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This study aims to discuss the forensic and criminological implications of child homicides in the territory of Milan, Italy. The authors present a retrospective study on all the cases of child and adolescent homicides, that were observed at the Institute of Legal Medicine of Milan (Italy) in the last 30 years (from January 1991 to December 2020). A total of 46 child homicides were collected, focusing on the sociological features, by highlighting peculiar cases, risk factors, potential changing social trends, and comparing our cases with the current literature. The analysis revealed a statistically significant relationship (p < 0.05) for male adolescents and indicated that adolescent homicides were more frequently perpetrated in extrafamilial contexts. In contrast, neonaticides and infanticides were mainly committed at home. Furthermore, the Fisher's Exact test revealed that child murders were mainly committed by immigrants in the Milan district after 2005 (p < 0.05). The two main causes of death were due to sharp and firearm injuries. While the relationship between homicide clusters and homicides committed by sharp objects was not significant, adolescent homicides were mainly committed using firearms (p < 0.05). The present study may help to identify risk factors for homicides against child and adolescent. Consequently, policies that identify, prevent, and minimize this extreme violence should be designed to interrupt the vicious circle of such dreadful murderous events. Child and adolescent homicides deserve additional focus and better education for healthcare professionals and further research should be carried out to develop therapeutic and caring strategies., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Low socio-economic status is recognized as one of the risk factors for SIDS. In this study we have pointed out the similarities between families that have SIDS cases and families in which infant non-accidental injury has been proven, as well as the differences between them and the general population. This study was conducted in Montenegro, comparing 30 cases of SIDS with 25 cases of known infanticides and with a control group (60 cases) consisting of live newborns and their mothers from the general population, randomly selected from hospital-born newborns without exclusion criteria. We combined and compared the infant characteristics and mother characteristics between the above cases. There were significant similarities between the SIDS group and the infanticide group in terms of the following characteristics: the education level of the mothers (p = 0.086); maternal employment (p = 0.278); and place of residence (p = 0.269); while there were differences between the two groups regarding hospital birth (p = 0.027) and marital status (p = 0.011). The SIDS and infanticide groups, combined, had higher incidences of: out-of-hospital deliveries (p < 0.001); uneducated mothers (p < 0.001); unemployed mothers (p < 0.001); low socio-economic status (p < 0.001); and cases outside of marriage (p < 0.001), compared to the control groups. This study indicated a possible higher incidence of non-natural death among SIDS cases, as reflected by low socio-economic status and linked attributes, which is explained by their similarities with the infanticide groups and differences with the control groups., (Copyright © 2021 Elsevier Ltd and Faculty of Forensic and Legal Medicine. All rights reserved.)

Background: Neonaticide is the murder of a newborn baby within 24 hours of birth. It has been reported in various countries, but there has been little recent research on the current state of neonaticide in Japan., Aim: To elucidate the epidemiological features of neonaticide in Japan using public long-term, population-based data collected over 14 years and 9 months from July 2003 to March 2018., Methods: A descriptive analysis of public data from 2003 to the present was conducted related to deaths which had been retrospectively investigated and deemed by the authorities to be caused by child abuse or neglect., Results: Between July 2003 and March 2018, there were 149 cases of 'known' neonaticide in Japan and the incidence was 0.96/100,000 live births. The majority of perpetrators were mothers, accounting for 135 (91%) of cases, and in 70 (48%) cases they were young mothers under the age of 25. None of the infants was delivered in a medical facility. Nine (6%) murders were committed by both parents together and only one (1%) by the father alone., Conclusion: The number of births in Japan has been declining gradually but the rate of neonaticide is the same.

