Addressing Filicide in Ghana: Linking Cultural Understanding With the Law Against Filicide. Does the Law Work?
IntroductionConsistent with international promulgation on the criminalization of filicide, Ghana’s Children’s Act 1998 (560) and the Criminal Justice Act criminalizes any form of torture against children. Yet, perpetrators of filicide in Ghana may go unpunished due to the beliefs in cultural norms t...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Frontiers Media S.A.
2022-07-01
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| Series: | Frontiers in Psychology |
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| Online Access: | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.928963/full |
| _version_ | 1828264705305608192 |
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| author | Alhassan Abdullah Alhassan Abdullah Margarita Frederico Felix Mensah Hajara Bentum Yihang Wang Jennifer Litela Asare |
| author_facet | Alhassan Abdullah Alhassan Abdullah Margarita Frederico Felix Mensah Hajara Bentum Yihang Wang Jennifer Litela Asare |
| author_sort | Alhassan Abdullah |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | IntroductionConsistent with international promulgation on the criminalization of filicide, Ghana’s Children’s Act 1998 (560) and the Criminal Justice Act criminalizes any form of torture against children. Yet, perpetrators of filicide in Ghana may go unpunished due to the beliefs in cultural norms that justify filicide acts. The cultural narratives of filicide can impede on the application and effectiveness of the laws of filicide.MethodThe study employed a vignette approach to explore the views of 19 adults, who were parents between 69 years of age and 30 years of age, in rural and urban Ghana on the laws of filicide in Ghana and filicide intervention measures. The interviewees were provided with narratives on two different vignettes (developed based on real life cases), followed by semi-structured questions to probe the narratives. The interviews were analyzed following Fraser’s narrative thematic analysis procedure.ResultsThe study identifies the association between cultural beliefs and the communities’ understanding of the concept of filicide. Though community members are aware of the criminalization of filicide acts, the majority of them were not informed about the laws against filicide in Ghana. Addressing filicide cases within the community was the most preferred option for the participants, as they believe that some children, termed “spirit children” (SC), deserve to be killed. Resorting to spiritual intervention from concoction men emerged as the normative pathway to obtain community approval for filicide. Police interventions were considered necessary in non-spiritual related filicides. Community members were only prepared to cooperate with the law in filicide cases if the filicide act has no connection with spirituality.ConclusionThe study adds to understanding of the concept of filicide outside western societies. The importance of intensive community campaigns against filicide acts, and norms that support filicide acts, has relevance for all counties. |
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| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-98a5f8d8b4ae4ed0a9f3fe1061345893 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1664-1078 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-13T04:28:45Z |
| publishDate | 2022-07-01 |
| publisher | Frontiers Media S.A. |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Frontiers in Psychology |
| spelling | doaj.art-98a5f8d8b4ae4ed0a9f3fe10613458932022-12-22T03:02:23ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Psychology1664-10782022-07-011310.3389/fpsyg.2022.928963928963Addressing Filicide in Ghana: Linking Cultural Understanding With the Law Against Filicide. Does the Law Work?Alhassan Abdullah0Alhassan Abdullah1Margarita Frederico2Felix Mensah3Hajara Bentum4Yihang Wang5Jennifer Litela Asare6Department of Social Work and Social Administration, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, ChinaDepartment of Sociology, Haverford College, Haverford, PA, United StatesDepartment of Occupational Therapy and Social Work and Social Policy, School of Allied Health, Human Services and Sport, La Trobe University, Bundoora, VIC, AustraliaDepartment of Sociology and Social Work, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi, GhanaThe School of Arts and Humanities, Edith Cowan University, Joondalup, WA, AustraliaDepartment of Social Work and Social Administration, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, ChinaDepartment of Sociology and Social Work, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi, GhanaIntroductionConsistent with international promulgation on the criminalization of filicide, Ghana’s Children’s Act 1998 (560) and the Criminal Justice Act criminalizes any form of torture against children. Yet, perpetrators of filicide in Ghana may go unpunished due to the beliefs in cultural norms that justify filicide acts. The cultural narratives of filicide can impede on the application and effectiveness of the laws of filicide.MethodThe study employed a vignette approach to explore the views of 19 adults, who were parents between 69 years of age and 30 years of age, in rural and urban Ghana on the laws of filicide in Ghana and filicide intervention measures. The interviewees were provided with narratives on two different vignettes (developed based on real life cases), followed by semi-structured questions to probe the narratives. The interviews were analyzed following Fraser’s narrative thematic analysis procedure.ResultsThe study identifies the association between cultural beliefs and the communities’ understanding of the concept of filicide. Though community members are aware of the criminalization of filicide acts, the majority of them were not informed about the laws against filicide in Ghana. Addressing filicide cases within the community was the most preferred option for the participants, as they believe that some children, termed “spirit children” (SC), deserve to be killed. Resorting to spiritual intervention from concoction men emerged as the normative pathway to obtain community approval for filicide. Police interventions were considered necessary in non-spiritual related filicides. Community members were only prepared to cooperate with the law in filicide cases if the filicide act has no connection with spirituality.ConclusionThe study adds to understanding of the concept of filicide outside western societies. The importance of intensive community campaigns against filicide acts, and norms that support filicide acts, has relevance for all counties.https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.928963/fullfilicidespirit childrenlegislationcommunity interventioncultural normsGhana |
| spellingShingle | Alhassan Abdullah Alhassan Abdullah Margarita Frederico Felix Mensah Hajara Bentum Yihang Wang Jennifer Litela Asare Addressing Filicide in Ghana: Linking Cultural Understanding With the Law Against Filicide. Does the Law Work? Frontiers in Psychology filicide spirit children legislation community intervention cultural norms Ghana |
| title | Addressing Filicide in Ghana: Linking Cultural Understanding With the Law Against Filicide. Does the Law Work? |
| title_full | Addressing Filicide in Ghana: Linking Cultural Understanding With the Law Against Filicide. Does the Law Work? |
| title_fullStr | Addressing Filicide in Ghana: Linking Cultural Understanding With the Law Against Filicide. Does the Law Work? |
| title_full_unstemmed | Addressing Filicide in Ghana: Linking Cultural Understanding With the Law Against Filicide. Does the Law Work? |
| title_short | Addressing Filicide in Ghana: Linking Cultural Understanding With the Law Against Filicide. Does the Law Work? |
| title_sort | addressing filicide in ghana linking cultural understanding with the law against filicide does the law work |
| topic | filicide spirit children legislation community intervention cultural norms Ghana |
| url | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.928963/full |
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