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Case: Mother (Han Qunfeng) who killed her Twin sons

I. Introduction

In June, Han Qunfeng, 37, was sentenced to five years imprisonment for the murder of her twin sons. In December last year Han gave her sons water laced with sleeping pills and drowned them in a bathtub before attempting to take her own life. As her sons were diagnosed with cerebral palsy, Han was given a lenient sentence because she had “an extremely complicated family background and motive,” Dongguan City No.1 People's Court in Guangdong Province said (shanghaiist.com).

According to Han's husband, the family had exhausted all its finances on the twin's treatment. The mother lost confidence. As her sons grew, it became more difficult to care for them. She looked so hard for a cure, but her sons had a serious condition. She had no economic support and could not work. She needed support from her husband. She needed psychological support (dongguantoday.com).

II. Moral Implications

The moral issue behind the killing of children that too by their own mother is the lack of support by her husband. However, in any case, Han should not have killed her own sons. Those were innocent lives, which did not deserve death.

The principles in conflict are of relationship between a mother and a child, and the law that prohibits the killing of children.

Han, who gave birth to the twins in 1998, had not relinquished her duty to raise the children and treat their disorder, the court was told. Just days before the murder, she quit her job to attend to the children full-time, replacing the family's hired caregivers. Han Qunfeng already told the court she regretted her act and was tortured by it (disableddaughter.com).

Han has been impacted by the issue; although she has killed her children, she regrets it and is tortured by it.

III. Theory Application

A. Consequential

1. Egoism

Egoism is the concept of one's self. It triggers our intentions, drives our motivation, and decides our goals. Each aspect of egoism has been studied thoroughly in almost every field. According to philosophy, the theory of egoism states that our self-perception is the motivation of our actions and has two variants. The descriptive variant describes that people's motivation is temporary depending on their immediate desires. The normative variant conceives that motivation should be present as a more permanent and noble influence rather than situation and self-centered. Theories of egoism also study the intentions behind our actions. For example, whether the act is for love, religion, or wealth? Who benefits from our actions, is it the individual or the whole of society (Gross 1999: 9)?

2. Utilitarianism

The utilitarian theory is "consequentialism" in nature. It recognizes that punishment has consequences for both the offender and society and holds that the total good produced by the punishment should exceed the absolute evil. In other words, punishment should not be unlimited. One illustration of consequentialism in punishment is the release of a prison inmate suffering from a debilitating illness. If the prisoner's death is imminent, society ...