Killing A Child: Neuropsychological Profiles of Murderers of Children
| Author | Saritha P. Teralandur,Nicole M. Azores-Gococo,Michael Brook,Robert E. Hanlon |
| Published date | 01 July 2017 |
| Date | 01 July 2017 |
| DOI | 10.1177/0093854817699437 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
research-article2017
Killing A Child
neuropsychological Profiles of Murderers of Children
NICOLE M. AzORES-GOCOCO
MICHAEL BROOk
Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine
SARITHA P. TERALANDUR
DePaul University
ROBERT E. HANLON
Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine
Neuropsychological Associates of Chicago
This study examined neuropsychological characteristics of offenders who killed children. Although prior studies have
focused on filicide and neonaticide, children are killed in a variety of contexts. This study used a diverse sample of individu-
als (N = 33) accused of killing one or more children, referred for forensic neuropsychological evaluation. Across all cognitive
domains (intellectual functioning, attention/working memory/processing speed, memory, reasoning/executive functioning,
language), mean scores fell in the low average to average range. Offenders who solely killed children were less likely to do
so in a premeditated fashion, were more likely to use manual means (e.g., drowning or beating), and scored lower on mea-
sures of language and verbal memory, compared with those who also killed adults as part of the offense. Contrary to prior
findings, few gender differences were evident in this group of offenders. Findings highlight meaningful heterogeneity in
offenders who kill children, which may inform prevention, treatment, and risk assessment.
Keywords: homicide; neuropsychological assessment; child victims; violence; cognitive functioning
Homicide with a child victim is among the rarest and least understood categories of
homicide. Children comprise 5% or less of homicide victims on a global and national
level (United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, 2011). While overall homicide rates in
the United States have decreased in recent years, the rate of child homicides has changed
little and has not made a substantial contribution to this decline (United Nations Office on
Drugs and Crime, 2011). An estimated 1,546 children were killed due to child abuse or
neglect in 2014, in the United States (Child Welfare Information Gateway, 2016), represent-
ing only a portion of all children killed in the country. The current study aims to improve
Authors’ note: Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Robert E. Hanlon,
Neuropsychological Associates of Chicago, 645 N. Michigan Avenue, Suite 803, Chicago, IL 60611; e-mail:
r-hanlon@northwestern.edu.
CRIMINAL JUSTICE AND BEHAVIOR, 2017, Vol. 44, No. 7, July 2017, 946 –962.
https://doi.org/10.1177/0093854817699437
DOI: 10.1177/0093854817699437
© 2017 International Association for Correctional and Forensic Psychology
946
Azores-Gococo et al. / MURDERERS OF CHILDREN: NEUROPSYCHOLOGICAL PROFILES 947
understanding of those who kill children by focusing on neuropsychological functioning, an
area that has heretofore not been examined.
Prior studies have produced rich findings on demographic characteristics of offenders
and victims, characteristics of instant offenses, and psychological characteristics of offend-
ers, but have not focused on neurocognitive functioning. Despite disproportionate media
focus on women with psychotic mental illness murdering their children (Laursen et al.,
2011), homicide of children occurs in a variety of contexts, not all of which are character-
ized by mental illness. Variations in motives and victimization arise in different regions. On
a global level, children of certain racial/ethnic minority groups face higher risk for homi-
cide due to a range of factors, including low income and socioeconomic status (United
Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, 2011), and unique cultural and religious factors, such
as in “honor killings,” committed when young women are perceived to disobey cultural
expectations (Chesler, 2010). In the United States, the first year of life marks a period of
high homicide risk, which is highest for African American male and female youth: 12.5 and
10.3 per 100,000, respectively, compared with 5.1 for White males and 4.5 for White
females (Smith & Cooper, 2013).
Many murders of children occur in the context of domestic homicide. According to sum-
mary statistics compiled by the National Domestic Violence Fatality Review Initiative
(2016) and analyzed by two of the current study’s authors, perpetrators of domestic homi-
cide are predominantly men (80%), and nearly 38% of victims are also male. In relation to
the homicide perpetrator, 65% of victims are current or former intimate partners, the remain-
der of the victims being children, parents, or in-laws. Familicide, the most extreme form of
domestic homicide, is the most common type of mass murder (Duwe, 2007), occurring
approximately 23 times per year in the United States (Liem, Levin, Holland, & Fox, 2013).
