Citation

Scott R. J. Law Med. 2020; 27(4): 1014-1046.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2020, Thompson - LBC Information Services)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

32880417

Abstract

A major postpartum depression may develop insidiously and go untreated and represent a potentially serious hazard to the wellbeing of both the mother and her child or children. Infanticide is the term used to describe the deliberate act of a parent killing their own young child. The original Infanticide Act 1922 of England and Wales applied to a woman who caused the death of her "newly born" child at the time when she had not fully recovered from the effect of giving birth to such child and by reason thereof "the balance of her mind was disturbed". The subsequent Infanticide Act 1938 (1 & 2 Geo 6, c 36) provided that the victim child could be any age up to 12 months. After reviewing the phenomenology of postpartum depression, maternal child murder (infanticide and filicide) and post-traumatic stress disorder, this article examines the recommendations of various law reform commissions and the development of infanticide statutes in Australia and New Zealand. The article compares and contrasts the different provisions and concludes with some recommendations for law reform.

Language: en

Keywords

Australia; Child; England; Humans; Female; Pregnancy; New Zealand; postpartum depression; Wales; post-traumatic stress disorder; infanticide; Infanticide; murder