Abstract:

This mixed methods research study examines the phenomenon of filicide, which is defined as the murder of children by their parents. Previous research has investigated filicide across a variety of contexts including legal, social, and cultural but not from a viewpoint of managing and resolving intra-family conflict. The goals of this research are to provide additional insight and practical applications for social workers, law enforcement personnel, counselors, and other individuals who come into contact with those families at high risk for incidents of filicide by expanding the traditional definition of family to include genetic and non-genetic parents; by expanding the classification of motives for filicide to include both instrumental and expressive motivations according to the type of parent; and by examining the gender differences existing in the degree of planning during the commission of the filicide.

The research methodology is mixed methods which includes the construction of a county-level filicide database for the south Florida area for all filicides occurring between January 1985 and December 1994. The qualitative portion of the methodology included a content analysis of the descriptive variables for each filicide case. A current case study originating from September 2010 to the present was utilized to illustrate patterns/themes common to filicide cases entered into the quantitative database. A quantitative analysis of the filicide database was conducted to compare the frequency of the nominal variables of expressive versus instrumental filicide as they related to the motives of genetic parents and stepparents. There was no statistically significant association between the type of filicide and the category of parent; however the results suggested that regardless of the category of parent, overall the filicides tended to be more expressive in nature. A quantitative analysis of the filicide database was also conducted to compare the degree of planning as it related to gender differences in the commission of filicide. No statistically significant association was found between the degree of planning and the gender of the offender, however the analysis did indicate a pattern existed where females were more likely to engage in a greater degree of planning than males in the commission of filicide. A comparison between the degree of brutality and the gender of the offender revealed a greater number of males than females was represented in each of the three categories of brutality.

Faculty Spotlight:

I began my college education in September 1968 as one of the first female students admitted to Seton Hall University in South Orange, New Jersey. After completing two semesters as chemistry major, my academic pursuits were postponed by raising a family and running a printing corporation in Fort Lauderdale, Florida until January 2001 when I returned to Broward [Community] College to finish what I had started several decades before. I completed an Associate in Arts Degree in Biology magna cum laude in May 2005, and then went on to obtain a Bachelor in Arts Degree in Psychology magna cum laude from the Charles E. Schmidt College of Science at Florida Atlantic University in August 2005. I was immediately accepted into the master's program at Florida Atlantic University and graduated with a Master's in Arts Degree in Psychology in December 2006 from the Charles E. Schmidt College of Science. I began my academic career for my doctorate at Nova Southeastern University in the School of Social Sciences and Humanities, Department of Conflict Analysis and Resolution in January 2007, and graduated in June 2011.

In 2009, I had the opportunity to serve as director of the Family Center for the Family Violence Program in Greenville, North Carolina which worked closely with the Department of Social Services (DSS), law enforcement, and the local court system. Our clients consisted of families who were at-risk for domestic violence and child abuse; although some of our clients were voluntary, the majority of them were court-mandated to attend supervised child visitation sessions. During my year of service at the Family Center, I had multiple opportunities to utilize my crisis management and critical incident skills when family members resented and resisted their court-ordered visitations at our facility. We were not only faced with intra-family conflict, but also with interpersonal conflict with our staff arising from parents' inability to manage their anger as well as their lack of sufficient coping skills which occasionally resulted in requesting backup police presence on-site. One supervised visitation escalated into a near-hostage situation when an ex-wife decided to wreak havoc and revenge on her ex-husband by having him arrested during a visitation with his daughter in our facility, allegedly for violating a protective order. I negotiated with the Greenville Police to allow him to finish his visit with his daughter, and allow him to leave our offices without handcuffs so that his daughter would not witness her father being arrested due to her mother's complaint against him. Another case involving a Middle-Eastern family and a mandated supervised visitation escalated into an attempted suicide by the son who refused to see his father. A local judge refused to amend his order, and the boy became so distraught over the court's ruling that he tried to throw himself under a moving vehicle. His sister was not included in the court order for visitations with her father. Although most of our clients' supervised visitations proceeded smoothly, there were several which required advanced conflict management skills as well as an understanding of, and sensitivity to, contributing cultural, gender, and societal influences.