Libericide And Infanticide

Introduction / Objective

Although it is well-known that infanticide (murder of child< 1year) is typically for young women and libericide (murder of child≥1year) for older melancholic women, comprehensive differences between these two kinds of murderers remain little-known. Our objective was to describe their demographic, clinical and criminological differences.

Method

We collected 41 psychiatric expert examinations in criminal cases of child murder between 2000 and 2005 and compared, after sex-matching, those responsible for infanticide (n=16) and libericide (n=25).

Results

Compared to perpetrators of infanticide, subjects responsible for libericide were older (24 and 33 respectively, p=0.012), and had a psychiatric history (35% versus 71%, p=0.005) and convictions for violence towards others (6% versus 29%, p=0.022). A the time of the crime, 77% of libericide perpetrators were suffering from a psychotic, depressive, cognitive or personality disorders while only 53% of perpetrators of infanticide were ill (p=0.024). Although...