Objectives: To determine the rate of sudden unexpected death in infancy (SUDI) for infants born after a previous SUDI in the same family, and to establish the causes of death and the frequency of child protection concerns in families with recurrent SUDI., Design: Observational study using clinical case records., Setting: The UK's Care of Next Infant (CONI) programme, which provides additional care to families who have experienced SUDI with their subsequent children., Patients: Infants registered on CONI between January 2000 and December 2015., Main Outcome Measures: Cause of death, presence of modifiable risk factors for SUDI and child protection concerns., Results: There were 6608 live-born infants registered in CONI with 29 deaths. 26 families had 2 deaths, and 3 families had 3 deaths. The SUDI rate for infants born after one SUDI is 3.93 (95% CI 2.7 to 5.8) per 1000 live births. Cause of death was unexplained for 19 first and 15 CONI deaths. Accidental asphyxia accounted for 2 first and 6 CONI deaths; medical causes for 3 first and 4 CONI deaths; and homicide for 2 first and 4 CONI deaths. 10 families had child protection concerns., Conclusions: The SUDI rate for siblings is 10 times higher than the current UK SUDI rate. Homicide presenting as recurrent SUDI is very rare. Many parents continued to smoke and exposed infants to hazardous co-sleeping situations, with these directly leading to or contributing to the death of six siblings. SUDI parents need support to improve parenting skills and reduce risk to subsequent infants., Competing Interests: Competing interests: All authors are members of the CONI national steering group managed by The Lullaby Trust. AW was funded by The Lullaby Trust as the national CONI coordinator from 1988 to 2015 and was employed by them from 2015 to 2018. AMc was funded by the Foundation for the Study of Infant Deaths/The Lullaby Trust between 1988 and 2013. All other authors received expenses only from The Lullaby Trust towards their CONI work but no salary. JJG has received research grants from the National Institute for Health Research (DRF 2010-0345)., (© Author(s) (or their employer(s)) 2020. No commercial re-use. See rights and permissions. Published by BMJ.)

Background: A mother's ability to attune with her child is crucial in structuring one's attachment style and personality. Both dimensions shape mother-child interactions, and they are therefore likely to impact on the risk of filicide. Numerous risk factors for filicide have been identified, but personality and attachment look relatively understudied., Objective: We focused on filicide mothers' personality and states of mind regarding attachment to shed new light on this phenomenon, for the purpose of an improved and earlier identification of at-risk maternities., Methods: A systematic review of five electronic databases was performed. All studies on filicide, infanticide or neonaticide were included in the search, regardless of the study design or the socio-demographic characteristics of the offenders., Results: Twelve original articles were found to be eligible for the systematic review. The data were categorized in personality and attachment related, and then by study design. Only two studies performed comparisons with control groups, and only three reported data about psychodiagnostic/neuropsychiatric tests or questionnaires. Personality diagnoses were strongly heterogeneous (mostly pertaining to cluster B and C), and not supported by statistically significant evidence. Attachment was examined by only one study, which showed that the most frequent states of mind regarding attachment were unresolved/unclassifiable (U/CC)., Conclusions: Despite their pivotal importance in determining relational patterns in an individual, both personality and attachment are almost unacknowledged across the literature about maternal filicide. It is thus advisable to further focus on them, carrying out structured and validated assessments, to better define the causes of this dramatic event., (Copyright © 2020 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Background: Is there a relationship between economic inequality and infanticide rates? Few studies have examined the socioeconomic factors that trigger infanticide. This study aims to statistically analyze the effect of these factors on infanticide rates., Methods: This study used infant death records in South Korea from 2003 to 2017 to assess the impact of unemployment rates and various statistical indicators (e.g., GDP and income inequality index) on the rate of infanticide. A generalized additive model and a quasi-Poisson regression were used for statistical analyses., Results: A time-trend analysis shows that the infanticide rate tended to grow despite a decreasing trend in the quarterly infant mortality rate. A 1% increase in the unemployment rate is associated with a significant rise in the relative risk of infanticide after a lag of two quarters. Relative risks increased significantly three and four quarters after a 0.1 rise in the p80/p20 ratio (income inequality index)., Conclusions: Policymakers should pay attention to socioeconomic factors while formulating healthcare regulations to protect potential infanticide victims, including vulnerable infants and their parents.

