Homicide is the leading cause of death in children under four. While many believe that Sudden Infant Death Syndrome is the leading cause of infants, the truth is that infanticide by a parent is the number one killer. Nancy Scheper-Hughes, a professor of Anthropology and director of the program in Medical Anthropology at the University of California at Berkeley describes three types of Post Partum Depression.
The least threatening is “baby blues,” consisting of episodes of crying and mild mood swings typically addressed without medication or treatment. This condition is often resolved by participating in a support group.[1]
The onset of “Postpartum depression” occurs from a few days to a few months after childbirth. Symptoms include extreme depression, sadness, despair and hopelessness that are so severe that it impairs the mother’s ability to cope. Treatment is typically counseling and often medication
The onset of “Postpartum depression” occurs from a few days to a few months after childbirth. Symptoms include extreme depression, sadness, despair and hopelessness that are so severe that it impairs the mother’s ability to cope. Treatment is typically counseling and often medication
The most serious mental condition is a deep depression seen within three months following childbirth. “Postpartum psychosis” presents in a mother who is experiencing a detachment from reality and often is accompanied by hallucinations and delusions. Medication and extended hospitalization is required.
The most highly publicized case of postpartum psychosis occurred in Andrea Yates, the Texas mother who methodically drown all five of her children in her bathtub. Tragically, Yates was hospitalized with postpartum depression following the birth of all of her children.
Mike Rustigan, a criminologist who teaches at San Francisco State University states, “The majority of the cases are impulse killings, like the classic shaken-baby syndrome in which a mother acts out of a spark of rage or frustration.” Rustigan states that covering the mouth of a crying child often ends with the infant being suffocated. He adds, “About 30% are premeditated murder, named Medea killings after an ancient Greek myth, a mother kills to punish someone like a cheating or abusive husband.“[2]
Some mothers end the lives of their children because they are impeding their freedom or happiness. The classic case of a narcissistic mother is Susan Smith, South Carolina woman who caused her vehicle to roll into a lake with her two baby boys strapped in their car seats. Smith initially claimed that her children were car-jacked, but the truth revealed that she committed the act to free herself from the burden of raising her children.
The United Kingdom decades ago addressed the issue of post partum depression with the passage of the Infanticide Act. The Infanticide Act 1922 effectively abolished the death penalty for a woman who deliberately killed her new born child while the balance of her mind was disturbed as a result of giving birth, by providing a partial defense to murder. The sentence that applies (as in other partial defenses to murder) is the same as that for manslaughter.[3] This Act was repealed and was replaced by The Infanticide Act 1938 which extended this defense to cases where "at the time of the act or omission the balance of her mind was disturbed by reason of her not having fully recovered from the effect of giving birth to the child or by reason of the effect of lactation consequent upon the birth of the child."[4] Before the partial murder defense of diminished responsibility was introduced to English law in the Homicide Act 1957, this provided an important means of selecting a more appropriate sentence for a mother found guilty of killing her infant than the mandatory life sentence or death sentence applying to murder at the time.
While these are just a few examples of why mothers take the lives of their children, there are other reasons based on unique situations such as the sacrifice of weak or female children in countries that experience destitute poverty, famine or political unrest.
Tragically, more than 200 women kill their children in the United States every year.[5]
[1] (Harkness)
[2] (Costantinou)
[3] (Kingdom)
[4] (Kingdom)
[5] (Harkness)
Costantinou, Marianne. "Why Mothers Kill Their Kids." The San Francisco Chronicle/Examiner 26 March 1998: A.
Harkness, Sara. "The Cultural Mediation of Postpartum Depression." Medical Anthology Quarterly (1987): 194-209.
Kingdom, The Parliament of the United. "Infanticide Bill." millbanksystems.com. 29 September 2010 <http://hansard.millbanksystems.com/lords/1938/mar/22/infanticide-bill-hl (Kingdom)>.
Women who have killed their own children:
· Patricia Blackmon was 29 years old when she killed her 2-year-old adopted daughter in Dothan, AL in May 1999.
· Debra Jean Milke was 25 when she killed her 4-year-old son in Arizona in 1989.
· Dora Luz Durenrostro killed her two daughters, age 4 and 9, and her son, age 8, when she was 34 years old in San Jacinto, California in 1994.
· Caro Socorro was 42 years old when she killed her three sons, ages 5, 8 and 11, in Santa Rosa Valley, California in 1999.
· Susan Eubanks murdered her four sons, ages 4, 6, 7 and 14, in San Marcos, California, in 1996 when she was 33.
· Caroline Young was 49 in Haywood, California when she killed her 4-year-old granddaughter and 6-year-old grandson.
