physical discipline that "goes too far". Because parents often claim the resulting trauma was an accident, such as a fall down the stairs, choking, or "Sudden Infant Death Syndrome," Medical Examiners and Coroners usually have a hard time distinguishing between intentional physical abuse and accidental injuries. That's one reason why without definitive proof of intent, many of these deaths are ruled accidental rather than homicides
Then there's what's called the "Extended Suicide Phenomenon." That has to do with when a severely depressed or psychotic parent believes they are saving their child from real or imagined suffering by killing them. The act of killing their own children is immediately followed by the parent's suicide.
Because the perpetrator is deceased, these cases don't usually result in a criminal case. In fact, when a parent kills themselves and their child, the incident is often coded differently in medical or localized databases. In some cases, they are coded as a "double suicide" or an "unspecified murder-suicide" rather than explicitly indexed under standard criminal filicide arrest statistics. That in itself screws up the statistics of how often such a crime occurs.
And there's this, because filicide takes place entirely within the private domain of the home, there are rarely outside witnesses. Victims are highly dependent on their caretakers, and children under the age of five often do not have regular contact with school systems or mandatory reporters who might otherwise notice signs of danger.
In fact, when a child disappears from an isolated household under the guise of "moving away" or "being sent to live with a relative," the crime can go unnoticed for years.
As for mothers killing their children? Mothers are statistically responsible for a higher share of infant homicides and younger children, whereas fathers more frequently kill older children. Over 70% of all Maternal Filicide victims are age 6 or younger, with about one-third being under 1 year of age.
What are the common motives for Maternal Filicide? Mental illness and psychosis are blamed a lot for mothers killing their children. In fact, a significant portion of Maternal Filicides involve severe "Postpartum Depression," "Postpartum Psychosis," or some other supposed mental illness.
But does "Postpartum Depression" and "Postpartum Psychosis" make mothers want to kill their children? From what I've read, both of these postpartum issues are rare medical conditions that occur shortly after childbirth. It is believed that mothers can experience hallucinations, severe confusion, and extreme paranoia.
Do they lose the ability to function as "normal"? Believe it or not, according what the research says, a mother "suffering" from these postpartum issues is still able to function in every way that's "normal" -- but she can still "lose the ability to understand the consequences or wrongness of her actions."
Wow, I find that incredible. And frankly, I find it completely unbelievable. To me, to say that postpartum issues still enable someone to function in every way that's "normal" but they would still "lose the ability to understand the consequences or wrongness of their actions" and are somehow "detached from reality" is not only unbelievable -- I see it as someone's attempt to use a mental issue to excuse doing wrong.
Think about it, we're to believe that a mother with mental health postpartum issues, knows enough to understand that it's wrong to get scalded with hot water in a shower; knows enough to understand that it's wrong to go out of the house without dressing first and not naked; understand why is is wrong to drive on the wrong side of the road into on-coming traffic; understand what wrong means in every aspect of life -- except when it come to killing her children?
Supposedly, she didn't understand that it was wrong to kill her children because of postpartum issues. That sounds like bullshit. And yes, it goes to my question: Do mothers who kill their children know what they are doing?
I'm told that whether a mother knows what she is doing when she kills her child depends entirely on her mental state. But the fact is that most perpetrators act with clear awareness and malicious intent, and have specific motives at the time. They want to kill their children and do it as if they know what they are doing.
Frankly, everything that I've read on postpartum depression and postpartum psychosis all say that neither mental illness automatically turns women into killers. In fact, research shows that the overwhelming vast majority of mothers who experience these mental health conditions never harm their children at all. And really, only a tiny percentage voice wanting to harm their newborns after giving birth.
Here's something else, while severe psychiatric emergencies can distort reality, today we live in an era where mental illness is treatable. I know for a fact that PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder), depression, and anxiety are all mental health issues that are treatable. Not curable, but treatable.
As for the excuse that "Postpartum Depression" and "Postpartum Psychosis" made a mother kill her children? That is proven false by research that shows that neither mental illness is considered a blueprint for violence. In fact, research and medical experts indicate that neither Postpartum Depression (PPD) nor Postpartum Psychosis (PPP) functions as a blueprint or predictable pathway for violence. While both are serious mental health conditions that occur after childbirth, the vast majority of women who experience them do not harm themselves or others.