Background: The Tunisian Penal Code defines infanticide as the murder committed by the mother on her child at birth or immediately after. There is a dearth of studies and official statistics on infanticide in the Arab region and North Africa., Objective: to analyze the infanticide trends in northern Tunisia between 1977 and 2016., Participants and Setting: we included all cases of infanticides autopsied at the Legal Medicine Department of Charles Nicolle Hospital in Tunis, over a period of 40 years (1977-2016)., Methods: A descriptive retrospective study., Results: We collected a total of 513 cases of infanticide over the study period. The general prevalence of infanticide was 0.42 per 100,000 live births per year. Infanticide often occurred during the week, in winter (31.5%) and in spring (30.9%). The newborn was often found on public roads (40.9%) and in urban areas (81.4%). The newborn was often full-term (73.6%), mature, without any congenital malformation, found completely naked (75.2%) and with an empty stomach (93.7%). The umbilical cord was often cut (71.5%), not ligated (82%) with an irregular edge (64%). There was often no putrefaction (54.4%). The hydrostatic test (81.8%) and histological examination (81.1%) showed that infants had breathed. Neglect was the most common cause of death (49.9%)., Conclusion: Northern Tunisia has a low prevalence of infanticide compared to most of the previous European and American studies. A better understanding of infanticide would allow us to adapt measures of prevention., (Copyright © 2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Maternal infanticide, or the murder of a child in the first year of life by its mother, is a subject both compelling and repulsive. The victim is innocent, but the perpetrator may be a victim too. In the USA, mentally ill women who commit infanticide may receive long prison sentences or even the death penalty. England, Canada, Australia, and more than 20 European countries have "infanticide laws," which provide more humane treatment and psychiatric care for mentally ill mothers who kill. One of the reasons for the sentences in the USA lies in our archaic insanity defense. In addition, the psychiatric community does not recognize perinatal illness as a formal diagnosis. Furthermore, general forensic psychiatrists who testify in the courtroom have little knowledge of perinatal illness. I suggest that it is time to invite psychiatrists and psychologists as clinicians and scientists to partner with our legal representatives in the courtroom in order to determine laws based on psychiatric facts and not conjecture. The voices of perinatal mental health advocates must continue to be heard in all courtrooms of the USA.

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to specify the number of male filicide-suicide committed in the province of Quebec between 1997 and 2012, and to evaluate whether there has been an increase in the number of male filicide-suicide according to the period studied and the type of motivation to commit the crime., Method: The data cover all officially registered male filicides committed in the province of Quebec from 1997 to 2012, against youths under 18 years old. A total of 50 cases were divided by five years spans starting in 1997 and analyzed using the Grille d'analyse multidimensionnelle de l'homicide intrafamilial., Results: The results show that among the 50 male filicides committed between 1997 and 2012, 13 of these were followed by the aggressor's suicide. Also, the likelihood of suicide committed as a result of filicide is higher among individuals who committed filicide between 2007 and 2012 and who were motivated by marital separation, compared to filicides committed between 1997 and 2001 motivated by another reason. In particular, the majority of perpetrators of filicide committed between 2007 and 2012, motivated by marital separation, committed suicide as a result of the act of committing, compared to individuals who were motivated by another reason for the same period., Conclusions: On one hand, the present study demonstrates the importance of considering self-destruction and, more specifically, the suicide of these individuals. On the other hand, our study emphasizes the importance of considering the type of motivation to commit filicide, including spousal separation, which is an element of understanding specific to male filicide-suicide., (Crown Copyright © 2017. Published by Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.)

This study aims to identify differences between single and repeat perpetrators of filicide by using register-based data. The study used register-based, comprehensive, nationwide data from both Austria and Finland. The current study covers 23 perpetrators, 20 single and 3 repeat perpetrators, with a total of 28 victims. All victims had a maximum age of 24 h and all perpetrators were women. Every third victim of neonaticide was a victim of a repeat case. The repeat perpetrators were older; had a higher number of children over their lifespan, some of whom lived with them; were more likely to live within established family structures; had higher levels of education and employment; had a higher proportion of personality disorders; and were more likely to identify stress factors during pregnancy. One unexpected finding was low levels of awareness about pregnancy within the perpetrator's circle remain a risk factor, especially for repeat perpetrators. Arguably, the quality of interpersonal relationships these women have may be affected by their own mental health issues and life experience and vice versa.

Female offenders of filicide have been found to receive more lenient legal handling than male offenders. We aimed to discover these possible gender differences in the legal outcome of filicide cases. This was a binational register-based study covering all filicide offenders in Austria and Finland 1995-2005. We examined the legal outcomes of the crimes of all living offenders (64 mothers and 26 fathers). Mothers received a conviction of murder and life imprisonment less often than fathers. Within psychotic and personality-disordered offenders, infanticides, and offenders convicted for life, gender differences were less evident. Even though there seems to be some gender differences within the legal outcomes of filicide, ruling seemed more consistent than expected within distinct subgroups of offenders. Gender-based assumptions should not hinder equal and just handling of filicide cases.

