Homicide and Violent Crime

Mathieu Deflem

• Publisher: Emerald Publishing Limited
• Year: 2018
• Print ISBN: 9781787148765
• eBook ISBN: 9781787439405
• Topic: Social Sciences
• Subtopic: Criminal Procedure
• Index: Social Sciences

This volume of Sociology of Crime, Law and Deviance addresses a variety of issues and concerns involved with the study of violent crime and homicide in the contemporary world. The chapters are conceived against the background of the enduring nature of violence and killing in the modern age, despite trends towards increased levels of civilization and the protection of rights. Whilst it is clear that the world of today is, in many respects, a better place, violence and homicide remain and even increase from time to time and from place to place.

Each chapter tackles key questions of how and why these problematic forms of behaviour continue to exist. Specifically, chapters examine the killing of children, responses to domestic abuse, female killers, incidents of racial and religious violence, the dynamics of violence on college campuses, the role of police and state institutions in relation to violence, and global aspects of violence and murder.  

This book will be of interest to scholars and students in criminology, sociology, criminal justice, and public policy.

PART I

FAMILY AND GENDER

CHAPTER 1

THE MURDERING OF CHILDREN

Melissa J. Tetzlaff-Bemiller

ABSTRACT

Purpose – This chapter aims to present an overview of what constitutes child murder, including ­definitions, history, prevalence, risk factors, offender motivations, and theoretical ­understanding.

Design/methodology/approach – The author uses secondary data from the National Incident-Based Reporting System, Uniformed Crime Reports, and Vital Statistics to show comparisons with previously conducted research. This allows for an overview of child murder.

Findings – There are numerous inconsistencies due to methodological issues. It is hard to find studies where a large sample was used. Definitions of child vary between studies, as does the age categories used. In addition, child homicide is predicted to be grossly underrepresented due to lack of communication between agencies, lack of formalized training, lack of a formalized classification system, and lack of reporting.

Originality/value – Research on child homicide can be instrumental in many areas including policy creation, implementation, and evaluation. It can serve as a benefit for those attempting to provide preventative measures. It may also help law enforcement with investigation. It is only through continued analysis of these types of cases and vigilant research, policy, and practice that society can more effectively protect young children from exposure to potentially murderous outcomes.

Keywords: Child homicide; fatal child abuse; child victimization; violent crime

INTRODUCTION

Child murder has existed for a very long time. Spinelli (2005) mentions that Babylonian and Chaldeon civilizations left abnormal infants on the roadside to die, and in the seventeenth century mothers were punished by the church if they were found to have murdered their infant. Further accounts of child murder from as early as the 1600s are given by many scholars (Caron, 2010; Meyer, Oberman, & White, 2001). Child murder seems to bring both interest and hesitation in the research community. There has been research conducted on child murder, but it relatively is in its infancy especially when compared to adult homicide and hence requires more attention.

Nevertheless, there is a sizable amount of research regarding child murder. In most cases, research examines the characteristics of the offender and victim that are psychological or biological in nature, as well as characteristics of the crime. When analyzing the offender, it has been suggested that children are more likely to be murdered by a parent from the age of birth to 4 years of age (Davies, 2005). Concerning the manner of death, research indicates that abandonment, excessive force, suffocation, or poison (Shelton, Corey, Donaldson, & Dennison, 2011) is common when a mother commits infanticide, and firearms (Davies, 2005) are more common when the father commits the murder. Most research looks at why the murder happened, with many scholars pointing to stigma, not wanting the child, a form of depression, or financial issues (Finkel, Burke, & Chaves, 2000; Shelton et al., 2011; Spinelli, 2005). Research details the events leading up to the murder, the murder itself, and the psychological/biological state of both the offender and victim. Chapter 2 will discuss what constitutes child murder – the prevalence of child murder, sociodemographic and culture characteristics, risk factors, offender motivations, criminological theoretical explanations, and limitations.

WHAT IS CHILD MURDER?

Although many categories of child murder exist most scholars tend to agree with and use the following definitions: neonaticide – murder of a newborn within the first 24 hours of birth; infanticide – murder of an infant child who is less than 1 year old; and filicide – murder of one’s own child, including both step-children and adult children (Alt & Wells, 2010; Barlow & Clayton, 1996; Davies, 2005; Lyman et al., 2003). However, not all agree with the above definitions. For example, while some scholars use the maximum age of 18 when discussing filicides (Lucas et al., 2002), others include any child murdered by a parent regardless of age. In addition, there is also differing opinions about neonaticide. Jason, Gilliland, and Tyler (1983) suggested that neonaticide includes children from birth to 1 week in age (Jason et al., 1983) as opposed to being limited to the first 24 hours of the child’s life. Furthermore, various scholars have also suggested other terms to account for child murder such as prolicide – murder of one’s offspring, including infants and fetuses in-utero (Davies, 2005) and familicide – murder of the entire family (Alt & Wells, 2010).

