Ambivalence toward mothers who kill: An examination of 45 U.S. cases of maternal neonaticide

Abstract

Public opinion about neonaticide (the killing of a newborn within the first 24 hours of life) has varied across time and cultures. Some nations have passed legislation on behalf of maternal offenders with the assumption that childbirth, a time of unique biological change, may lead to mental disturbance. The United States, however, makes no such distinction; offenders are prosecuted under general homicide laws. Nevertheless, U.S. courts often consider a mother's emotional and physical condition prior to and during delivery. This study includes 44 female offenders and 45 infant deaths and highlights society's ambivalence toward neonaticide offenders. The authors suggest that this ambivalence may be attributed to: (1) the perception that an offender's emotional and physical turmoil during the birth and homicide reduces her culpability; (2) the sentiment that neonaticide offenders are more "redeemable" than other offenders; and (3) the uncertainty about the personhood of a fetus or newborn.

A Retrospective Study of Neonaticides in Shanghai from 2007 to 2013

“…In this study, the unmarried offenses were due to the stigma of illegitimacy, the married female offender's motive was hopeless and stigma of giving birth of a female newborn, and the married male offender's motive was financial stress and removal of a burden. The primary motive in all 20 cases was that the child was undesirable or unwanted, which was similar to the previous study in US [6]. Although previous studies showed slight tendency of female infanticide and discrimination in care practices for girls in China, only 1 offender killed her newborn because of the newborn's gender [19].…”

“…Possible motives for neonaticide included altruism, revenge, undesirable or unwanted child, psychiatric disorders and accidentally manslaughter [6,12]. In this study, the unmarried offenses were due to the stigma of illegitimacy, the married female offender's motive was hopeless and stigma of giving birth of a female newborn, and the married male offender's motive was financial stress and removal of a burden.…”

“…This phenomenon has different names in the past, then forensic psychiatrist Phillip Resnick coined the name neonaticide which usually was committed by a biological parent and distinguished from the killing of older children (infanticide or filicide) [1,2]. It happens in many countries with different cultures and development levels, such as the US, Germany, Netherland, India, France and Austria [3][4][5][6][7][8]. Though neonaticide is usually covert and rarely appeared in the media, there is voluminous literature on neonaticide from the 18th and 19th centuries.…”

“…Possible motives for neonaticide included altruism, revenge, undesirable or unwanted child, psychiatric disorders and accidentally manslaughter [6,12]. Postpartum depression is contributed to infanticide [13][14][15].…”

“…Postpartum depression is contributed to infanticide [13][14][15]. Maybe it is a reasonable interpretation for neonaticide, but the previous studies revealed that unwanted child was the main motive for neonaticide rather than postpartum depression [4,6,12]. Stigma of illegitimacy, stigma of giving birth of a female newborn and removal of burden were contributed to neonaticide.…”