The Myth of Madness: Murderous Mothers and Maternal Infanticide
| Published date | 01 December 2021 |
| DOI | 10.1177/00220183211061218 |
| Date | 01 December 2021 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
The Myth of Madness: Murderous
Mothers and Maternal Infanticide
James Mason
Teesside University, UK
Abstract
The sex-specific doctrine of infanticide provides a merciful method of dealing with women
who kill their newborn children in circumstances of psychological distress. This article exam-
ines the contentious medical rationale which underpins infanticide legislation with the purpose
of providing a substantiated argument for the abolition of this antiquated doctrine. Specifically,
a two-pronged approach is taken. First, by utilising the views of contemporary medical science,
the scientific credibility of the medical rationale is scrutinised. Second, by drawing upon
feminist legal theory, a myriad of concerns associated with the medicalisation of female
offenders are critically discussed. Ultimately, it is suggested that the offence/defence of infanti-
cide should be abolished and that crimes of this nature should be readily subsumed under the
current partial defence of diminished responsibility.
Keywords
Infanticide, medicalisation, feminist theory, diminished responsibility
Introduction
Women who kill contradict stereotypical gender norms of femininity that perceive women as passive, gentle
and subordinate beings.
1
Women who kill their biological children present the most extreme opposition to this
societal conception. As Wilczynski purports, ‘[i]n no other crime is there such a direct confrontation with our
notions of femininity and motherhood’.
2
Despite this, maternal killings are somewhat trivialised in England
and Wales where the sex-specific doctrine of infanticide provides a merciful method of dealing with mothers
who kill their infants when their mind is disturbed due to childbirth or lactation.
3
Thus, infanticide is premised
Corresponding author:
James Mason, School of Social Sciences, Humanities and Law, Teesside University, Middlesbrough, TS1 3BX, UK.
E-mail: jamesmason_98@hotmail.com
1. L Seal, Women,Murder and Femininity: Gender Representations of Women Who Kill (Palgrave, Macmillan 2010) 1.
2. A Wilczynski, ‘Images of Women who Kill their Infants: The Mad and the Bad’(1991) 2 Women Crim Justice 71, 73.
3. Section 1(1) of the Infanticide Act 1938 provides:
‘Wherea woman by any wilful act oromission causes the deathof her child beinga child under the age of twelvemonths, but at
the time of the actor omission the balance of her mind wasdisturbed by reason of her not havingfully recovered from the effectof
givingbirth to the child or by reason of the effect of lactationconsequent uponthe birth of the child, then, if the circumstances were
such thatbut for this Act the offence would haveamounted to murder or manslaughter, she shallbe guilty of felony, to wit of infan-
ticide, and may forsuch offence be dealt with and punishedas if she had been guilty of the offence of manslaughter of the child’.
Article
The Journal of Criminal Law
2021, Vol. 85(6) 441–454
© The Author(s) 2021
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DOI: 10.1177/00220183211061218
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