Book review: The Cultural and Economic Context of Maternal Infanticide: A Crying Baby and the Inability to Escape
| Author | Emma Milne |
| Published date | 01 April 2022 |
| Date | 01 April 2022 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1177/1748895820911791 |
| Subject Matter | Book reviews |
Criminology & Criminal Justice
2022, Vol. 22(2) 343 –346
© The Author(s) 2021
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Book reviews
Martha Smithey, The Cultural and Economic Context of Maternal Infanticide: A Crying Baby and the
Inability to Escape, Emerald Publishing Limited: Bingley, 2018; 144 pp.: 9781787542082, £60 (hbk)
Reviewed by: Emma Milne, University of Plymouth, UK
DOI: 10.1177/1748895820911791
Martha Smithey’s book, The Cultural and Economic Context of Maternal Infanticide: A
Crying Baby and the Inability to Escape, offers a long-needed sociological assessment of
the causes of maternal infanticide; the term infanticide is often used to denote the killing
of infants, with some scholars specifically employing the term when referring to mothers
who kill their own infants. While infanticide has been the focus of numerous academic
studies (historical and legal approaches, psychological causes, typologies of different
forms of maternal filicide – filicide being the killing of a child by their parent), this is one
of the first studies to contextualise this form of women’s violence within sociological
analysis, drawing on compelling sociological theory in order to assess and explain why
some women commit fatal violence against their own children. The study is comprised
of data from intensive interviews conducted with mothers who have committed infanti-
cide and findings from other studies on infanticide; Smithey is based in Texas in the
United States and so it is likely the study is based on data from this geographical loca-
tion. While there is limited discussion of the research data and how it was analysed, the
narrative is rich with insightful and compelling quotes to support key arguments.
Smithey’s sample focuses specifically on lethal assault to children aged under 3 years by
the biological mother. As such, Smithey excludes cases of neonaticide (the killing of
infants within 24 hours of birth), clinical cases of mental illness that preceded the con-
ception of the infant, clinical cases of post-partum depression and psychosis (caused by
hormonal imbalance from the pregnancy), murder–suicide and infant homicide by other
perpetrators. As such, Smithey’s analysis focuses on the group of women who, while
have been the focus of a significant number of studies, we still have very limited socio-
logical understanding of the drivers behind their fatal acts.
One of the key strengths of this text, and a reason why it is an important study for the
criminological community, is due to Smithey’s complex and compelling analysis of the
steps that lead to fatal act against the child. As Smithey notes, whereas numerous other
studies have provided detailed data, trends or descriptive analysis (and I would add help-
ful typologies), Smithey’s analysis goes further, addressing the gap in research and
911791CRJ0010.1177/1748895820911791Criminology & Criminal JusticeBook reviews
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