LAUSR

There are few topics that invoke social taboos the way filicide does; parents are bound to protect their children not simply by virtue of evolutionary biology but also by the considerable array of social mores that govern notions of appropriate parenting. The care of children is the single most important task a parent has, making the breach of this duty a virtually incomprehensible event. It is perhaps this unintelligibility of reason that has made the field of filicide research a relatively modest one. Modern filicide studies have moved the field into various disciplines providing a new breadth of scope that has helped fathom a phenomenon that is global in its reach but local in its expression. Matters of culture, gender, reproductive rights, and socio-economic status have all been proposed as possible explanations for the persistence of filicide. Yet, the reason why these deaths have not disappeared completely remains at large. Global estimates indicate that filicide deaths are rare; however, to date, few studies have effectively measured the incidence of filicide due to the lack of standardized data and difficulty of access and neonaticide is often referred to as hidden crime because the corps often not discovered. Pritchard et al. (2013) study is a comprehensive attempt at determining the nature and prevalence of child homicides. They examined the correlation between poverty, child protection involvement, and child deaths. They challenged the implicit assumption that child abuse-related deaths are primarily related to socio-economic disadvantage by arguing that the key factor is a psychological one (Pritchard et al. 2013, 1406). Putkonen et al. (2016) note that problems within the adult relationship are a recurrent background feature in cases of filicide and familicide. Moreover, they also note that fathers are more likely to have marital instability, to be separated or at risk of separation, and to have a history of domestic violence before the event of filicide than mothers. Mothers, however, are more likely to be the victims of physical childhood abuse than fathers and are more likely to be mentally ill. With their new classification, Putkonen et al. (2016) present suggestions for focused strategies of prevention for each of five groups. From the knowledge base, it is possible to establish a relationship between certain aspects of the life of a perpetrator and potential risk for children. The presence of mental health issues, drug and alcohol addiction, previous exposure to or victimization through violence, and the disintegration of interpersonal relationships are all well-known stressors that may indicate that a child may be at risk of death (Brown et al. 2014). When considering victimology, age, gender, and health conditions of a child are also risk factors that need to be accounted for (Brown et al. 2014). Dawson (2018) notes that while at least half of all filicides are committed by fathers, most studies have focused on maternal filicide with more recent work in Australia (Eriksson et al. 2016), the Netherlands (Liem and Koenraadt 2008), and the USA (Dixon et al. 2014) attempting to close this gap. Wilczynski (1997) was the first to show that perpetrators gave signals of their intentions to friends, family, and professionals they came into contact with. Furthermore, some research suggests that perpetrators seek help through services * Margaret Spinelli [email protected]