The offence/defence of infanticide: A view from two perspectives
| Author | Helen Howard |
| Published date | 01 December 2018 |
| Date | 01 December 2018 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1177/0022018318801679 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
Article
The offence/defence
of infanticide: A view from
two perspectives
Helen Howard
Teesside University, UK
Abstract
This article asks whether the time is right for abolition of the offence/defence of infanticide. To
this end, a two-pronged approach is taken, examining infanticide initially as an offence, and then
as a defence. In terms of the offence of infanticide, consideration is given both to the concept of
the ‘infanticidal mother’ and to the status of infants below the age of 12 months. When
considering the defence of infanticide, examination is made of the exclusive nature of the
defence and of the scope for an individual to be a ‘partial’ moral agent. The contradictory
nature of infanticide, being both inculpatory and exculpatory, suggests the need for a theo-
retical rationale that justifies disallowing the offence/defence to, inter alia, those women who
kill their own children over 12 months and to men who suffer similar ‘environmental’ postnatal
depression. It is suggested that women who kill their children while suffering from the ‘after-
effects’ of childbirth are either, depending on the severity of mental disorder, fully competent
and therefore criminally responsible (although perhaps entitled to a lesser sentence due to a
reduction in culpability) or fully incompetent, therefore incurring no criminal responsibility at
all. This proposal can be achieved by recognising that there is a place for reduced culpability or
a complete absence of responsibility to fall within the current defence of diminished respon-
sibility or within the Law Commission’s recommended alternative to the insanity defence of
‘not criminally responsible by reason of recognised medical condition’.
Keywords
infanticide, criminal responsibility, mental disorder
Corresponding author:
Helen Howard, Teesside University, Campus Heart, Southfield Road, Middlesbrough TS1 3BX, UK.
E-mail: h.a.howard@tees.ac.uk
The Journal of Criminal Law
2018, Vol. 82(6) 470–481
ªThe Author(s) 2018
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DOI: 10.1177/0022018318801679
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