Psychological & Biological Interpretations For Filicide

The objective of this paper is to summarize the articles “Mom Held in Killing 5 Kids,” “5 Kids Found in Clear Lake,” and “Not Without Precedent,” summarize the author’s conclusions and arguments, discuss personal persuasion or lack of persuasion concerning the author’s arguments, and lastly to interpret the articles and arguments from that of a psychologist and biologist’s point of view concerning the deviant act of filicide.

In 1999, Andrea Pia Yates was charged with the deaths of her five children. She drowned them at home in the bathtub. She openly admitted, “She (I) had killed her (my) kids”(Glenn, Rendon, & Bernstein, 2001:1). Later she was accused of capitol murder-multiple accounts and if the court finds her guilty she could possibly receive the death penalty. Yates’ husband, Russell E. Yates told police that she had been treated for postpartum depression for the last two years. He also told police that he would frequently have to “check on her well-being”(Glenn, Rendon, & Bernstein, 2001:2). Previously to this incident, Yates had tried to take her own life.

The authors conclude their articles by exaggerating the disbelief tha

Possibly, in Yates’ state of mind at the time of the filicide, she may have justified her actions by telling her children and convincing herself that she was doing this for their (her) own good, or that by ending their lives it was hurting her as much as it hurt them.

A biologist who may be asked to look at this case may look for different elements, but the source of deviance and location still remains within the individual. They would continue by attributing the deviance to a flaw or defect, which resides within the individual. Yates’ medical history including biological imbalances and deficiencies, heredity, IQ level, which indicate an individual’s ability to deal with complex social conditions, and genetics would all be taken into account for a biological explanation for her deviant behavior. Biologists believe, that only these people who are defective in some biological way commit actions that we would consider to be deviant behavior. Thus the solution would be to physically fix what is wrong by means of surgery or medicine. By a biologist’s point of view, Yates was being given medicine to control her biological unhappiness, but this solution was not probable for Yates.

Another biological explanation for Yates’ behavior observes the hormonal changes within a pregnant woman’s body before and after giving birth to their child. It is a fact according to Laurence Kruckman and Susan Smith, that “once the placenta is removes after the delivery, estrogen and progesterone drop sharply to pre-pregnant levels”(Kruckman and Smith, 1998:1). The result of this biological occurrence results in depression, the severity of depression relies heavily upon the mother’s ability to deal with role confliction and prior di

Some topics in this essay:
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