A population-based survey of neonaticides using judicial data

Tursz, Anne; Cook, Jon

doi:10.1136/adc.2010.192278

Cited by 46 publications

(33 citation statements)

References 17 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…[6] In France, Tursz and Cook reviewed the judicial data on neonaticide and identified 27 cases from 1996 -2007 where infants died within the first 24 hours of life. [7] In Germany, Schulte et al identified 150 cases (1997)(1998)(1999)(2000)(2001)(2002)(2003)(2004)(2005)(2006)(2007) in 27 institutes of legal medicine. [8] The latter authors did not indicate an incidence of these cases but only reported on the findings at the mentioned medico-legal laboratories.…”

Section: The General Legal and Medico-legal Milieu Of Investigating Amentioning

confidence: 99%

The medico-legal investigation of abandoned fetuses and newborns—a review of cases admitted to the Pretoria Medico-Legal Laboratory, South Africa

Toit-Prinsloo

Pickles

Smith³

et al. 2015

Int J Legal Med

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Section: The General Legal and Medico-legal Milieu Of Investigating Amentioning

confidence: 99%

The medico-legal investigation of abandoned fetuses and newborns—a review of cases admitted to the Pretoria Medico-Legal Laboratory, South Africa

Toit-Prinsloo

Pickles

Smith³

et al. 2015

Int J Legal Med

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

“…In most countries, neonaticide is not defined as a distinct crime, and coroners' reports are often inconclusive (Marcikic et al 2006;Baralic et al 2010;Tursz and Cook 2011). These factors make research and assessment of preventive measures particularly difficult.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 97%

Anonymous birth law saves babies—optimization, sustainability and public awareness

Grylli

Brockington

Fiala³

et al. 2015

Arch Womens Ment Health

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The aims of this study are to assess the impact of Austria's anonymous birth law from the time relevant statistical records are available and to evaluate the use of hatches versus anonymous hospital delivery. This study is a complete census of police-reported neonaticides (1975-2012) as well as anonymous births including baby hatches in Austria during 2002-2012. The time trends of neonaticide rates, anonymous births and baby hatches were analysed by means of Poisson and logistic regression model. Predicted and observed rates were derived and compared using a Bayesian Poisson regression model. Predicted numbers of neonaticides for the period of the active awareness campaign, 2002-2004, were more than three times larger than the observed number (p = 0.0067). Of the 365 women who benefitted from this legislation, only 11.5% chose to put their babies in a baby hatch. Since the law was introduced, a significant decreasing tendency of numbers of anonymous births (p = 047) was observed, while there was significant increase of neonaticide rates (p = 0.0001). The implementation of the anonymous delivery law is associated with a decrease in the number of police-reported neonaticides. The subsequent significantly decreasing numbers of anonymous births with an accompanying increase of neonaticides represents additional evidence for the effectiveness of the measure.

show abstract

“…L'étude menée par l'unité 750 de l'INSERM sur les morts suspectes de nourrissons de moins de un an conclut, à partir de 27 cas de néonaticides, à une fréquence de 2,1 néonaticides sur 100 000 naissances en France, au lieu des 0,39 des statistiques officielles [19]. Des scientifiques ont tenté d'expliquer ces meurtres en élaborant un profil des mères néonaticides.…”

Section: Introductionunclassified

Le portrait des mères néonaticides dans les expertises judiciaires

2013

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Recherche financée par l'Observatoire National de l'Enfance en Danger, la région Ile-de-France, la Fondation pour la recherche en Psychiatrie et en santé mentale, la Fondation Wyeth pour la santé de l'enfant et de l'adolescent.Remerciements à Pascale Gerbouin-Rérolle responsable du recueil des données. 3The profile of neonaticide mothers in legal expertise Key words: infanticide, maternal behaviour, personality, intergenerational relations, forensic psychiatry. IntroductionNeonaticide is the term used to refer to the killing of newborn infants within the first twenty-four hours of life. A recent study conducted by INSERM Unit 750 found a frequency of 2.1 cases of neonaticide for 100,000 births in France. The persistence of these crimes raises serious issues, and scientists have attempted to explain this by the profile of neonaticidal mothers: young, or even teenage, single, primiparous, and socially deprived. The present study sought to question this profile, and to suggest a new profile for neonaticidal mothers. Data and methodsThis retrospective study over the years 1996-2000 comprised 32 cases of neonaticide perpetrated in three French regions. 17 solved cases of these 32 cases generated 54 documents by expert consultants, mainly psychiatric and psychological expertise, studied and analysed here using Modalisa software for quantitative analyses and Nvivo software for qualitative data. ResultsNo single socio-demographic profile was observed. The mothers were in contrasting situations at the time of the event. There were few psychotic profiles. The other psychopathological disturbances detected were very often related to the event. The most surprising feature in the expert reports describing the neonaticidal mothers was the existence of what we have termed descriptive absent-factors. These mothers had not experienced major trauma in childhood such as the death of persons close or foster care.They were not living in an environment of family violence. They did not exhibit addictive or self-harm behaviours. Their parents before them had similar profiles, except three cases of alcoholism. Their parentage, and that of the infants, was not an issue. The most widely described personality features were immaturity, dependency on others, withdrawal, inhibition, emptiness, lack of affectivity, nonexpressiveness, and devaluation of self-image. The very impoverished relational environment of these mothers also appears in the expertise data. Their affective and relational foundations were insecure. DiscussionThe "classic" profile of the neonaticidal mother as being young, single, and primiparous is not confirmed in this study. Recent American and European studies reach similar conclusions. More than half of these mothers already had other children, more than half were living with a partner. Nor did these mothers have an evident psychopathological profile, and even less so a psychopathic profile. This study suggests a "psycho-relational" profile for the neonaticidal mother: immature, affectively dependent, expressing herself...

show abstract

A population-based survey of neonaticides using judicial data

Abstract: This study has implications for prevention in terms of contraception and appropriate targeting of vulnerable women. It encourages the development of case-control studies on maternal risk factors within the framework of the French birth cohort currently being established.

Cited by 46 publications

References 17 publications

The medico-legal investigation of abandoned fetuses and newborns—a review of cases admitted to the Pretoria Medico-Legal Laboratory, South Africa

The medico-legal investigation of abandoned fetuses and newborns—a review of cases admitted to the Pretoria Medico-Legal Laboratory, South Africa

Anonymous birth law saves babies—optimization, sustainability and public awareness

Le portrait des mères néonaticides dans les expertises judiciaires

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About