Le portrait des mères néonaticides dans les expertises judiciaires

Abstract

Recherche financée par l'Observatoire National de l'Enfance en Danger, la région Ile-de-France, la Fondation pour la recherche en Psychiatrie et en santé mentale, la Fondation Wyeth pour la santé de l'enfant et de l'adolescent.Remerciements à Pascale Gerbouin-Rérolle responsable du recueil des données. 3The profile of neonaticide mothers in legal expertise Key words: infanticide, maternal behaviour, personality, intergenerational relations, forensic psychiatry. IntroductionNeonaticide is the term used to refer to the killing of newborn infants within the first twenty-four hours of life. A recent study conducted by INSERM Unit 750 found a frequency of 2.1 cases of neonaticide for 100,000 births in France. The persistence of these crimes raises serious issues, and scientists have attempted to explain this by the profile of neonaticidal mothers: young, or even teenage, single, primiparous, and socially deprived. The present study sought to question this profile, and to suggest a new profile for neonaticidal mothers. Data and methodsThis retrospective study over the years 1996-2000 comprised 32 cases of neonaticide perpetrated in three French regions. 17 solved cases of these 32 cases generated 54 documents by expert consultants, mainly psychiatric and psychological expertise, studied and analysed here using Modalisa software for quantitative analyses and Nvivo software for qualitative data. ResultsNo single socio-demographic profile was observed. The mothers were in contrasting situations at the time of the event. There were few psychotic profiles. The other psychopathological disturbances detected were very often related to the event. The most surprising feature in the expert reports describing the neonaticidal mothers was the existence of what we have termed descriptive absent-factors. These mothers had not experienced major trauma in childhood such as the death of persons close or foster care.They were not living in an environment of family violence. They did not exhibit addictive or self-harm behaviours. Their parents before them had similar profiles, except three cases of alcoholism. Their parentage, and that of the infants, was not an issue. The most widely described personality features were immaturity, dependency on others, withdrawal, inhibition, emptiness, lack of affectivity, nonexpressiveness, and devaluation of self-image. The very impoverished relational environment of these mothers also appears in the expertise data. Their affective and relational foundations were insecure. DiscussionThe "classic" profile of the neonaticidal mother as being young, single, and primiparous is not confirmed in this study. Recent American and European studies reach similar conclusions. More than half of these mothers already had other children, more than half were living with a partner. Nor did these mothers have an evident psychopathological profile, and even less so a psychopathic profile. This study suggests a "psycho-relational" profile for the neonaticidal mother: immature, affectively dependent, expressing herself...

Repeated neonaticide: differences and similarities to single neonaticide events

“…Early research demonstrated that neonaticide perpetrators differ from other filicide perpetrators regarding motives and individual traits (Resnick 1970 ). However, the group of women who commit neonaticide show common characteristics (Amon et al 2012 ; Putkonen et al 2007 ; Vellut et al 2013 ). As filicide, and particularly neonaticide, are inconceivable crimes and difficult for the public to understand, cases involving mothers killing more than one newborn over time are even harder to comprehend.…”

Les néonaticides dans la presse française : 357 décès suspects de 1993 à 2012

“…Si l'abolition du discernement, qui peut inciter la justice à conclure à une irresponsabilité pénale est très rare dans les affaires de néonaticide, la reconnaissance de l'altération du discernement est par contre fréquente, selon une étude réalisée à partir d'expertises judiciaires. Cette reconnaissance protège, comme le législateur le prévoyait, des peines les plus lourdes (Vellut and Simmat-Durand, 2013). Cette notion peut être systématiquement employée dans d'autres pays où le législateur considère que les circonstances d'un accouchement imprévu et solitaire sont de nature à altérer le discernement (Putkonen et al, 2007a).…”