انتهای خشونت خانگی: نکته اصلی نقل قول های کودکان در طول تحقیقات پزشکی قانونی بدنبال قتل خانگی

The current study provides an in-depth exploration of the narratives of children who witnessed their father killing their mother. This exploration was conducted using a thematic analysis of the children's forensic interviews based on seven investigative interviews that were conducted with children following the domestic homicide. Investigative interviews were selected for study only for substantiated cases and only if the children disclosed the domestic homicide. All of the investigative interviews were conducted within 24 h of the domestic homicide. Thematic analysis revealed the following four key categories: the domestic homicide as the dead end of domestic violence, what I did when daddy killed mommy, that one time that daddy killed mommy, and mommy will feel better and will go back home. The discussion examines the multiple layers of this phenomenon as revealed in the children's narratives and its consequences for professionals within the legal and clinical contexts.

Shaw (1987) refers to children who have witnessed their father killing their mother as “orphans of justice,” meaning that when a man kills his spouse, he essentially orphans his children. In particular, following the murder, the children lose both parents: one through death and the other through incarceration in a prison or psychiatric hospital. Few studies have been conducted on children who witness their parent being killed by the other parent. One study discussed the emotional consequences of witnessing the homicide of a family member (Clements & Averill, 2004) and elaborated on its profound effect. Another study (Lev-Wiesel & Samson, 2001) aimed to assess long-term consequences through adults’ drawings and elaborated on the multilayer effect of the traumatic experience. Other studies have focused on interviewing and intervention aspects with these children (Black and Kaplan, 1988 and Pyoons and Eth, 1986), stressing the complex challenge of communicating with them and pointing to the study of drawings as a useful strategy in these cases. In addition, Kaplan (1998) wrote about the complex decision making of professionals in terms of the children's best interest in replacement issues and the challenging expert testimony following these incidents. Some researchers have correlated domestic homicide to domestic violence (Olszowy et al., 2013 and Websdale, 1999). Given this possible relation, it is important to further explore the research that has been conducted with respect to children who witness domestic violence.