The idea that a person can murder someone and claim insanity, while still being cognitively able to handle basic daily routines like getting dressed and not driving in the wrong lane is hard to accept. Frankly, the excuse of being driven by intense or some fixed delusions to commit murder, but being able to "function normally in every other way," sounds like someone is trying to use an insanity plea as an excuse to avoid prison.
Mothers Who Kill Their Children Usually Commit Suicide
Between 16% and 29% of Maternal Filicides end with the mother completing suicide or attempting suicide. While we will probably never understand it, some mothers abuse and neglect their children to the point of killing them. Some mothers view their children as burdens and unwanted. Some mother kill their children as spousal revenge. And sadly, some mothers kill their children because they wanted to.
The following was published in the Los Angeles Herald, Volume 33, Number 35, on November 5,1905:
MOTHER'S TERRIBLE CRIME
Kills Two Children, Wounds Two, One Fatally, and Then Kills Herself
By Associated Press.
MINNEAPOLIS, Nov. 4, 1905 — Mrs. James D. Brennan of this city quarreled with her husband last evening and after he had gone to work attempted to kill her four children and herself. She shot and killed two of the children and wounded the other two. One of these died at the hospital and the other cannot live. The mother shot herself in the left breast and it is believed will die.
The dead: LIZZIE, aged 15, shot through temple. ALICE, aged 6, shot back of right ear. ARTHUR, aged 13, shot in the head. Other child, Thomas, aged 13, also shot in the head, will die. Appearances indicated that the boys had struggled desperately to escape.
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Mother Kills Self and Seven Children
The children were tied to their beds and coal oil had been sprinkled over the room. It is supposed that worry over the separation caused the mother to destroy herself and the children.
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The following was published in the San Francisco Call, Volume 111, Number 69, on March 27, 1922:
Mother Kills Her 3 Children, Suicide
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The following was published in the Imperial Valley Press, Volume 36, Number 216, on November 1, 1937:
Mother Kills Five Children, Herself
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Fearful Mother Kills Children
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The following was published in the Imperial Valley Press, Volume 38, Number 122, on July 10, 1940:
MOTHER KILLS SIX IN SUICIDE PLOT
NEW YORK. July 10. (UP) Police smashed the lock of a flat in the Bronx today and found six children dead on the floor and their mother unconscious from gas fumes. Investigators said Mrs. Louis Nickosia apparently had killed her children because, as a note indicated, she was “disgusted with life."
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The following was published in the Desert Sun, Volume XXXIII, Number 76, on November 11, 1959:
Mother Kills Three Children
ROCKY HILL, Conn. Mrs. Norma Grimes, described by neighbors as a model mother, strangled three of her five children late Monday with a bathrobe cord.
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The following was published in the Napa Valley Register, Volume 163, Number 90, on March 9, 1954:
Mother Held For Drowning 3 Tots
WATERVILLE, Maine A distraught young housewife who wrote a message that "God told me," today faced a murder charge in the bathtub drownings of her three children. County Atty Joseph B Campbell said Miss Constance Fisher, 24, would be arraigned in Municipal Court.
Richard Fisher, 6, his brother Daniel, 4. and their sister Deborah, 1, were found dead in their home yesterday by their father Carl Fisher, 33, who smashed a door to gain enhance.
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Constance Fisher drowned her three young children (Richard, Daniel, and Deborah) in a bathtub and left a note saying she did it to "Save them from evil". Fisher attempted suicide after the killings by drinking shampoo. Fisher was declared legally insane. She supposedly suffered from paranoid schizophrenia.
As for parallels to Lindsay Clancy? Both cases involve a mother killing multiple young children while her husband was away. Both multiple murders were followed by a failed suicide attempt by the mother. Both legal defenses centered heavily on severe, debilitating mental illness which they said made the mothers detached from reality.
So instead of seeing what Fisher did as calculated malice, she was seen as a victim of mental issues. It should be of interest to folks that after being declared "cured" and released in 1959, Constance Fisher remarried and had three more children.
In 1966, she murdered those three children too in the exact same way. She tried to use the same defense and at her second trial, but recommitted indefinitely. She died by committing suicide in 1973.
So rather than facing a traditional murder conviction each time, she was committed to the Augusta State Hospital both times. In toll, she killed 6 of her children.
Tom Correa
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