Women, Crime, & justice

For this discussion assignment, please answer the following prompt in at least two paragraphs:

First, choose one of the major crimes committed by women outlined in Chapter 8 (drugs, property crime, prostitution, gangs, violent crime, or filicide) and find an article using the TWU library search (https://twu.edu/library/) to find one peer-reviewed article from 2010 or later related to this crime. Since the lecture focused on trans persons, I’d like you to find one that includes LGTBQ people in some way (i.e. they can either be the sole, primary, or secondary focus of the article).

For your post, start with a brief overview of the crime as is discussed in the book. Next, summarize the article you chose. Then, compare, contrast, and critique what is said by the book and the article. What similarities or differences do you see? What might be missing?

Like last week, this should be about 2 paragraphs.

ANSWER

Women, Crime, and Justice

Filicide is the killing of a child by their caregiver or parent. Filicide is estimated to account for 18 to 25% of family homicide cases. It is challenging to understand filicide as it is not very common. Most women who commit maternal filicide are usually diagnosed with mental illness or a history of abuse. Some of the common cases in the press that involve filicide include the case of Andrea Yates, who drowned her five children (Ben-Nun, 2017). Yates had shown symptoms of depression and psychosis, which were made worse by postpartum periods. Filicide has existed since the dawn of humanity. In the ancient Greco-Roam times, a father could kill their child without any consequences legally. Despite the rise of Christianity, the number of filicides continued to rise, with mothers committing the crimes and claiming that the child suffocated at night in bed by accident. Some of the ten reasons women commit these crimes include illegitimacy, lack of resources to care for the children, and disability.

Women are criminalized and punished for the death of their children when sometimes they are suffering from mental health issues. According to Milne (2021), the woman carries the burden and the risk of carrying the child and regulating their behavior to save the child. There are cases where women have been blamed for giving birth from home and not calling for help which led to the child’s death. Others are blamed for the death of their children and are charged because of their alcohol abuse tendencies and promiscuity. They take the blame for the accidental death of their children because they were blamed for the lifestyle they chose. Women are often blamed for what happens to their children. Most of the women who commit filicide are usually sick or depressed because they are forced to conform to the societal standards of a good mother.

References

Ben-Nun, L. (2017). Neonaticide, Infanticide and Filicide.

Milne, E. (2021). Criminal Justice Responses to Maternal Filicide: Judging the Failed Mother. https://www-emerald-com.ezp.twu.edu/insight/content/doi/10.1108/978-1-83909-620-420211006/full/html