Abstract
Infanticide is a unique offence. The law decrees that the possession of a certain state of mind at the time that a recently delivered mother kills her child is sufficient to reduce her criminal responsibility for her actions. The law does not require evidence of a direct connection between the state of mind and the killing, and the consequences are not defined. She is to be dealt with as if she were guilty of the offence of manslaughter.
Highlights
Otherwise the Working Party recommends a change in the present wording of the Infanticide Act to read, 'Where a woman by any wilful act or omission within twelve months of childbirth causes the death of her child, being a child under the age of 5 years, but at the time of the act or omission was mentally disturbed by reasons relating to childbirth, notwithstanding that the circumstances were such that but for this Act the offence would have amounted to murder, she shall be guilty of infanticide'
There should be provision for a charge of attempted infanticide
Summary
Several attempts were made to change the law, but it was not until 1922 that the first Infanticide Act was passed. This restricted cases within the scope of the Act to newly born children. The courts continued to take a decreasingly punitive attitude to mothers who killed their children during a longer period following birth than this, and attempts were made to widen the scope of the Act. related to other factors, including the difficulties of adjusting to the care of a new baby. Puerperal psychosis is thought to be associated with a hormonal imbalance following pregnancy, there is little hard evidence to support the theories that have been put forward, and some have regarded psychological and social factors as.
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