(A texas mother hanged her 4 kids (3 died, the 8mo. old survived miraculously) and then herself in a little town west of ft. worth texas)

Less than five years earlier, another Hudson Oaks family was torn apart when Dee Etta Perez, 39, shot her three children, ages 4, 9 and 10, before killing herself.

Andrea Yates drowned her five children in the family's Houston bathtub in 2001. In 2003, Deanna Laney beat her two young sons to death with stones in East Texas, and Lisa Ann Diaz drowned her daughters in a Plano bathtub. Dena Schlosser fatally severed her 10-month-old daughter's arms with a kitchen knife in 2004.

All four of those women were found innocent by reason of insanity. Yates initially was convicted of capital murder, but that verdict was overturned on appeal.

Anyone have any ideas why texas mothers in particular seem prone to killing their kids?

Why Some Mothers Kill Their Children - Associated Content

1. Homicide is the leading cause of death for children under 4.

2. Although women commit less than 13% of all violent crimes, they are responsible for 50% over parental murders.

3. Women commit only two crimes as frequently as men: shoplifting and the murder of their own children. (FBI)

4. About 30% of child murders by parents are premeditated (Medea killings). A high % are blamed on impulse (rage and frustration).

5. Severe poverty lends itself to infanticide.

6. infanticide is correlated with famine and political unrest.

http://www.publications.villanova.edu/Concept/2005/Filicide.pdf

parents who commit filicide

1. Filicide is a leading cause of child death in developed countries.

2. Most muders of children under twelve are committed by mothers.

3. Social isolation, environmental stress, spousal revenge, mental illness, lack of support network are major contributing, or primarily suspected causal factors.

Filicide-Suicide Home Page

http://www.jaapl.org/cgi/reprint/33/4/496.pdf

spousal conflict, poverty, social isolation, environmental stress, mental illness...

Mental Health Services Locator

Texas and california have the two highest number of resident persons with serious mental illness. But Texas had only the fifth highest amount of money spent on mental health. California had the second highest amount of money, outspent by new york, who by the way had the third highest number of residents with serious mental illness. 34% percent of Texas adults have poor mental health, which is middle of the road.

When mental expenditures, PER CAPITA, are calculated, texas is 47th. So Texas is a HUGE state, with lots people who have mental illnesses and spends just about the least amount of money per capita on mental illness. (new york was 2nd, and california 15th)

over 16% of texans live below the poverty level. (near the worst and preceded by low population states) about 13% in california, and 14% in new york.

22.9% of Texas children live below the poverty level. (near the worst. #9, and preceded by low population states)

So Texas is a huge state (2nd only to california by popluation, and followed by new york) yet it has very high rates of child poverty, poverty and almost the lowest level of state spending on mental illness. It's track record is on par with smaller poor southern states like louisiana and mississippi and alabama, yet it is a high population state.

6.5% of homicide victims in texas are under 14 (california, 4.1%, new york, 4.6%)

In the absence of a dedicated study, I guess people are left to draw their own conclusions or none at all.

StateMaster - US Statistics, State Comparisons

Hey, I agree with Carlene in that infanticide/homicide occurs across the United States and the world. No need to stigmatise Texas or Texans for that matter.

Evilah you have been giving Google a really good workout to come up with those stats and stats on Australia also. Stats are good but one should also talk from gut feelings/instinct and the heart when talking about a range of issues from Illegals to homicides also. Susannah

susannah,

I try never to go with gut feelings, unless the issue is directly related to myself and my own decision.

When it comes to evaluating populations of people that you don't know personally, statistics are invaluable. It is one of my lifelong dreams to open a non-profit, independent, statistics gathering firm. Information is golden, it changes the world, there is never enough of it. When you can make a conclusion about what is exactly happening (even it concerns only one aspect of a problem) without the slant of emotion or predisposition or prejudice then you've made huge progress.

It's valid to want to know if there's a reason all of the news stories I've heard about filicide in the past ten years were about Texas residents. To me... My "gut feeling" is that it's really strange to hear only about Texas filicides. I mean, it seems to be common sense that it's occurs everywhere and according to total population, and that such horrendous crimes would recieve equal coverage by the national news regardless of the state the crime happened in.

Based on the facts I just found, I think the state of Texas could very well have high rates of filicide (compared to other US states) as well as a large population, which would account for the news reports about Texas filicides that I've seen over the past decade.