Thus, as noted above, there is not a single globally accepted definition of child murder in the research literature. Generally, when studying child murder, researchers create age categories in order to compare and contrast or focus on a more specific age group. This is because the circumstances for the murder of a 17-year-old will most likely be drastically different from those of a murdered 2-year-old. For example, some scholars categorize the age of victims as less than 1 year, 1–5 years, 6–10 years, and 11–14 years (Strang, 1996). Other scholars use the categories of less than 1 year, 1–4 years, 5–9 years, 10–14 years, and 15 years and older (Chew, McCleary, Lew, & Wang, 1999; Christoffel, 1984). Still, some scholars categorize each year individually from birth to 4 years (Ewigman, Kivlahan, & Land, 1993), or use birth to 1 month, 1–12 months, 13–24 months, 2–5 years, and 6–12 years (Crittenden & Craig, 1990). The lack of universally accepted definitions, as well as differing age categories can make researching child homicide, especially when focusing on younger children, somewhat difficult. This tends to be an issue for scholars who examine the literature for comparative purposes.

According to the United States Government, a child is a person who has not reached his 18th birthday. Therefore, child murder could include any person under the age of 18 who has been murdered. However, for this chapter, the age range focused on will be from birth to 5 years of age.

HISTORY OF CHILD HOMICIDE

Child murder can be traced throughout history (Barlow & Clayton, 1996). Meyer et al. (2001) declare that there is every reason to believe that infanticide is as old as human society itself and that no culture has been immune to it. Moreover, infanticide was legal throughout the ancient civilizations of Mesopotamia, Greece, and Rome, and justified on grounds ranging from population control, to eugenics, to illegitimacy (Meyer et al., 2001). According to Spinelli (2005), “in Babylonian and Chaldeon civilizations abnormal infants, considered to be children of witches who consummated with animals or demons, were left on the roadside to die. In the Greek and Roman eras, birth control and eugenic reasons were the primary causes for infant murder by fathers who had absolute rule in the family” (p. 15). Infants were often times sacrificed and unwanted newborns, or those thought to be too weak, were exposed to the elements as a means to controlling the population (Meyer et al., 2001). Over time, inheritance, illegitimacy, and stigma became grounds for infant murder (Lagaipa, 1990; Meyer et al., 2001).

In 1647, Russia became the first country to adopt a more humane attitude and by 1888, all European states established a legal distinction between infanticide and murder and gave more lenient penalties to infanticide offenders (Spinelli, 2004). Meyer et al. (2001) discussed that infanticide was considered a crime committed exclusively by unmarried women, and even in societies with infanticide laws that governed all citizens, it was speculated that married women who committed infanticide generally avoided punishment. Spinelli (2005) alleged that certain cultures began to see women as biologically vulnerable around the time of birth. This is one reason for probation or medical treatment of the offenders in the early 1900s to be allowed as opposed to strictly incarceration. Meyer et al. (2001) furthers this thought by discussing how:

[...] medicalization of infanticide was embraced in England where they recognized infanticide as a distinct form of homicide due to the impact of pregnancy and birth upon the mother’s mental status. (p. 11)

It is further suggested that the defendant’s culpability for the crime is limited and that the maximum crime in which the mother can be charged with is manslaughter, instead of murder (Meyer et al., 2001).

In the 1900s, different countries began expressing contrasting views concerning child murder. Whereas countries such as the United Kingdom held lenient views due to the thought that the murder was the outcome of an illness, the response in the United States was harsh because it was seen as murder. The United States did not have any laws regarding infanticide (Meyer et al., 2001); it was seen as a type of murder. Individuals found guilty of child murder were convicted without regard to the age of the victim (Caron, 2010; Finkel et al., 2000). However, individual states within the United States had the freedom to decide on mitigating and aggravating circumstances, which in turn led to differing convictions and punishments for an individual who kills a child (Spinelli, 2005). Therefore, an offender may be treated more leniently or harshly for the murder of his child depending on local community views. The sentence could also differ depending upon the age of the victim. For example, if an individual kills a child who was less than a year old, his punishment may be harsher (Spinelli, 2005). There are some arguments concerning the United States federal and state statutes. One major issue is that the United States does not recognize types of mental illness such as postpartum depression or postpartum psychosis (Spinelli, 2005). Many studies have shown this to be reasons why some mothers kill their young (Finkel et al., 2000; Shelton et al., 2011; Spinelli, 2005). If a state does not recognize postpartum depression or psychosis, then they may be placing individuals who need treatment in prisons. However, Spinelli (2005) does mention that the incident rates are not much different when comparing a place like the United States, which focuses on punishment, to other nations that focus on treatment.

As the literature suggests, ideas concerning child murder change with culture. Defective infants, female infants, motherless or illegitimate infants, closely spaced children, and children resulting from multiple births have all been at risk for infanticide in some cultures at some point in time (Crittenden...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title
• Introduction: Studying Violence and Killing
• Part I. Family and Gender
• Part II. Institutions and Identity
• Part III. Police and State Power
• Part IV. Across the Globe
• About the Authors
• Index