Suicide after filicide

Childhood posthomicidal suicide (PHS) is a distinct criminal act with characteristics that distinguish it from both homicide and suicide. The aim of this work is to study cases of suicide after infanticide committed in the Russian Federation. Materials and methods. The study included 86 posthomicidal suicides that took place after murders of children under the age of 18, committed in 47 regions of Russia in the period from January 01, 2009 to June 31, 2021. These posthomicidal suicides were committed by people over 18 years of age (from 21 to 65 y.a., mean age - 38.4±9.0 years), of them 58 males (mean age - 39.7±9.3 years) and 28 females (aged 23 to 60 years; mean age - 35.9±7.5 years). The information was collected through the electronic mass media of the constituent entities of the Russian Federation. Data on 155 victims were also analyzed (71 males and 84 females, aged from 22 to 67 years; mean age -16.95±17.7 years). Mathematical and statistical processing was carried out using descriptive statistics and х2-distribution. Results. The most frequent were PHS with children (60.5%), significantly more often committed by women (mothers of children). Child-and-family PHS made up 32.5%, when men (fathers) besides children also killed their wives or one of the spouse's parents (father-in-law, mother-in-law), PHS of children who were not part of the family made up 7.0%. In 39.5% of cases, there was one victim, in 39.5% of cases there were two victims, in 17.5% there were three victims, and in 3.5% there were five victims; men more often committed murders with two or more victims (69%), while women tended to murder only one victim (57.1%). Murders in У of all cases were committed with piercing and cutting objects (33.7%), via strangulation (22.1%) or with firearms (19.8%). Other means accounted for less than 35%. Women more often than men strangled their children, threw them from a height (jumped with them) or drowned them in water. The men predominantly used cold and firearms. The differences in the types of PHS and the murder weapons between three groups of aggressors (fathers, mothers, other murderers) are reliable. Most often, the victims were children aged 7 to 12 years (21.3%). Mothers more often than other aggressors killed children under one year of age, and other killers more often directed aggression at adolescents aged 13-17 and at adults. The methods of murder and suicide coincided in 69.8% of cases, if firearms were used, the coincidence ratio reached 89.5%. Women with the intention of committing suicide tended to resort to falling (jumping) from a height, while men preferred to use firearms. Immediately or within three days, 94.2% of the aggressors committed suicide after child-murder, and 72.1% of them were committed in the same place where the victims were killed At least every fourth murderer suffered from mental disorders (depressive conditions, alcohol addiction, schizophrenia), with a significant predominance of women over men. Frequent causes of PHS were listed as follows: conflict relations, material problems, jealousy, divorce, separation, chronic illness of the child or their disability. Conclusion. Children's PHS is often an intra-family phenomenon, since the parents are the aggressors, and the children are the victims. The differences between them are revealed in terms of the number of victims, their age, murder weapons and methods of suicide, and the presence of mental disorders. There is a peculiarity in children's PHS committed by other persons (not the relatives of the children).