Parents who kill children: Study flags sentencing disparities and calls for national register
A South African legal study says gaps in police data make it impossible to measure how often parents or parental figures kill children, and calls for a national register and clearer sentencing guidance.
A study by Dr Safia Mahomed of the University of South Africa has highlighted significant sentencing disparities and the need for a national register to track filicide, the act of parents or parental figures killing their children. The research argues that current police systems do not routinely record the relationship between killer and victim, leading to inconsistent sentencing and making it difficult to measure the prevalence of filicide.
The study calls for national sentencing guidelines, compulsory mental health assessments before sentencing, and a dedicated filicide register. South Africa, currently lacking reliable national figures on filicide, sees about 28 children violently attacked daily and roughly three killed daily. The study found that filicide is often linked to factors such as domestic violence, untreated mental illness, financial stress, and gaps in child protection, and that it tends to occur where these elements overlap.
The research also notes a gendered pattern in sentencing, with mothers facing harsher sentences for failing the ideal of motherhood, while fathers with mental illness often receive more lenient sentences.
Brief written by urgent.news from IOL's own syndicated text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
