As this post is being written, the jury in the case of The Commonwealth of Massachusetts versus Lindsay Clancy remains deadlocked. But by the time you read this, a verdict may have been delivered or a mistrial declared. Whatever its status, the case has riveted the nation’s attention and raised profound questions about human nature.
Filicide – the murder of children by their parents – strikes most people as a crime so perverse and bizarre that it can only be characterized as literally unhuman. After all, human beings are hard-wired to protect and nurture their offspring. We sacrifice our time and energy, and, in extreme circumstances, our very lives, for the survival and success of our progeny. Surely, then, a mother like Lindsay Clancy must be a freakish aberration, and her abnormality must be the reason the case has attracted such widespread attention.
But that is not quite true.
The temptation toward filicide is deeply rooted in the darkest regions of human nature. At the Clancy trial, the prosecution and defense both called expert witnesses to testify on the motives and passions that led to the deaths of the children. But the pervasive nature of this tendency is not to be found in the works of experts. Rather, it lurks in our folk tales, myths, and religious tracts – works widely read and absorbed by regular people.
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