Objective: The aim of this study was to review the history, legislation, and psychiatric perspective of filicide, to compare the characteristics of mothers who committed neonaticide versus infanticide, and to discuss the infanticide law in Hong Kong., Methods: Data of mothers remanded to the Siu Lam Psychiatric Centre from 2008 to 2016 for filicide were reviewed, as were data of filicide from the Child Fatality Review Reports published by the Social Welfare Department., Results: From 2008 to 2016, eight mothers were remanded to Siu Lam Psychiatric Centre for filicide. Four were convicted of infanticide; the other four were convicted of manslaughter. Those convicted of infanticide were single and aged <18 years. They had concealed their pregnancies and received no antenatal care. They delivered at home and then either smothered or abandoned the newborn. They reported no suicidal attempts after the index offence and had no record of mental illness. They were given supervision orders instead of prison sentences. In contrast, those convicted of manslaughter were in their 30s and married. They were documented to have killed the victims by charcoal burning, strangulation, mutilation, or defenestration. They all attempted suicide immediately after the killing and had histories of mental illness: paranoid schizophrenia (n = 2), severe depressive disorder with psychotic symptoms (n = 1), and recurrent depressive disorder (n = 1). They were sentenced to Hospital Orders for unspecified periods., Conclusions: In Hong Kong, the incidence of maternal filicide is low. However, the infanticide provision grants leniency to mothers, including those who show no evidence of mental illness.

Background and objectives: Despite easy access to contraception and child abandonment in France, neonaticides continue to occur and, although rare, are widely publicized. The objective of this study was to characterize neonaticides and their perpetrators over a twenty-year period in France based on cases reported in the press. Methods: 2,319 press articles describing the discovery of a newborn corpse in the regional and national press were extracted from electronic databases or other digital supports. A total of 357 neonaticides were described, corresponding to a mean annual rate of 2.34 per 100,000 births. Results: The mother was identified in 74% of cases. The corpse was usually discovered in the house or garden (35%, mostly in the rubbish bin and 6% in the freezer), but also in the wilds (31%). In almost one-quarter of cases, the mother had suffered a haemorrhage. Most neonates were killed by asphyxiation (35%), direct blows or being thrown out of a window (11%), or drowning (11%). Only 22% of neonates died without the mother’s intervention, due to lack of care or neglect. Marked regional disparities were observed, even after calculation of regional rates. The mothers responsible (230 women due to 19 multiple neonaticides) had a mean age of 27.8 years and half of them had at least one other living child. Conclusions: Media coverage of neonaticides and access to electronic databases provide an opportunity to describe a rare phenomenon, for which it is difficult to collect sufficient sample sizes to allow analysis of the perpetrators and court rulings.

Neonaticide is the killing of a neonate on the day of its birth by his/her own mother. Neonaticidal women were reported to be predominantly young, unmarried, and primiparous. The motive for murdering the newborn relates to the shame, the fear of rejection, and abandonment by significant others, and the social stigmas associated with an illegitimate birth. The goal of the present study was to conduct a systematic review of the scientific literature and identify population-based studies reporting the incidence of neonaticide in different countries. A total of 485 abstracts were screened. After applying the inclusion/exclusion criteria, 10 studies were selected. Additional searches identified two more articles. Most of these studies were from Europe, where incidence varied from 0.07 (Finland, 1980-2000 period) to 8.5 neonaticides per 100000 births (Austria, 1975-2001 period). More recent studies have indicated that a growing proportion of neonaticidal women are married, multiparous, and suffers from mental disorders. Preventive measures, such as anonymous free delivery, were shown to reduce the incidence of neonaticide, although this effect may be short-lived. Despite social and institutional changes, neonaticide persists even in the most socially advanced, liberal, and prosperous societies in the world.

