ABSTRACT
Filicide is the generic term used to describe the killing of a child by the parent. There are generally two types of filicide discussed in the lit
erature: neonaticide and infanticide (Oberman, 1996). The differences in the terms are sometimes determined exclusively by the age of the vic tim. Filicide is the killing of a child (at any age) by the parent. The child can be as young as a few hours, or as old as 45. If the murdered child is between 48 hours and two years old, then the term most often used to describe that crime is infanticide. If the child is younger than 48 hours, neonaticide is the term most frequently used (Palermo, 2002). Caution must be taken, however, because there is no readily apparent principle to distinguish between infanticide and neonaticide. The above defini tions are not meant to be concrete but instead serve as a general guide. It is not uncommon to find cases of murdered six-month-old children defined as neonaticide and to include murdered four-and five-year-old children as cases of infanticide (Oberman, 1996).
