A unique killing: Adoptive parents who kill their adopted children; Adopted children who kill their adoptive parents

Abstract

Parricide and filicide are surely two of the most unthinkable and rare crimes.1 Parricide is the killing of a parent or other near relative.2 Filicide is the killing of a child less than eighteen years old by their parent or guardian.3 Subsumed under this category are two subcategories.4 Infanticide is the killing of a child less than one-year-old by their parent or guardian, and neonaticide is the killing of a newborn by a parent within the first twenty-four hours of life.5 This Article investigates an even more infrequent phenomenon—adoptive parents who kill their adopted children and adopted children who kill their adoptive parents.6