It seems everyday there is at least a handful of these events going on. Is this something new or just being reported more? Do they have a recurring theme as to motive or set of themes - divorce, financial issues etc? It just seems stories of mothers or dads turning on their own immediate families and then on themselves is more commonplace.
Question for LEOs on murder suicide of kids by parents
- Thread starter APintOfGuinnessPlease!
- Start date
Been common for the last 4 decades in my experience...Dad will off everyone "If I cant have you, nobody will"
I think there are a few facets to it, so i don't claim to have all the answers. But one I see is that with the parenting/society we have now. The always praising children and giving "participation trophies" leads to very little disapointment emotionally in a child/ teenager's life. They have not learned to address those emotions when they are 5 and are harmless. They are experiencing those emotions for the first time and have not bult up the required coping mechanisms to not self destruct. When you hear of one of these, just think of it as a 3 year old being told NO he can't have a candy bar.
Some have mental defects that never allow them to cope but most of it is a learned behavior.
I was always the bad guy in raising my daughter. My wife and I were just talking about it the other day. She asked me how I do it. My answer was simple " i put my feelings of guilt aside, make the decision based on long term goals not instant gratification (mine and my daughter's)".
As a father of a young female in college my biggest and i do mean my biggest fear is she date someone who can't let go if the time comes.
Some have mental defects that never allow them to cope but most of it is a learned behavior.
I was always the bad guy in raising my daughter. My wife and I were just talking about it the other day. She asked me how I do it. My answer was simple " i put my feelings of guilt aside, make the decision based on long term goals not instant gratification (mine and my daughter's)".
As a father of a young female in college my biggest and i do mean my biggest fear is she date someone who can't let go if the time comes.
So this is what I'm trying to understand - is it caused by something 'new' or just a greater level of incidence reporting but no change in the volume or violence of the events.
As has been stated crime over all is down dramatically since the early 90's. That doesn't mean there are not areas that are higher than the average, both in location and type of crime. But over all people have been killing people for ever. And normally the victims know the killer. It would seem to me the suicide part is newer (last 40 years).
Mostly the news has become "shock" reporting. What ever they can do to shock you to get your attention. The line "if it bleeds it leads" comes to mind.
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As with many things, the 24hr news cycle has drastically changed our perception of things. What used to be mundane local news now gets picked up by the 24hr news stations and broadcast ad nauseum all day long because they have nothing better to report on.
The cases you reference have historically been fathers facing the loss of their family and choosing to exercise their final option of control. That "may" have increased in our lifetimes for a few reasons: divorce is much easier and more prevalent than it used to be and family courts almost universally fuck the father and leave him with no true recourse within the system.
There are also the cases where the mother has psychiatric problems and for whatever reason the voices in her head are telling her to kill the kids.
Also so keep in mind that we re-invented our approach to mental health care several decades ago and people with a real need for continuing in-patient care and supervised long-term mental care simply have very few if any options nowadays.
The family murder suicide is a statistical outlier in violent crime, but it gets disproportionate media coverage because of its sensationalism just like cannibalism or mass suicides.
The cases you reference have historically been fathers facing the loss of their family and choosing to exercise their final option of control. That "may" have increased in our lifetimes for a few reasons: divorce is much easier and more prevalent than it used to be and family courts almost universally fuck the father and leave him with no true recourse within the system.
There are also the cases where the mother has psychiatric problems and for whatever reason the voices in her head are telling her to kill the kids.
Also so keep in mind that we re-invented our approach to mental health care several decades ago and people with a real need for continuing in-patient care and supervised long-term mental care simply have very few if any options nowadays.
The family murder suicide is a statistical outlier in violent crime, but it gets disproportionate media coverage because of its sensationalism just like cannibalism or mass suicides.
10 years LEO here. I agree with a lot of the reasons mentioned about, especially the 24 hr news cycle. Add cell phone videos everywhere, it puts a spotlight on many cases that otherwise would have never made the national spot light.
I'll add one other reason in my opinion. I think many today are loosing the moral compass. Many homes are single parent houses and kids literally grow up learning "right and wrong" from TV and video games rather than parents that educate and reinforce good behavior while negative behavior gets ingnored because a parent doesn't want to "be the bad guy". All that adds up to adults that can't cope with negativity when it happens. Also considering the pharmaceuticals available whether by legit script or street, many people are having their brains scrambled on the inside.
I'll add one other reason in my opinion. I think many today are loosing the moral compass. Many homes are single parent houses and kids literally grow up learning "right and wrong" from TV and video games rather than parents that educate and reinforce good behavior while negative behavior gets ingnored because a parent doesn't want to "be the bad guy". All that adds up to adults that can't cope with negativity when it happens. Also considering the pharmaceuticals available whether by legit script or street, many people are having their brains scrambled on the inside.
Thanks for the insights gents. Some depressing stuff but I'm glad it's not a rising trend, more of increased 'death porn'. Still not great...
