On the one hand, the statistics are unanimous. Where infants are younger than a year [and fetuses are involved], the perpetrator is more likely to be the mother. These murders are a kind of grisly abortion-after-the-fact.
On the other hand, the statistics show fathers tend to come to fore in child murders where the children are older, and this trend has been getting worse.
According to Canadian statistics, over the last several decades the number of mothers involved in fillicide has dropped from just below 50% to less than 40%, whereas fathers have risen from above 50% to more than 60%.
But the Watts case isn’t infanticide, or fillicide, it’s the conventional murder of an adult [if there is such a thing] as well as fillicide and infanticide.
Does this suggest, on a purely statistical basis, that Mr. Watts is more likely to be involved in the murders than Mrs. Watts. I think it does.
Other statistics worth looking at:
When it comes to child murder, a history of family violence is an aggravating factor in 26% [less than 1/3rd] of cases.
In terms of the type of “weapon” used in child murder [in Canada], strangling is by far the most common method, followed by beatings, shootings and “other methods”.
Curiously, women only outnumber men in cases where strangling is the cause of death in the murder of children.
In other words, when murdering children, men prefer methods besides strangling.
In Table 2 below we see that in 66% [2/3] of strangling cases, the murderer is a woman. In almost 60% of smoke [or gas] inhalation, the murderer is a man.
What about motive? Interestingly, child murder as a result of frustration, anger and despair features more than four times as often as following a mere argument/quarrel, and about three times more often than as a result of revenge [which is the motive Chris Watts’ has mentioned in his allegation against Shan’ann].
Finally, the murder of children aged 1-4 is more common than any other age bracket, including infants below 1 year.
Leave a Reply