Unexpected victims, parents who kill their offspring

Abstract

The goal of this article was to show how the personal conditions of parents can influence them to commit homicide against their offspring. The gender perspective and phenomenological sociology were models for the theoretical framework of this study, which is descriptive and reviews ten different cases. Thirteen victims between 3 months and 14 years old were registered, most of them murdered by their father. Results illustrated that a loving link between mother or father and their offspring does not always exist. Masculine humiliation, intolerance for taking care of children, coexistence with them, as well as the dependence of the woman on the male partner, are elements indicating an at-risk situation for committing this kind of crime.