Maternal Filicide

Maternal filicide is a horrible act. Most children would never even imagine their own mother hurting them, because mothers are supposed to be loving and caring for their children. Many people may ask, why would a mother commit maternal filicide? It is very rare for a crime of maternal filicide to be committed. Lanny Berman, executive director of the American Association of Suicidology in Washington D.C. said, "Mother's don't kill their children unless they are seriously disturbed." Although it is rare, according to the Department of Justice,  out of the 14% of violent crimes that are committed in the U.S., nearly half of them are all parental murders. In addition to Berman, Teresa Caffese, the former San Francisco public defender said, "Unless there's a really unusual circumstance, a mother doesn't kill her children." Phillip Resnick, an expert in maternal filicide and co-author of a 2007 World Psychiatry study, concluded that the United States has the highest rates of child homicide and when a child is maderead the parent most likely did it. The act of maternal filicide is unthinkable for many, but there are acts of this terrible violence because of a mother who is disturbed occurring.