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Femicide and Filicide

"Femicide as a term was first used in 1800s in Britain to describe the killings of women. A widely accepted and modern day explanation was developed by Diana Russell in the 1970s to explain the killing of women based on their gender. Femicide is often contrasted with its gender neutral counterpart, "homicide." This entry briefly describes the nature of femicide by reporting few statistics and situational contexts. Women can be targeted for different reasons like dowry, trafficking, racism, and killings in the name of honour. Often femicide has religious or familial sanction and hence goes unreported. The most common context is killings perpetuated by intimate partners. This accounts for nearly 35 percent of killings worldwide. The entry concludes by focusing on multifaceted efforts like implementing legislation for crime against women, promoting awareness, and empowering women that may help in reducing the incidence of femicide."

Filicide is the deliberate act of a parent, or step-parent, killing their own child. The word filicide is derived from the Latin words filius and filia (son and daughter) and the suffix -cide, meaning to kill, murder, or cause death.

Filicide is the killing of a child by a parent or parent equivalent. Between 2000–01 and 2011–12, there were 238 incidents of filicide in Australia involving the death of 284 children. (284 Filicide deaths over 12 years to end June 2012 equates to almost 24 Filicide deaths per annum)

An average of 20 filicide incidents was recorded each year in Australia between 2000–01 and 2011–12

20 children and adolescents were killed due to domestic violence in 2018

Spouse Revenge Filicide explains there are Five Categories that account for the motives driving a parent to kill their child/children:

Femicide Australia Project research shows 108 adult men, 48 adult women and 17 children and young people were killed due to domestic violence in 2017.

The Australian Femicide Facebook page reported on 11 Oct 2018 that 63 women had been murdered thus far in 2018.

71 Australian women were killed by domestic violence in 2016. ".....the highest number yet recorded was in 2014, when 84 women were murdered in Australia."

52 Australian women had been murdered in the first 9 months of 2018.

Red Heart reported that 56 Femicides occurred in 2020.

Counting the Dead reports 28 women killed due to domestic violence as at 30 April 2024

The project keeping toll of Australia's hidden 'epidemic' - Counting Dead Women Australia says Sixty-three Australian women were killed by domestic violence in 2018 - SBS News

Why do parents kill their children? The facts about filicide in Australia - The Conversation - February 8, 2019:

"At least one child in Australia is killed by a parent each fortnight, according to a report into filicide released by the Australian Institute of Criminology this week. Filicide is a general term referring to the killing of a child by a parent or parent equivalent – which in Australia includes the custodial parent, non-custodial parents and step-parents.

The report shows that between 2000-01 and 2011-12 there were 238 recorded incidents of filicide in Australia, with 260 offenders involved in these incidents. Males constituted 52% (124) of offenders and females 48% (114)."

Australia has a 'particular problem' with filicide, but experts say we're failing to find solutions - ABC News - 22 March 2021

Seventeen more women killed by men than at this same time last year, government launches intimate partner homicide counter - ABC News - 1 July 2024

Homicide in Australia report shows almost half the women murdered last financial year were killed by a current or former intimate partner - ABC News - 29 April 2024

impact is a completely volunteer charity committed to making a difference to Victorian women and children fleeing extreme violence at home. It maintains stats on women and children killed across Australia each year

"While overall homicides in Australia appear to be on the decline, filicides are not. In 2019, a study of 238 child murders in Australia from 2000–2012 showed that when children died in domestic murders, 18 per cent were killed by a biological parent or step-parent – and the perpetrators were generally men. Less than a third of revenge killers were the children’s biological mothers. According to the study by the Monash-Deakin Universities’ Filicide Research Hub, while domestic murders had declined in Australia, the filicide rate remained higher than in the UK and Canada. And where a motive had been established for the crime, a major contributing factor was a recent marital breakdown."

Below is an extract from Australian Domestic and Family Violence Death Review Network Data Report: Intimate partner violence homicides 2010–2018 - ANROWS:

"Key data findings

Between 1 July 2010 and 30 June 2018, there were 311 intimate partner violence (IPV) homicides across Australia.

More than three quarters of all cases involved a male IPV homicide offender killing a current or former female partner (n=240, 77.2%). The vast majority of those male offenders had been the primary user of domestic violence behaviours against the woman they killed (n=227, 94.6%).

Less than one quarter of all cases involved a female IPV homicide offender killing a current or former male partner (n=65, 20.9%). Even though the female partner was the homicide offender, in the majority of these cases she was also the primary domestic violence victim, who killed her male abuser (n=46, 70.8%)."

On 22 Nov 2018, Keith Owen Goodbun pleaded guilty to shooting his wife, Molly Goodbun, aged 59, to death in front of their daughter at the family’s home at Horseshoe Bend in Maitland. Below is an extract from the Newcastle Herald article Keith Owen Goodbun pleads guilty to murdering estranged wife Molly Goodbun at Horseshoe Bend in 2016 on 7 Oct 2016:

"Goodbun had initially planned to murder his wife, kill himself and burn down the Horseshoe Bend property. He had also considered firing his remaining bullets at the first police officers to arrive on scene, but changed his mind when he realised “they’ve got a job to do”.

Besides, Goodbun thought, he would be quite happy to go to jail.

“I can go to jail for 30 f---ing years and get a bed and breakfast every day,” Goodbun told detectives during his police interview. “I know where I’m going. And I’m quite f---ing happy about it, I tell you, quite happy about it.”

In sentencing Keith Goodbun, 62, to at least 31 year's jail, Justice Helen Wilson said Goodbun committed a premeditated, cruel and deeply shocking crime, "motivated by deep anger".

Based on Keith Goodbun's above representations ".... get a bed and breakfast every day”, he would likely have not murdered his wife, Molly Goodbun, in a Sadistic, Brutal, Premeditated, Unprovoked Murder, if Capital Punishment was a possible Sentence after An Infliction of Corporal Punishment prior to execution by hanging by the neck.

Filicide is the act of killing one's son or daughter.

SMH article in 2012 reported Seeking to understand the inexplicable:

"An average of 27 children are killed by (one of) their parents each year in Australia."

Read:

170 reasons to stand up to violence in 2018 - Courier Mail - 28 Dec 2017

Counting dead women and domestic violence in Australia: How did we do in 2016? – SMH - 30 Dec 2016 - Daisy Dumas

Counting Dead Women: the hard truth about Australia’s domestic violence victims - UTS - 2016

Domestic Violence NSW - NSW Government

Maternal and paternal filicide: Case studies from the Australian Homicide Project (2016) - Griffith University

Family homicide in Australia - Australian Institute of Criminology - 2017

Prevention Nearby: The Influence of the Presence of a Potential Guardian on the Severity of Child Sexual Abuse - Sage Journals - 21 Oct 2013

angelhands assists people struggling to overcome extreme trauma - generally due to domestic violence

Filicide offenders