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Who kills children? re-examining the evidence
- Authors:
- PRITCHARD Colin, DAVEY Jill, WILLIAMS Richard
- Journal article citation:
- British Journal of Social Work, 43(7), 2013, pp.1403-1438.
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
Violent children's deaths have become a surrogate indicator of effective child protection but can those who kill children be better identified? A decade-long study of child homicide assailants (population of 2.5 million) is re-examined in the context of nineteen Western nations' child mortality rates and child-abuse-related deaths, correlated with four international measures of relative poverty, focusing on income inequality. Child mortality rates of the nineteen countries were ranked and correlated with levels of poverty. Child mortality and poverty strongly correlated but, unexpectedly, child-abuse-related deaths did not. Child homicide assailants are extremely rare, but three distinct within-family assailant categories can be identified: mentally ill parents, mothers with a child on the Child Protection Register and men with previous convictions for violence. Mentally ill parents were the most frequent assailants, but violent men killed over five times the rate of mentally ill parents. The juxtaposed results indicate that the assailants' problems are essentially psycho-criminological, especially violence, rather than socio-economic, although poverty worsens most situations. Despite the dangers of ‘false positives’, children's services need to give greater weighting to the child protection–psychiatric–violence interface to assist front line staff in improving risk assessment and contribute to reducing the impact that parental mental illness can have on the child. (Publisher abstract)
Mental illness, drug and alcohol misuse and HIV risk behaviour in 214 young adult (18-35 year) probation clients: implications for policy, practice and training
- Authors:
- PRITCHARD Colin, et al
- Journal article citation:
- Social Work and Social Sciences Review, 3(3), 1991, pp.227-242.
- Publisher:
- Whiting and Birch
An analysis of the psycho-social problems of 214 ordinary probation clients found that they faced a multiplicity of difficulties. The majority experienced relative poverty, two-fifths were involved with substance abuse which was linked to potential HIV risk behaviour. A fifth of clients had some form of mental disorder, often involving attempted suicide. The mental health dimension and the HIV risk behaviour indicates the need for active inter-disciplinary collaboration and a review of probation training.