· Robin Lee Row was 35 years old when she killed her husband, her 10-year-old son and her 8-year-old daughter in Boise, Idaho in 1992.
· Michelle Sue Tharp was 29 years old in Burgettstown, Pennsylvania when she killed her 7-year-old daughter.
· Frances Elaine Newton was 21 when she murdered her husband, 7-year-old son and 2-year-old daughter in Houston, Texas. Update: Frances Elaine Newton was executed on September 14, 2005.
· Darlie Lynn Routier was 26 in Rowlett, Texas when she was convicted of killing her 5-year-old son.
· Teresa Michelle Lewis killed her 51-year-old husband and 26-year-old step son in Keeling, Virginia when she was 33 years old.
· Kenisha Berry at age 20, covered her 4-day-old son with duct tape resulting in his death.
This is so sad to me. Sometimes I look at my little girl and think that I am not even worthy of having her at my life. Sure, there are plenty of times that I get frustrated and stressed with her, but compared to all the good she brings to my life, those are really anomolies. I am a pretty big fan of crime shows, but ever since she was born, I can no longer watch the ones that have ANYTHING at all to do with harming, missing, or kidnapped kids. I immediately have to change the channel. I myself can not understand why any mother on this earth could ever want to do something harmful to someone that is a part of themselves. I imagine that many women who do these things suffer from serious mental illness, and I can only wish that they could have gotten the treatment they needed.
ReplyDeleteI cannot imagine even the thought... I am the mother of two adult children... went through a very messy divorce when they were 2 and 4 years old... there are times I thought that their father should be "placed in the river", however, at no time could I have ever contemplated losing them.===Lu
ReplyDeleteEach and every time I hear about the Susan Smith case, I become very emotional... cannot even imagine... I don't think she was mentally ill... I think she was a selfish individual that cared more about herself and a good time than her children... so very sad...
It makes me so sad that these women were so sick. I wish that they had sought help before doing the horrific acts that they did. I cannot even begin to imagine the toll these deaths took on the moms themselves as well as the rest of the families and friends they affected.
ReplyDeleteI believe there are cases of Mother's killing their children that are related to post-partum depression. In other cases there are Mothers, who like dogs,are just born killers of their young. Those that do not have an underlining psychiatric diagnosis are more than likely sociopaths. In there sick minds they have justified the murder and feel no guilt. I would describe Susan Smith as a sociopath. She justified in her mind that her children were preventing her from living the life she wanted with her new boyfriend.
ReplyDeleteAs a mother I can't understand or comprehend how you could murder your own children. However, my mind has never been in the dark places these women's minds have been.
Too sad...
As someone who doesn't have any kids, I can't say that understand the levels of frustration, hopelessness and depression that a mother can feel. I can't believe any sane mother would hurt her own child. Basically, I think anyone who does that is suffering from some kind of mental disorder whether it be severe depression or some kind of antisocial personality disorder (sociopath). All of this shows that the health (mental and physical) of mothers after they give birth deserves serious attention. People need to check up on new moms. Husbands, friends and family members need to be ready to help and pay attention to warning signs. The lives of the mother and the child depend on it.
ReplyDeleteKenisha Berry should not be in Jail....she needed medical help and councilling. The USA is a third world country in terms of handling these types of cases.
ReplyDeleteLithium and anti-convulsive medications such as Depakote, Lamictil and Neurontin are often used in combination
ReplyDeleteto achieve mood stabilization. They create stress, emptiness, avoidance of being in touch with your own authenticity,
and narrow ways of dealing with life's challenges. Diagnosis can be difficult and Manic depression is classed as a chronic relapsing illness so it best to work with an experienced Psychiatrist and continue treatmet even when you're
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At first I thought mothers would do whatever it took to protect their own child, but I guess I was shown that is not the case with many women. (FAS)Fetal Alcohol Syndrome happens at least 40 thousands times in the US alone yearly. In Texas where I live 3700 infants are born yearly with FAS. My grandson was one of them back in 2010. Christopher Giovanni Von Duynn born May 10, 2010 was born with FAS, but his own mother was warned about drinking and told before giving birth to him that he was already harmed do to her drinking. Still she continued. Peggy Arlene Von Duynn even admitted to drinking alcohol to Renee Rodriguez MD. Now to this day we wonder what else she is willing to do to harm this sweet little boy. Medical neglect has been an issue but really she wants to keep her poor choices hidden from everyone and Christopher Giovanni Von Duynn is living proof of the damage alcohol she drank can do to a child. He is missing not some but all of the middle part of his brain. Hydrophilic brain is shunted and he has gross motor skills to the point he can barely crawl. The lowest of muscle tone and slow grow. Although what she did was legal in the state of Texas. There's a high court that will deal with such irresponsibility.
ReplyDelete