Filicide in Australia: A national study

A M Tomison1, T Brown2, D Tyson3, W Bryant4, S Lyneham4, S Bricknell4& P Fernandez Arias2

1.  Australian Catholic University

2.  MonashUniversity

3.  DeakinUniversity

4.  Australian Institute of Criminology

Paper presented at the 21stISPCAN International Congress for the Prevention of Child Abuse and Neglect, 28-31 August 2016, Calgary, Canada -  Contact: adam.tomison@iinet.net.au

Child deaths

�    Child homicides constitute a very small proportion of all child deaths in Australia –less than 3% of all child deaths.

�    More common causes of child deaths include diseases and morbid conditions, transport accidents and suicide

Filicide is: the non-accidental killing of a child or children by a parent or equivalent guardian (defacto parent/step-parent/grandparent/aunt uncle). It includes a number of sub-categories, such as infanticide and familicide (killing of a spouse and children)

�    The Australian Institute of Criminology has maintained a National Homicide Monitoring program for over 20 years, with data available from 1989/90 to the present.
�    Uses coronial findings, police and criminal court data, and media reports to identify and capture all homicides and manslaughter offences committed in Australia

�    This study assessed filicides for the period 2000-2012.

�    The broad filicide case data captured under NHMP monitoring was combined with more detailed case assessments carried out for a filicide sample in the state of Victoria by Monash University (Brown, Tyson & Fernandez, 2014) to provide a greater depth of understanding of these cases.

Child homicides constitute a very small proportion of all child deaths in Australia –less than 3% of all child deaths.

More common causes of child deaths include diseases and morbid conditions, transport accidents and suicide

Filicide is:the non-accidental killing of a child or children by a parent or equivalent guardian (defacto parent/step-parent/grandparent/aunt uncle). It includes a number of sub-categories, such as infanticide and familicide (killing of a spouse and children)

The Australian Institute of Criminology has maintained a National Homicide Monitoring program for over 20 years, with data available from 1989/90 to the present.

Uses coronial findings, police and criminal court data, and media reports to identify and capture all homicides and manslaughter offences committed in Australia

The broad filicide case data captured under NHMP monitoring was combined with more detailed case assessments carried out for a filicide sample in the state of Victoria by Monash University (Brown, Tyson & Fernandez, 2014) to provide a greater depth of understanding of these cases

238 incidents of filicide involving 284 victims and 260 offenders between 2000-01 and 2011-12:

• 8 to 29 filicide incidents each year, average of 20 per year

• 7% (238 of 3,296) of all homicide incidents in Australia involved a child victim (from birth to 17 years)

• 7% of filicide incidents (n=16) also involved the killing of the offender’s current or former intimate partner (familicide)

• Filicides constituted 18% (328 of 1,356) of domestic homicide incidents

• 13% of all known victims (916 of 7,217) were aged under 18 years.

Typically around 15% of child homicides involve children known to statutory child protection services

The rate of filicides has remained stable while the rates of domestic homicides decreased (-13%), as did homicides in total (-20%)

Victim were aged from <12 months to 33 years, with a median age of two years. Only 10 victims were 18 years of age or older (4%).

Two-thirds of victims were aged less than five years of age (n=189; 67%).

Consistent with prior Australian research (see Brown, Tyson & Fernandez-Arias 2014; Kirkwood 2012), males (n=158; 56%) were more likely than females (n=125; 44%) to be the victim of a filicide; however this difference was not significant.

10% of filicide victims (n=29) were identified as an Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander person. Of these, 18 were male (62%) and 10 were female (34%; sex was unknown for one victim). The rate of filicide for Indigenous children was 2-8 times higher than for non-Indigenous children

Fatal child abuse -assaults

Homicide-suicide

19% of perpetrators were separated from the other parent of the child, a much lower proportion than in the Monash study of Victorian filicides

The risks for adolescents–increased risk from peers and acquaintances as filicide risk decreases

Almost all filicide incidents involved a single offender (n=216; 91%), with 22 incidents involving two offenders (9%).

Mothers killed 133 children; Fathers killed 109; Step fathers killed 41 children

The identity of secondary offenders extended beyond the other partner, as in the Victorian research, to step fathers

Some 9% of offenders were of Indigenous background, and were most commonly male (62%) -3 times over-representation as perpetrators

UK research (Pritchard, Davey, Williams, 2013) has shown filicide is not linked to poverty –although there were high rates of unemployment in the current study

Australian and Canadian research (eg Brown, Tyson and Fernandez, 2014, Dawson, 2015) shows the particular stresses (and interaction of stresses) lead to increased risk. Typically found:

42% had a criminal history; 3% were on bail, parole or probation –much higher proportion than offenders who killed adults (approx 20%). 54% of male offenders c/f 30% female offenders

Most common offense for males was physical assault and for women drug offenses;

20% of both males and females had previous convictions for assault. There was a prior history of committing domestic violence on a current or former partner in 1/3 of filicides

Intervening early and effectively in the criminal careers of violent perpetrators may therefore prove an effective strategy in reducing child homicide.

Mental illness identified in 32% of primary offenders (n=75 of 234); 52% of women offenders reported to be suffering from mental illness

Mental illness was less commonly identified than in previous research but the definition was narrower in NHMP

Alcohol (15%) or drugs (23%) was reported to be present in the 175 cases for which data was available

One-third of incidents (n=57; 30%) there was a known history of domestic violence between the offender and a current or former intimate partner. Offender history of domestic violence was more prevalent for children killed by a step-parent (n=15; 45%) followed by a non-custodial parent (n=9; 41%).

Role of the Family Court –increased focus on the rights of the child to safety rather than right to parental contact

Better coordination of information between child protection and family court systems

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