RBBM
I feel just the opposite. That we, as societies, all too often look for reasons to minimize a mother's involvement and filicides are allowed to propagate.
In every maternal filicide case I have ever followed there has been the following offered as theories for why mothers kill: sexual abuse; spousal abuse; being physically abused as a child; having children at a young age; substance abuse; mental illness; poor role models; the way in which they themselves were parented; low income; little secondary education, etc.
Certainly some of these factors are present in filicides but in no way should they, in my opinion, even begin to diminish the crime of stealing a child's life away. Except, of course, in cases of true psychosis in which the mother is truly incapable of determining right from wrong. Those filicides in my opinion are tragedies.
The vast majority though exhibit overwhelming characteristics of selfishness, revenge, narcissism, and apathy. Research has shown that depression is most often associated with filicide (some studies peak at 71%) and while we all know depression is a mental illness what about the millions of mothers who suffer from it and do their damndest to be great moms? What about those women who overcome tumultuous and turbulent childhoods themselves to ensure their children have it better than they did? What about the wives who risk their own lives to remove their children from an abusive household? What about the moms who are single parents without support systems that struggle to attend school, work, and are still there for their kids school play?
At some point I think society needs to accept that murdering a child is most often a choice and hold the parent fully responsible for that choice. We have seen that trend already in paternal filicides but maternal filicides are rarely afforded the same social disdain or judicial decree.
-->Off my soapbox now. Sorry...I am really passionate that far too many mothers are getting away with murder. Many more than statistics can even speculate. JMHO
