Domestic homicides in which children are victimized are deemed as exceptionally cruel acts, and lead to shock in society at large, particularly when multiple victims, including (ex) spouses, are involved. This chapter focuses on two types of domestic homicide: Filicide and familicide (Parts of this chapter are taken from prior publications that include Liem, M. (2021) ‘Familicide: The Killing of Spouse by Men’ The SAGE Handbook of Domestic Violence. Shackelford, T. (ed.) Thousand Oaks: Sage; and the chapter ‘Destruction of Descendants’ in Liem, M. & Koenraadt, F. (2018) Domestic Homicide. Abingdon: Routledge). In what follows, I will first pay attention to the prevalence of such cases, followed by a discussion on victim and perpetrator characteristics, and subtypes that can be distinguished. In closing, I will briefly reflect on the implications for prevention.
The term filicide refers to the killing of one’s child. Subcategories include neonaticide.