Also, I've noticed that over the years, statistics and studies that could be controversial are often withheld from the public when possible, to prevent mob behavior, mass discrimnation, and other undersirable behavior by a large number of people. The first step to fixing a problem is knowing exactly what it is. Examples: race and IQ scores, SV-40 and polio vaccine.

Could it be that Texas, because of it's level of poverty, and public policy on mental health spending have higher rates of filicide? If state policy is causing an unusual problem, then perhaps there needs to be intervention by the federal government or policy reform. Different problems prevail in different states because of factors uniquely related to that state-- among those factors are total population, population density, spending, public policy, religious prevalence, race, immigrant populations, economics, climate, pollution etc. It's totally valid to question a certain state's particular susceptibility to any one problem.

susannah,

I want to add-- I'm not trying to stigmatize Texans. I know people are prone to prejudice, but we all need to fight it everyday.

I do appreciate your concern for Texans.

Evilah

Hey, Points understood and taken. You make some valid points to be sure. How about taking the altruism you feel for your fellow "Legal citizens" and extending those same sentiments to immigrants instead of demanding that they speak English etc etc and marginalizing them?

My grandparents could not speak English when they came to Australia but they learnt it in their own time, and if they so wanted to speak Hungarian at any time and in any place,they surely would.

Susannah

ARGH....Can I please just have one thread that does not involve illegals?

Hey, Life is kind of like that Babygrl. One topic can spill out into another. Cest La Vie. Ooops! That is not English. Sorry. Susannah

Haha I know Cest la vie.

Hey, I also find it amusing when some Australians and Americans go to France and get grumpy when the French want them to attempt to speak French in financial/shopping type transactions. They just expect that English should be the world's dominant language and that's that.

I love the French because they are fabulous and feisty and they resist most attempts at having their culture taken over.

Susannah

I like the French for the simple fact that they brought me the CROISSANT.

Hey Babygrl, I have never like croissants, but I love cakes. Cakes are now a distant memory for me though now.:confused: Susannah

Yeah I like those too. All that goodness got me to where I am today lol.

34% percent of Texas adults have poor mental health, which is middle of the road.

6.5% of homicide victims in texas are under 14 (california, 4.1%, new york, 4.6%)

In the absence of a dedicated study, I guess people are left to draw their own conclusions or none at all.

I edited the previous post to exclude things I didnt want to comment on....

What is considered "poor mental health??" Who makes this determination?? I wonder if they stastics are based on phamaceutical sales for antidepressants?? IMHO, antidepressant medication is overly prescribed. You mention feeling tired and stressed out and BAM!!!! Your given an antidepressant.. The current popular Selective Seratonin Reuptake Inhibitors such as Paxil, Prozac, Zoloft, etc., have such horrible withdrawal side effects that many patients find themselves stuck on them for years and years. You have to wonder why they were made that way. The pharmaceutical companies are certainly profitting from this.

"6.5% of homicide victims are under the age of 14 in Texas" doesnt say it is a parent that killed them. Seems like kids are involved in gangs younger and younger these days. If they aren't, their parent or sibling is and they get hit by stray bullets in a drive by shooting.. This stuff happens more than it should. I do believe many of the 6.4% are killed by a parent, but I stand by what I posted earlier. I think it is most often a child who has suffered abuse throughout their lives and finally a parent goes too far and kills them. These poor kids go unnoticed by the media because they died alone, instead of with their siblings, and because there were no arms severed or heads bashed in with rocks. Just another child killed.. Not gory enough to be worth much media attention. And to make matters worse the parents are charged with something rediculous like "injury to a child" or "involuntary manslaughter". Call it what it is... MURDER OF A CHILD.. and give them mandatory life in prison without parole.

Just a few thoughts on the matter....

If you have ever been to Texas (no I do not live there), there are often miles and miles---into the hundreds---between cities large enough to support some of the mental health agencies referred to. If someone is down on their luck, getting to the place may be next to impossible. There is not public transport at every corner. It is huge, and by size alone, makes it difficult to get to where the help is.

Another thing I have read about is how something like a High School student commiting suicide, puts the staff on alert, because other students see that, and it often leads to more doing the same. Not so much a copy cat thing, as that it puts the idea there...and when mental illness reaches a point, the thought is already imbedded.

Perhaps these already unbalanced women also heard all of the news coverage of their fellow Texans---or others----and when they unbalanced to "that" point.....chose the same escape.

I do not think it has anything to do with Texas. It is however hard to use any stats regarding Texas, the largest border state without bringing up illegals, and how the numbers affect the stats.

Kat