Mothers Who Kill Their Children

Based on an extensive review of the newspaper, medical and social science literature, the authors propose a comprehensive typology of maternal filicide, answering the question - Why? What would drive a mother to kill her own child?. These mothers are not a homogenous group. In obvious ways, intervention strategies should differ for a teenager who denies her pregnancy and then kills her newborn and a mother who kills her two toddlers out of mental illness or to further a relationship. This typology will help to distinguish the different cases that commonly occur and the patterns they follow in order to make more effective prevention and treatment planning possible.