EVIL ACTS: Women who murder their kids:

Shaquan Duley and Susan Smith

Shaquan Duley of Orange County, South Carolina has been charged in the deaths of her two sons, Ja'van T. Duley, age 1, and Devean C. Duley, age 2. Duley killed the boys before strapping them into her car and pushing it into a river. She walked down the road looking for help. A man she came in contact with called the police to report the accident. Foul play was suspected almost immediately. There were no indications of loss of control of the motor vehicle and the defendant’s clothes were dry when authorities arrived.  

Duley admitted to smothering the boys and looking for a place to discard the bodies. Her act has been linked to arguments she had with her mother the previous night and desperate financial circumstances that made it difficult if not impossible to care for her three children. Duley’s five-year-old daughter was at her mother’s home during the incident.
 

(From Left: Shaquan Duley & Susan Smith)

The case of Shaquan Duley of South Carolina is similar to that of Susan Smith, also of South Carolina, who killed her two young sons in the autumn of 1994. Both women strapped their children into a car, shoved it into a lake, and pretended they were somehow innocent. Both "fessed" up shortly thereafter. Both wanted to be "free" of the encumbrances that caring for two young children entails. However, there are some importance differences.

Susan Smith had recently divorced and was carrying on an affair with the son of the boss of the factory where she was then working. He wasn't thrilled about the prospect of marrying a woman who had two young boys by a different father. When he ended the relationship, this was a primary motive. So -hey - no kids, no problem! But Susan was a little more sophisticated than Shaquan. She didn't come out and say: If I don't have these toddlers, I can be free! Shaquan, however, wasted no time in attributing her actions to that motive.

Also, Susan figured she could divert any suspicions about her possible involvement by blaming a (nonexistent) black man, thus stirring up tremendous anger in the black community and fear and sympathy from the white community. Shaquan couldn't very well claim that some white guy had kidnapped her children or pushed the car into the river, as the racial angle doesn't work in the reverse direction. No one would believe a white person would want to kidnap or even kill two black toddlers. Shaquan did cite a strained relationship with her mother as one of her motivations.

Also, Shaquan was considerably poorer and less educated than Susan, and had no husband, ex-husband or boyfriend of which to speak. It's not even clear who had fathered her three children or if they had had the same father. Shaquan was therefore much more like the indigent and desperate women whom I studied in my forensic hospital: women who were poor and overwhelmed by the obligations of motherhood. In contrast, the 57 women I studied didn't do diabolical things like Shaquan or Susan Smith did. Most just strangled, smothered, or (if the kids were older) stabbed them while in their homes.

The malice aforethought and hope to get away with their deeds mark Susan and Shaquan as prison material. They are not crazy (like my forensic patients), so they end up in prison -- like other mothers who kill their kids for insurance money or to get back at a divorcing husband. (See: Dr. Deborah Green -- who burned down her house with her 3 kids in it, when her husband sued for divorce; two of the children died).

Shaquan seemed to want primarily to be "free" (meaning - no childcare burdens) but had no boyfriend with which to make a new life. Susan thought she had a new man to make a new life with and only one thing standing in her way. Of course one could always ask: why didn't Susan ask her husband to take custody of the kids because she just couldn't deal with the motherhood responsibilities? We can never know the answer to that one.

Susan and Shaquan are both pariahs, but Susan, by virtue of being white, attractive, and an incest victim, is a slightly more sympathetic figure. Although, her willingness to baselessly blame the black community takes her back down a peg in the public eye. Both are irresponsible, impulsive, and come across as not very bright - or at least inspire one to ask: what were they thinking?! 

I put Susan at Level #10 on my Gradations of Evil Scale: some psychopathic traits in a person who wanted someone "out of the way."  Shaquan probably belongs at some lower rung: #6: impulsive, rash or impetuous person without marked psychopathic traits.  

*Dr. Michael Stone is a regular host and content contributor to Real Law Radio. He is a psychiatrist, author, television show host, and international lecturer from Columbia University. His book, "Anatomy of Evil" outlines the 22 degrees of a human’s capacity for evil. Start you purchase now. His comments do not necessarily reflect the ideas, views, or opinions of Real Law Radio, it's host, production staff, agents, advertisers or sponsors. His work appears on this site, with permission of Dr. Michael Stone who grants editorial license to Real Law Radio with Anne Adoryan, producer.