South Africa (SA) has not met the child mortality target for the Millennium Development Goals, despite having invested substantially in programmes and policies to achieve these targets. The scale-up of the prevention of mother-to-child transmission programmes reduced HIV transmission from mother to child, but this has not been sustained owing to limitations in community-based child health services. Child mortality has declined, but has now plateaued. Children continue to die from preventable and treatable causes of death. Current data sources are incomplete, and do not provide information on deaths occurring out of health facilities. The child death review (CDR) pilot explores the pattern of child deaths and informs prevention strategies to improve child survival in SA. In this editorial we draw on the conclusions of the CDR pilot, where multiagency teams were established to investigate non-natural and unexpected deaths referred to two mortuary sites in order to strengthen child health and protection response systems and to prevent child deaths.

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.

There is a dearth of literature on the extent of fetal or newborn abandonment or "dumping" and the medico-legal investigation procedures these cases require. This is despite the fact that these occurrences are a worldwide phenomenon and by definition involve criminal law concerns such as illegal abortion, concealment of birth, murder, or neonaticide, depending on the country concerned. This article contributes to current literature in both respects and provides a retrospective case audit for the period 2004-2008 pertaining to all abandoned newborns and fetuses admitted to the Pretoria Medico-Legal Laboratory (PMLL) in South Africa. Demographic details, scope, and nature of the medico-legal investigation as well as formulation of cause of death were recorded. A total of 289 cases were identified for inclusion in this study, 57% of which were considered to have been non-viable fetuses, while 45 of the viable fetuses were deemed to have been stillborn. These instances involve the crimes of concealment of birth and at times illegal abortion, yet prosecution of these cases are relatively unheard of. Signs of live birth were identified in 38 of the cases in the study. Of these infants, 9 were deemed to have died from injuries they have sustained, and in a further 9 cases, no anatomical cause of death could be identified. Homicidal cases should be brought in cases where death ensued as a result of abandonment; however, it is not known how many cases were prosecuted. A comparatively large number of cases were found to have been admitted to the Pretoria Medico-Legal Laboratory. This is alarming because South African abortion laws are liberal and services are free at point of access in the public health care sector. A substantial percentage of cases of abandoned infants were found to have shown signs of life after birth implying a homicidal manner of death or death by abandonment, but it seems these cases are merely shelved.

Based on Dutch colonial registers (thombos), this paper reconstructs fertility for two districts in Ceylon, 1756-68. It overcomes challenges in data quality by establishing the outer bounds of plausible estimates in a series of scenarios. Among these, total fertility rates (TFRs) averaged 5.5 in one district, but only 2.7 in the other. These figures exclude the victims of infanticide, a custom noted in European travelogues between about 1660 and 1820. Sex ratios among children differed depending on the number of older siblings, and overall, 27 per cent of girls are missing in one district and 57 per cent in the other. There was little significant variation either in the TFR or the sex ratio by socio-economic status, suggesting that poverty was not a key factor in motivating infanticides. Instead, we argue that at least parts of Ceylon had a forward-looking culture of family planning in the eighteenth century, which was lost in subsequent decades.

Background: The term neonaticide describes the act of killing a newborn child by a parent (mostly by the mother) within 24 h after birth. The aim of this study was to establish a classification of female perpetrators using psychopathological, mental, social and biographical characteristics and to make a comparison of the frequency between the old and new federal states in Germany., Material and Methods: In this study a total of 63 female German perpetrators who killed at least one newborn between 1986 and 2009 are portrayed and classified by epidemiological and psychopathological characteristics and personality profiles. After obtaining consent from the public prosecutors responsible, data were collected from forensic psychiatric expert opinions and legally valid court verdicts. A questionnaire was established to answer the questions on the psychopathological, e.g. do the women suffer from a mental disease when killing their newborn(s), mental, e.g. can personality accentuations be elicited, social, e.g. are the women unemployed and biographical characteristics of the women, e.g. how old are the women? Finally, an investigation was carried out using significance tests to find out if there was a significant statistical difference in the frequency of neonaticide between the eastern and western federal states., Results: A cluster analysis based on the descriptive analysis was developed. The cluster analysis provided a foundation for a dichotomous classification of the perpetrators depending on five criteria. The first category contained 32 perpetrators who were on average 21 years old, who were primiparous and who hid, ignored or did not perceive their pregnancy. Most of them still lived with their parents. The perpetrators either did not have a mental disease or suffered from an acute stress disorder. The second category contained 31 perpetrators who were on average 25 years old, who were pluriparous, who hid their pregnancy and who lived with their partner. These women either did not have a mental disease or suffer from a personality disorder. A statistically significant higher incidence was found in the eastern federal states of Germany., Conclusion: The presented categorization of female perpetrators into two groups, where the features only show a small degree of overlap, should be taken into consideration in the assessment of the reasons for neonaticide. The typology of female perpetrators is more heterogeneous than previously assumed. The presented typologies and knowledge of conditional constellations involved in neonaticide achieve better prerequisites to be able to recognize persons at risk earlier and to instigate preventive measures.

