Document Type
Article
Publication Date
1-1-2006
Abstract
This article first offers a comparison between the stereotype dominated understanding of infanticide and child homicide in the United States and the statistical landscape it obscures. It then turns to the history of the crime of infanticide, a history which confirms that a fascination with deviant women as long dominated the story of infanticide. The article concludes with the exploration of the "Good Mother Defense." That exploration reveals the extent to which the fate of a woman tried for child homicide hinges on whether the jury sees her as a good mother, rather than on the prosecutors' ability to prove the elements of the crime charged.
Publication Title
Fordham Urban Law Journal
Volume
33
First Page
527
Recommended Citation
Elizabeth Rapaport,
Mad Women and Desperate Girls: Infanticide and Child Murder in Law and Myth,
33
Fordham Urban Law Journal
527
(2006).
Available at:
https://digitalrepository.unm.edu/law_facultyscholarship/87
