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Developing an Understanding of Filicide in South Africa

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When Parents Kill Children

Abstract

This chapter provides further context for understanding filicide through a focus on South Africa. The chapter draws on data collected for the national child homicide study and the pilot child death review project to explore this phenomenon in a developing country context. Through a combination of these data sources, the authors find that filicide is committed in the context of high levels of violence, intimate partner violence and violence against children, which is somewhat different to what is commonly experienced in developed settings. The chapter shows that family breakdown is at the centre of this phenomenon is this context, with psychological explanations not sufficient to capture the complexity.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    A pseudonym to protect her identity.

  2. 2.

    We follow the public health definition of a neonate (a new-born 0–28 days) in the calculation of neonaticide as we believe this a more accurate measurement of neonates killed and in addition this timeframe will allows for comparisons with the child mortality measures i.e. neonatal deaths.

  3. 3.

    Intimate femicide is defined as the killing of a woman by an intimate partner. This includes the woman’s husband, boyfriend (dating or co-habiting), ex-husband (divorced or separated) or boyfriend, same sex partner or a rejected would-be lover.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa

    Shanaaz Mathews

  2. Gender and Health Research Unit, The South African Medical Research Council, Cape Town, South Africa

    Naeemah Abrahams

Authors
  1. Shanaaz Mathews
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  2. Naeemah Abrahams
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Monash University, Caulfield East, Victoria, Australia

    Thea Brown

  2. Deakin University, Geelong, Victoria, Australia

    Danielle Tyson

  3. Universidad Mayor, Santiago, Chile

    Paula Fernandez Arias

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Mathews, S., Abrahams, N. (2018). Developing an Understanding of Filicide in South Africa. In: Brown, T., Tyson, D., Fernandez Arias, P. (eds) When Parents Kill Children. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-63097-7_3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-63097-7_3

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  • Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-63096-0

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-63097-7

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