This article quantifies the frequency of infanticide and abortion in one region of Japan by comparing observed fertility in a sample of 4.9 million person-years (1660-1872) with a Monte Carlo simulation of how many conceptions and births that population should have experienced. The simulation uses empirical values for the determinants of fertility from Eastern Japan itself as well as the best available studies of comparable populations. This procedure reveals that in several decades of the eighteenth century, at least 40% of pregnancies must have ended in either an induced abortion or an infanticide. In addition, the simulation results imply a rapid decline in the incidence of infanticide and abortion during the nineteenth century, when in a reverse fertility transition, this premodern family-planning regime gave way to a new age of large families.

For a child, the likelihood of being murdered is highest during the first year of life, and many such cases are neonaticides. Although several recent studies have examined neonaticide in different countries and cultures, there has been no in-depth analysis of Swiss cases, even though this country has special neonaticide legislation and four "baby hatches" have been opened to prevent such killings. The primary objective of this retrospective study was to analyze the prevalence and phenomenon of neonaticide in Switzerland. Using data from judicial files, 11 cases were identified in 15 German-speaking cantons between 1980 and 2010. The sample included two uncommon cases of nonmaternal neonaticide. The discussion addresses possible prevention strategies.

Infant abandonment and infanticide are poorly understood in Malaysia. The information available in the public arena comes predominantly from anecdotal sources. The aim of this study was to describe the prevalence and characteristics of infanticide and illegal infant abandonment in Malaysia and to estimate annual rates for the most recent decade. Summaries of data about infanticide and illegal infant abandonment were gathered from police records; the annual number of live births was ascertained from the national registry. The estimated inferred infanticide rates for Malaysia were compared with the infanticide rates among countries of very high, high, medium, and low rankings on the Human Development, Gender Inequality, and Gini indices. From 1999 to 2011, 1,069 cases of illegal infant abandonment were recorded and 1,147 people were arrested as suspected perpetrators. The estimated inferred infanticide rate fluctuated between 4.82 and 9.11 per 100,000 live births, a moderate rate relative to the infanticide rates of other countries. There are substantial missing data, with details undocumented for about 78-87% of cases and suspected perpetrators. Of the documented cases, it appeared that more boys than girls were victims and that suspected perpetrators were predominantly Malays who were women, usually mothers of the victim; the possibility of arrest bias must be acknowledged. Economic and social inequality, particularly gender inequality, might contribute to the phenomena of infanticide and abandonment. Strategies to reduce rates of infanticide and illegal infant abandonment in Malaysia will require strengthening of the surveillance system and attention to the gender-based inequalities that underpin human development., (Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

The lack of access to contraceptives and poor control over their own pregnancies represented a major problem for women 100 years ago. An unwanted pregnancy could lead to social exclusion and loss of paid work, and clandestine births and infanticide thus posed a social problem. A review of the archives of the Norwegian Board of Forensic Medicine in the period 1910 to 1912 shows that one-fifth of all expert opinions were related to infants and pregnancy. Autopsies performed on children constituted over one-third of all forensic autopsies during this period. Although the reports provide a timely reminder of the value of hard-earned rights in Norway, the lack of control over their own sexuality and unwanted pregnancies are unfortunately still the reality for a large proportion of the world's women.