Acts of familicide are typically premeditated and committed by adult males motivated by
uncontrolled anger, resentment, and revenge (Hanlon & Odle, 2013; Websdale, 2010). A
recent analysis of 238 cases of familicide revealed that offenders may be classified into four
subtypes: despondent husbands, spousal revenge, extended parricide, and diffuse conflict
(Liem & Reichelmann, 2014).
Despite its variability, child homicide is an infrequent occurrence, and research has
therefore been restricted to distinct subgroups of homicides and often small sample sizes.
Filicide, the killing of one’s own child, and neonaticide, the killing of one’s own newborn
infant, are most often committed by mothers and are prominently researched in the United
States and European countries. Resnick (1969) originally classified motivation for filicide
into five categories: altruism (relieving the child of real or imagined suffering, often fol-
lowed by suicide), acute psychosis, the child being unwanted, unintentional filicide due to
child abuse, and spousal revenge. Other researchers have found similar categories and
refined these classifications; Scott (1973) and D’Orban (1979) classified neonaticide as its
own category, and Bourget and Bradford (1990) combined altruistic and acutely psychotic
motives into the overall category of pathological filicide, adding the distinct category of
paternal filicide. Bourget and Gagné (2002) most recently added the category of mercy fili-
cide, which corresponds to altruistic motives but is specific to children with severe, debili-
tating illnesses in the absence of parental psychosis.
When comparing the victims of maternal filicide, studies have found that younger chil-
dren are at higher risk, and that neonaticide can be distinguished from filicide by a variety
of factors (Dean, 2006). Stanton and Simpson’s (2002) review of studies on maternal and
948 CRIMINAL JUSTICE AND BEHAVIOR
paternal filicide described maternal neonaticide as the most homogeneous and well-formu-
lated category of filicide. Women who commit neonaticide are often young mothers facing
unwanted pregnancy in difficult economic circumstances, according to studies using a wide
variety of record review data, including cases from forensic hospitals in Italy (n = 110;
Camperio Ciani & Fontanesi, 2012) and New York (n = 57; krischer, Stone, Sevecke, &
Steinmeyer, 2007), police records from England (n = 21; A. Mckee & Egan, 2013), and
data from the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation (n = 54; Shelton, Corey,
Donaldson, & Hemberger Dennison, 2011). Three studies found that women who commit-
ted neonaticide had lower psychopathology than women who committed filicide (Camperio
Ciani & Fontanesi, 2012; A. Mckee & Egan, 2013; Shelton et al., 2011). krischer et al.
(2007), however, found that women who committed neonaticide were more often psychotic,
whereas women who committed filicide commonly had severe depression and had made
suicide attempts. Anger, rejection of the child, shame, guilt, and fear regarding unwanted
pregnancies were common motives for neonaticide.
Studies have also delineated differences between mothers and fathers who kill their chil-
dren (i.e., perpetrators of maternal and paternal filicide), although there are relatively fewer
studies of paternal filicide (Stanton & Simpson, 2002). According to a literature review by
Bourget, Grace, and Whitehurst (2007), paternal filicide is characterized by more violent
methods, retaliatory motives, and multiple, older, male victims. Perpetrators often have a
history of violence and may commit suicide following filicide. Putkonen et al.’s (2011)
study of register data from Finland and Austria (n = 124) characterized filicidal fathers as
having a history of violence and abuse toward their victims; they were often threatened by
spousal separation, had been diagnosed with personality disorders, were intoxicated during
the offense, and killed their partners in addition to their children. Mothers, however, more
often had psychotic disorders, killed younger children, and were victims of abuse them-
selves. Similarly, when kauppi, kumpulainen, karkola, Vanamo, and Merikanto (2010)
compared cases of maternal and paternal filicide from a national database (n = 200), they
found that fathers were more often implicated in filicide-suicides, abused alcohol, and had
incidents of violence toward other family members besides the victim. Mothers, who com-
prised 59% of the sample, reported more distress in regard to mental health, and their
motives were more often altruistic.
The vast majority of mothers with psychiatric illness are not violent,...
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