Jennifer Langi
English 1010 Section 003
12 April 2012
Why Do Parents Kill Their Children? Even though many mothers and fathers are loving and figures that should be looked up too, they can also be deadly and dangerous. My question is: why would a mom and dad would want to kill their child? I am interested in this because our world depends on fathers and mothers and it is interesting how in many ways we can depend on them but in some ways we can’t. Parents all over the world have problems with their lives and many lash out and do things they wouldn't ordinarily do because of relationships, marriage, or financial problems. A quote from The Nature and Extent of Child Homicide and Fatal Abuse stated that “The killing of a child by a carer is likely to have been preceded by a distortion in family relationships. But should these trials in their own lives be taken out and blamed on the child? (Browne & Lynch 315) There are many questions I have about this and it deserves to be examined and explored. It saddens me that there are so many filicides-suicides, infanticides, and child- homicides and there seems to be no end to it. I have found many answers in the research I have done, and I believe it has satisfied some of my questions. Whenever I see a child getting yelled at or threatened at the store or in public, I cringe. I fear the child will be hurt later once they get home possibly for making the parent angry. I do not ever want to meet someone who abuses and harms their children in any way. I would not want to come across any of the men or women who have committed these crimes. I suspect that the more parents refuse to help each other and be more supportive for each other the more likely they will be able to take out their anger on, and possible harm their children.
Heather Strang from the article The nature and extent of child homicide and fatal abuse analyzed over a thousand victims of homicide in Australia in 1989 and 1992. Of