Study aims to shed light on ‘family annihilators’
How could a parent take the lives of their children?
The question arises every time these tragedies happen — and, every time, the question remains largely unanswered.
Now a study, thought to be the first of its type, attempts to throw some light on this phenomenon, known as “family annihilation”.
A team of criminologists in Birmingham City University conducted a detailed analysis of 71 such cases in Britain between 1980 and 2012.
Professor David Wilson, who led the team, said he had “no reason to believe” the research would not apply to Ireland or elsewhere in Europe.
The research defined family annihilation as where a parent — predominantly a father — kills his children, and frequently his partner or ex-partner, and typically attempts to kill himself, usually successfully.
Prof Wilson said the men in these cases are different from men who only kill partners orex-partners, or who only kill their child and not themselves.
“Family annihilators are not known to the criminal justice system or mental health services or drug counsellors,” said. Prof Wilson. “They are seen as nice guys. Many men who typically take the lives of their partner have been unemployed, but family annihilators are employed, often very successful.”
The research found August was the most common month for the crime and Sunday the most common day. This was largely because children were on school holidays and because Sunday was a typical day for men to hand back children to their mothers in cases of relationship breakdown.
The team identified four different types of annihilators.
There are the “self-righteous”, who, according to Prof Wilson, are the most common type, who seek to blame the partner or ex-partner.
They are often “very controlling, very narcissistic, and dramatic”. He said they often take their own lives because they don’t want the criminal justice system to judge them.
A second type are “paranoid”, those who see an external threat, which can either be real or imagined. Prof Wilson said examples include the possibility of social services taking the children, resulting in the dad killing his children instead.
A third type are the “disappointed” — those who feel they have been “let down” by the family for failing to fulfil a view of what the family should be.
The fourth type is the “anomic” type, those who have lost their source of income. Prof Wilson said these are men who “typically have some status, with professional acumen and with some success in business”.
They now feel there is nothing in the institution of the family that will allow them to retain success.
“For some of these people, the family is the outward display of what they feel personally,” said Prof Wilson. “If they become a failure economically they can’t sustain the outward symbols of success. Rather than face the consequences, they regain control by wiping the family out.”
He said half of the 71 cases (59 committed by fathers and 12 by mothers) have happened since 2000, “suggests the phenomenon is increasing”.
The research said the crime reflected a difficulty with masculinity, but stopped short of calling it a crisis.
“What links the four types is masculinity and the changing nature of man and changing nature of woman in society,” said Prof Wilson.
He said researchers were not saying there was a crisis in masculinity, because they did not want people to start blaming women or children.
“The responsibility lies with men,” said Prof Wilson.
