Parricide: When Children Kill Their Abusive Parents

In the United States, nearly 700,000 children suffer from abuse annually. Almost 80% of these children are victimized by their parents. (National Statistics on Child Abuse, 2015). As a result of ongoing torment, the child victims are driven to the ultimate last resort: they kill their abusers. This type of crime, known as parricide, occurs as frequently as once per day in the U.S. (The Psychology of Parricide: When Children Kill Their Own Parents, 2017). When or if convicted, minor children (younger than age 18) who kill their abusive parents should receive lenient sentences due to the circumstances and situations that led to parricide.

Survivors of predatory crimes are often blamed for their behavior, questioned about their actions, and suspected

While his father was passed out drunk, Mark saw an opportunity to end years of abuse and took his father’s gun, fatally shooting him. Afterwards, Mark’s sister announced to the media that she felt Mark had “done us all a wonderful favor.” (NY Times article: “Youth Says He Killed Father After Years of Mistreatment”, 1983) Fortunately for Mark, he had several witnesses to his years of suffering who came forward to support him. When the criminal court in Massachusetts heard from the witnesses, they sentenced Mark to six months probation for parricide. Mark was fortunate that his abuse had been visible enough that others could corroborate his claims. He was also allowed to attend school and maintain contact with people outside of his home. The court’s decision in Martone’s case provides an excellent precedent for other cases where abused children ultimately make the decision to kill. Other children who might not have had as much corroboration as Martone could still deserve no more than six months of probation for their

(About Healing Sisters & Stacey Lannert, 2006). After 18 years in prison, Lannert was pardoned by Missouri Governor, Matt Blunt. Since being pardoned, Lannert has become a crusader for children survivors of abuse. She also supports adults who are survivors. Lannert runs a foundation: Healing Sisters, non-profit and support group. She has also published two books about her experiences, Redemption: The Story of Sisterhood, Survival, and Finding Freedom Behind Bars and I Shot Daddy: She Killed Her Father to Protect Her Sister. Since being released, Lannert has maintained a clean record and has never committed any other crimes. Lannert received a harsher sentence than either Martone or Rowe. One reason could possibly be that she and her sister conspired to cover up their crime which made it seem like they were not justified in their actions. Another factor working against them was that they did not have numerous neighbors and teachers supporting their cause. Regardless, these abuse victims were pushed beyond their limit and forced to fend for themselves by attacking their