Sometimes, depending on the circumstances, there is no clear distinction between infanticide and abortion. For example, among the Yanomami in Brazil, when an unwanted pregnancy occurs, the woman is encouraged to work during the sixth or seventh month of her pregnancy, and then the fetus is killed if it shows signs of life after birth. Infanticide is the death of the newborn caused by the mother herself. Often, this death is associated with a state of mental disorder on the part of the mother, which can have different etiologies and etiopathogenesis. One of the challenges of forensic medicine is to prove that the baby had autonomic breathing, which was the most commonly used basis to prove the birth of the newborn with life and thus be able to distinguish between infanticide and abortion. Therefore, it becomes imperative to classify the birth of the newborn with life as infanticide. In an autopsy room, Galen`s so-called hydrostatic docimacie5 test (placing a lung fragment in a water container) was performed. However, it is important to note that in the case of a medical procedure with cardiopulmonary resuscitation, this test may be affected because the lungs may have been inflated by mechanical or manual ventilation. Again, it is extremely important for the medical team to document the resuscitation maneuvers performed. Before the partial charge of murder for mitigated guilt was enshrined in English law in the Homicide Act 1957, this provided, in addition to dismissal for possible mental illness, as the most important means of sentencing a mother convicted of intentional homicide of her child than the mandatory life sentence or the death penalty for murder. Murder in England and Wales is punishable by life imprisonment. Although the maximum penalty for infanticide is life imprisonment, it has become very rare in recent years for a woman convicted of infanticide to be sentenced to deprivation of liberty, except in exceptional circumstances. Female infanticide and abortion have led to a great gender imbalance in some regions.

In 2007, a UN report estimated that about 100 million girls had disappeared worldwide, including 80 million in China and India. In the future, this could lead to an increase in trafficking of girls or force women to marry more than one man. Almost all of us use a Bayesian approach to medical diagnosis, even if we don`t realize it. Imagine a 3-day-old patient with transposition of the large arteries who is referred to a hospital. If the recipient doctor does not know more than age, the list of possible diagnoses is huge: congenital anomalies of the intestine, urinary tract infections, seizures, aspiration pneumonia, heart disease, etc. If the patient is cyanotic, heart and lung diseases are at the top of the list of possible diagnoses. If the baby is breathing normally, heart disease is more likely than lung disease. If there is no heart murmur, transposition of large arteries goes to the top of the list.

Almost all diagnoses go through this procedure, often so quickly that we don`t realize we`re using a sequential logical process. What Bayes` theorem does is formalize and quantify the process. Suicide – Contrary to what has been assumed for some time, suicide by nose strangulation is quite possible. The only thing needed is a device or function to hold the bow once it has been applied to the neck. Among the different resources used in this practice are the application of a tourniquet, the realization of one or more knots and the use of a belt that tightens in a ligature. In many societies, especially in the past, infanticide was commonly used to control and regulate the population. As such, it particularly affected female girls, as fewer women meant a lower reproductive rate (fewer children). Table 15. Two cases of forensic identification of motherhood from infanticide cases Women who kill their children pose a deeply troubling challenge to stereotypical perceptions of a mother`s protective instincts towards her offspring. Fortunately, this group of offenders is a small number in the overall crime statistics; However, when this happens, the impact on the associated community is significant. The potentially devastating effects of depression in postnatal settings are becoming clear in the face of infanticide in reality. In modern times, there has been a significant increase in the number of countries adopting laws providing for reduced penalties for infanticide when a mother suffers from postnatal depression.

These laws generally limit the scope of legal recognition to (a) mothers who give birth (a significant difference in the period following the legalization of same-sex marriage), (b) mothers diagnosed with hormonal depression associated with breastfeeding and/or pregnancy when the offense occurs, and (c) the provisions generally extend mitigation only for the first year after birth (Friedman, Cavney and Resnick, 2012b). While infanticide laws have been widely welcomed as an important element in recognizing the existence and effects of postnatal depression, Friedman et al. (2012b) reported that these laws have also been criticized. Critics have argued that infanticide legislation is gender-specific and based on an inherent misunderstanding of the hormonal underpinnings of postpartum psychiatric disorders and the ways in which these disorders might mediate offensive behaviour, with respect to the notion of guilt and appropriate punishment. A major criticism of child murder laws has also come from the 1-year postpartum limit applied when postpartum depression is recognized as a mitigating factor. It is argued that this is a significant gap in legislation and is based on a misunderstanding of the role and nature of biologically induced psychiatric disorders specific to motherhood (Friedman et al., 2012b). Another cause of infanticide associated with unwanted pregnancies can be illegitimate births, meaning that the pregnancy is not the result of a socially recognized marriage. In some cultures, such births are highly undesirable, as they can disgrace a family. Filicicide, infanticide and neonaticide are different concepts from the same reality and occur daily in today`s society, despite our united cries of love for our children. These acts have existed since the dawn of humanity and have been in literature since the earliest epochs of recorded history.

These crimes can be committed by the mother, father or both, and include stepparents and other parental figures. Infanticide is a crime that occurs when a mother kills her child without being entirely responsible for her actions. For infanticide to be used as a defence to murder or manslaughter, the child must have been under 12 months of age. One type of sudden and unexpected death for which on-scene investigation has always been crucial is infanticide. The perceived importance of infanticide as a common cause of death has increased and decreased. Dramatic case series6,135 remind us that infanticide, with or without previous Munchausen syndrome by proxy, cannot be ignored. The approximate and sometimes microscopic results of the autopsy are of obvious importance in diagnosing non-accidental trauma as a cause of death. However, the autopsy makes the intentional but subtle nature of the suffocation (e.g., with a pillow) less clear.136 Southall and colleagues135 used secret video surveillance at the hospital to document that 30 of the 39 highly vulnerable infants were deliberately suffocated. Twelve had siblings who died suddenly and unexpectedly. Although bloody foam on the nose and mouth is common in SIDS victims, 11 of the 38 subjects in Southall`s study had a history of ALTE associated with open bleeding from the nose and mouth, compared to none of the 46 controls. In recent years, infanticide has been criticized as outdated and narrow-minded, as the defense cannot be used in circumstances other than those mentioned above. For example, the UN World Report on Violence against Children, which surveyed 1,000 women in India, found that infanticide was the cause of 41% of newborn deaths.