In cooperation with the Crime Investigation Agency (Landeskriminalamt) of North Rhine-Westphalia, we carried out a study of 150 cases of (suspected) neonaticide dating from 1993 to 2007 from all over Germany. The autopsy reports and additional expert opinions (if performed) were evaluated for a minimum of 78 variables. Emphasis was placed on the application of special preparation techniques and other special questions arising during the examination of a deceased newborn child. Forty-five percent of the cases remained unsolved, which means that the mother could not be identified. Twenty-seven percent of the corpses were in a state of such severe putrefaction that forensic examination was limited. The main causes of death were all forms of suffocation. The signs of maturity (such as length, weight, and fingernails) were recorded in more than 95 % of the cases. Hydrostatic test of the lung was performed in 96 %, and that of the gastrointestinal tract in 84 %. Given the results of the study, standard protocols and checklists are recommended to facilitate comparability and to ensure the completeness of findings. Full-body X-rays or CT scans should be used to complete viability examinations.

Objective: To assess rates of neonaticide after the implementation of a preventative 'anonymous delivery' law in mid-2001 in Austria. Women are allowed to access antenatal care and give birth in a hospital anonymously, without showing any ID and free of charge., Design: Retrospective study., Setting: A complete census of police-reported neonaticides was obtained from the police statistics of Austria, Sweden and Finland., Population: All neonaticides reported to the police, 1991-2009., Main Outcome Measures: Neonaticide rates before (1991-2001) and after (2002-2009) the introduction of anonymous delivery legislation per 100 000 births., Methods: The Mann-Whitney U-test for two independent samples was used to compare neonaticide rates in the period before the new law was introduced with the rates observed after the implementation of the new law for each country., Results: On average the rate of police-reported neonaticides was 7.2 per 100 000 births (SD 3.5, median 7.1) in Austria prior to the new law being passed, and 3.1 per 100 000 births (SD 2.1, median 2.6) after the law was passed. A significant decrease in neonaticide was observed in Austria after the implementation of anonymous delivery (Mann-Whitney U-test P = 0.017). Whereas the Finnish and Swedish rates were lower than the Austrian rates before and after the implementation of the Austrian law, they remained unchanged over the study period., Conclusions: Our data demonstrate a significant decrease in the number of police-reported neonaticides in Austria after the implementation of anonymous delivery. Even though underlying factors associated with neonaticide are complex, the findings could indicate an effect of anonymous delivery in the prevention of this crime., (© 2012 The Authors BJOG An International Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology © 2012 RCOG.)

In many parts of Asia, the Middle East and North Africa, women and children are so undervalued, neglected, abused, and so often killed, that sex ratios are now strongly male biased. In recent decades, sex-biased abortion has exacerbated the problem. In this article I highlight several important insights from evolutionary biology into both the origin and the severe societal consequences of "Asia's missing women", paying particular attention to interactions between evolution, economics and culture. Son preferences and associated cultural practices like patrilineal inheritance, patrilocality and the Indian Hindu dowry system arise among the wealthy and powerful elites for reasons consistent with models of sex-biased parental investment. Those practices then spread via imitation as technology gets cheaper and economic development allows the middle class to grow rapidly. I will consider evidence from India, China and elsewhere that grossly male-biased sex ratios lead to increased crime, violence, local warfare, political instability, drug abuse, prostitution and trafficking of women. The problem of Asia's missing women presents a challenge for applied evolutionary psychology to help us understand and ameliorate sex ratio biases and their most severe consequences.

Pregnancy denial and neonaticide have recently received media coverage following a series of French cases of neonatal killing. Although it has been known for a long time that some women deny their pregnancy and may kill their newborns, there is still no consensus on the etiopathogenic factors involved in the denial of pregnancy occurrence. Even though neonaticide is often committed by young, poor, unmarried women with little or no prenatal care, it appears that denial of pregnancy is a heterogeneous condition associated with different psychological features. Societies are ambivalent with regard to mothers who killed their children and tend to lay the entire blame on them. Furthermore, there is a widespread lack of understanding among the public on these affairs, when birth control techniques and methods are widely available. The purpose of this article is to describe the different types of pregnancy denial and neonaticide and to review the still debated etiopathogenic hypotheses. The absence of the physical changes of pregnancy at the time of the denial such as cessation of menstruation, abdominal swelling or perception of foetal movements is also discussed., (Copyright © 2012 Société nationale française de médecine interne (SNFMI). Published by Elsevier SAS. All rights reserved.)

