Kaspersson, Maria ORCID: 0000-0002-0296-0270 (2024) Getting Away with Murder?​ An in-depth study of infanticide in Sweden 2000-2023​. In: British Society of Criminology Conference 2024: Criminology in Times of Transition, 10th - 12 Jul., 2024, University of Strathclyde, Glasgow. (Unpublished)

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Abstract

When infanticide is discussed there are often two different camps that can be identified – one that sees infanticide as the result of mental health issues and one that sees it as murder. When seen as the result of mental ill health the discussion is often not around whether infanticide is a mitigated homicide in these circumstances but instead around whether a specific infanticide regulation is needed and whether or not general rules regarding mitigation can be applied. When infanticide is seen as murder, the argument is that women ‘get away’ with premeditated killings of their children by claiming they were insane. This paper builds on an analysis of the verdicts in six cases of infanticide and one case of attempted infanticide in Sweden in the years 2000-2023 and attempts to bring in the individual cases and women to give them voice. There were cases of both neonaticide (the killing of a child within 24 hours of its birth) and infanticide (the killing of a child up to one year). In most cases the women were given different post-natal psychological diagnoses and there was little planning or cunning involved. In two cases mental illness was not diagnosed and here the court found it more difficult to decide whether the cases were to be labelled infanticide or manslaughter/murder. By taking the circumstances of the women into account, signs of premeditation and planning can be identified, but not necessarily to the extent that the women are to be seen as having committed murder. This paper therefore concludes that these women committed infanticide and not murder, and that the psychological element was such that they did not get away with murder.

Item Type:	Conference or Conference Paper (Paper)
Uncontrolled Keywords:	infanticide, Sweden, infanticide law
Subjects:	D History General and Old World > DL Northern Europe. Scandinavia H Social Sciences > H Social Sciences (General) K Law > K Law (General)
Faculty / School / Research Centre / Research Group:	Faculty of Liberal Arts & Sciences Faculty of Liberal Arts & Sciences > School of Law & Criminology (LAC)
Last Modified:	16 Oct 2024 15:20
URI:	http://gala.gre.ac.uk/id/eprint/48327

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