PSY344H5 Chapter Notes - Chapter 15: Postpartum Psychosis, Postpartum Depression, Filicide
HOMICIDAL OFFENDERS
• Homicide represents ultimate violent act
Nature and Extent of Homicidal Violence
• Canadian criminal law recognized four different types of homicide, each with different penalties
o First-degree murder – max life in prison (25 years with no chance of parole)
▪ All murder that is planned and deliberated
▪ Murder of law enforcement officer or correctional staff member
▪ Or murder occurring during commission of another violent offence (e.g. sexual assault)
regardless of whether murder was unplanned or deliberate
o Second-degree murder - max life in prison (25 years with no chance of parole)
▪ All murder not considered first-degree murder
o Manslaughter - max life in prison (25 years with no chance of parole)
▪ Unintentional murder that occurs during “heat of passion” or because of criminal
negligence
o Infanticide (killing of a baby) – max 5 years
• Communities demonstrate substantial fear of homicide – due to media, public tends to believe that
homicide is more common that it is (less than 1% of all crimes)
• Canada experienced steady rise in gang-related homicide from early 1990s to 2008, before declining in
2009 and 2010 and levelling off very recently; most occur in western regions of CA including Manitoba,
Saskatchewan, Alberta
• 2011 – lowest rate of firearms-related homicide in almost 50 years; 2011 – knife/cutting instrument was
weapon of choice (35% of homicide vs. 27% using guns)
• Homicides are more likely to occur in western provinces than eastern provinces (Manitoba →
Saskatchewan → Alberta | Territories report much higher homicide rates than any province, Nunavut
• Gender and age important when considering offenders and victims of homicide (2011 - 90% accused of
homicides in CA were male and majorly between 18-24; young males most likely to be victims of
homicide)
• Majority of homicide victims were killed by someone they knew in 2011
• Rate of family homicides declining over past 30 years
• Rate of intimate partner violence against women increasing
Bimodal Classification of Homicide (Fesback et al.)
• Reactive (affective) aggression: impulsive, unplanned, immediate driven by negative emotions and
occurring in response to some perceived provocation
o Occurs more often among relatives
• Instrumental (predatory) aggression: premeditated, calculated, and motivated by some goal (e.g. to
obtain money, power, gratification of sadistic fantasies, etc.)
o Occurs more among strangers
Types of Homicide - most distinguished based on relationship between offender and victim
Filicide: When Parents Kill
• Killing of children by biological parents or stepparents; includes neonaticide (killing baby within 24
hours of birth) and infanticide (killing within first year of life)
• Attitudes toward parents killing their children vary across cultures and time
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• Family-related child murder in CA is generally uncommon
• Baby boys at higher risk and disagreement about offender characteristics in filicide
Mothers who Kill (Stanton and Simpson) → Maternal Filicides
• Neonaticides – typically unmarried women with no prior history of mental illness who are not
suicidal and have concealed their pregnancies, fearing rejection or disapproval from families
• Those committed by battering mothers – killed their children impulsively in response to behaviour of
child, highest rates of social and family stress including marital stress and financial group, mental
disorder
• Committed by mothers with mental illnesses - tends to be older and married, likely to have killed
older children, have multiple victims, diagnosed with psychosis or depression, most likely to attempt
suicide after murder
o Altruistic filicide – kill out of love, in response to mother’s delusional beliefs that child’s
death will somehow protect the child
o Common assumption is that women who kill their infants are suffering from mental illness
related to childbirth – during postpartum period:
▪ Postpartum blues – 85% of women, crying, irritability, anxiety, starts within few days
of childbirth to few hours/days but rarely past 12 days
▪ Postpartum depression – 7-19% of women, within first few weeks or months after
birth and usually lasts for several months, symptoms identical to clinical depression,
depressed mood, loss of appetite, concentration, and sleep problems, suicidal thoughts
▪ Postpartum psychosis – most severe and rare, 1 or 2 of 1000 births, delusions,
hallucinations, and suicidal, or homicidal thoughts within first three months after
childbirth
Fathers Who Kill
• Familicide: killing of spouse and children, almost always committed by man
• History of spousal and child abuse prior to offence
• Those who killed spouse and own children had greater chance of committing suicide than those
who killed spouse + stepchildren
• Wilson et al. described two types of familial murderers
o Despondent non-hostile killer: depressed, worried about impending disaster for himself
or his family, kills family and then commits suicide, past acts of violence toward children
+ spouse not characteristic
o Hostile accusatory killer: expresses hostility toward his wife, often related to alleged
infidelities or her intentions to terminate relationship, past history of violent acts is
common
Youth Who Kill
• When youth commit homicides, often have at least one accomplice
• Like adults though, youth are often acquainted with their victims, either intimately or as criminal
association
• Youth committed homicides represents only small portion of total number of homicides in CA
• Corder et al. compared youths killing relatives or acquaintances vs. stranger
o Youth charged with parricide (killing parents) more likely to have been physically abused. To
witnessed spousal abuse, and report amnesia for murders vs. other youth who murdered
find more resources at oneclass.com
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Document Summary
Homicidal offenders: homicide represents ultimate violent act. 2009 and 2010 and levelling off very recently; most occur in western regions of ca including manitoba, Bimodal classification of homicide (fesback et al. : reactive (affective) aggression: impulsive, unplanned, immediate driven by negative emotions and occurring in response to some perceived provocation, occurs more often among relatives. Instrumental (predatory) aggression: premeditated, calculated, and motivated by some goal (e. g. to obtain money, power, gratification of sadistic fantasies, etc. : occurs more among strangers. Types of homicide - most distinguished based on relationship between offender and victim. + spouse not characteristic: hostile accusatory killer: expresses hostility toward his wife, often related to alleged infidelities or her intentions to terminate relationship, past history of violent acts is common. Homolka and bernardo who killed three young women: most are white in u. s, victims are usually young females not related to murderer but age and sex can carry.
