Original Research Filicidal Women: Jail or Psychiatric Ward?

Filicide, the murder of a child by a parent (1), is a rare phe-nomenon, one which many authors have studied (2–10). In Canada, maternal filicide represented nearly 4 % of all solved homicides in the year 1998. From 1991 to 1997, the mean percentage of maternal filicide was 3.5 % (11). Some studies reveal that mothers commit this type of offence more often than do fathers (1–4,12–14). Other results, how-ever, have shown that paternal filicides often exceed or equal the number of maternal filicides (15–22). One Canadian study indicates that, from 1980 to 1989, 542 children under age 12 years were victims of murder, manslaughter, or infanticide. 94 Can J Psychiatry, Vol 48, No 2, March 2003 Objective: This study aims to examine the legal procedure that women who are charged with killing their children experience and to compare the variables that discriminate be-tween those found guilty and those who received a medical disposition. Method: The sample comprises 32 adult women who killed their biological children in the province of Quebec over an 11-year period (1981 to 1991). Results: Of the sample, 18 women were found guilty, and 14 received a medical disposi-tion. Of those who were the object of a penal disposition, most received a sentence that ex-ceeded 2 years. Women who were sentenced to prison had a lower socioeconomic status and, compared with those who received a medical disposition, were more likely to have had a criminal and substance abuse history. Further, this latter subgroup of women were more likely to have a psychiatric history, to suffer from psychotic symptoms, and to be-come oriented to the mental health system immediately after their offence. Conclusions: These comparative results suggest that women’s profiles differ according to some descriptive variables. From a clinical point of view, however, these results do not suggest that a different approach with respect to treatment of filicidal women or prevention of filicide would be more appropriate. (Can J Psychiatry 2003;48:94–98) Information on author affiliations appears at the end of the article