Objectives: This research aimed to identify incidents of mothers in Italy killing their own children and to test an adaptive evolutionary hypothesis to explain their occurrence., Methods: 110 cases of mothers killing 123 of their own offspring from 1976 to 2010 were analyzed. Each case was classified using 13 dichotomic variables. Descriptive statistics and hierarchical cluster analysis were performed both for cases and variables, and significant differences between clusters were analyzed., Results: The Italian sample of neonaticides (killings of children within the first day of life) was found to satisfy all evolutionary predictions for an evolved behavioral, emotional and motivational pattern to increase fitness, showing a consistent profile for offending mothers. Relatively young, poor women with no partner kill their offspring non-violently, either directly or through abandonment, and they attempt to conceal the body. These women have no psychopathologies and never attempt suicide after killing their children. All neonaticide cases fall in a single cluster that is distinct from all other offspring killings by mothers. Infanticide (killing of children within the first year of life) and filicide (killing of children after the first year of life) do not significantly differ according to any of the variables measured. The common profile of mothers who have committed infanticide or filicide includes psychopathology, suicide or attempted suicide after killing their children, violent killing of their victims, and no attempt to conceal the victims' bodies. These results suggest that maternal infanticide and filicide represent an improper functioning of adaptation, and their profile are much more variable than those of neonaticide offenders., Conclusion: Our study confirms that only neonaticide is an adaptive reproductive disinvestment, possibly evolved in the remote past, to increase the biological fitness of the mother by eliminating an unwanted newborn and saving resources for future offspring born in better conditions. Neonaticide is shown to be clearly distinct from infanticide and filicide and therefore should be approached, prevented, and judged differently., (Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Objective: A sample of patients with a puerperal psychosis of an early manifestation is investigated in respect of special risks of suicide and infanticide., Methods: During a 20-year period 96 patients who had been fallen ill with a puerperal psychosis within four weeks after delivery were admitted to a psychiatric university hospital. Patients with an acute exacerbation of a known schizophrenic disorder were excluded. In a subgroup of 37 patients states of a previous (affective, bipolar affective) psychotic illness were recorded already before the puerperal index episode, in a subgroup of 59 patients puerperal psychosis was the first manifestation of a psychotic illness. Suicide- and infanticide-relevant psychopathological symptoms were analysed (suicidal ideas/behaviour before/during inpatient treatment, general disorganized aggression, psychotic anxieties related to baby, infanticidal obsessions, aggressive ideas/behaviour towards baby, neglect, infanticidal impulses)., Results: Puerperal psychoses were distributed to the diagnostic categories of psychotic depressive disorder, bipolar affective disorder, and schizoaffective disorder. Six patients died due to suicide, tragically already some few days till weeks after discharge from psychiatric hospital, despite a pronounced or even complete remission of puerperal psychotic symptoms at the time of discharge. Three patients committed an extended suicide attempt that resulted in two infanticides. All isolated and extended suicides were committed in a state of depressive mood and presumably synthymic delusion., Conclusions: Suicidal ideas and behaviour play a major role in patients with puerperal psychosis before and during inpatient treatment. An increased risk for mothers and babies may persist, however, even after a seemingly good symptomatic remission. Besides the clinical challenge of general prevention of puerperal psychosis the request of adequate models of inpatient treatment, carefully prepared discharge, close afterdischarge follow up, and continuous outpatient care have to be stressed.

HIV-infected infants and young children are at high risk of serious illness and death. Morbidity and mortality can be greatly reduced through early infant diagnosis (EID) of HIV and timely initiation of antiretroviral therapy (ART). Despite global efforts to scale-up of EID and infant ART, uptake of these services in resource poor, high HIV burden countries remain low. We conducted a qualitative study of 59 HIV-infected women to identify and explore barriers women face in accessing HIV testing and care for their infants. To capture different perspectives, we included mothers whose infants were known positive (n=9) or known negative (n=14), mothers of infants with unknown HIV status (n=13), and pregnant HIV-infected women (n=20). Five important themes emerged: lack of knowledge regarding EID and infant ART, the perception of health care workers as authority figures, fear of disclosure of own and/or child's HIV status, lack of psychosocial support, and intent to shorten the life of the child. A complex array of cultural, economic, and psychosocial factors creates barriers for HIV-infected women to participate in early infant HIV testing and care programs. For optimal impact of EID and infant ART, reasons for poor uptake should be better understood and addressed in a culturally sensitive manner.

Concealment of pregnancy and newborn infant abandonment are closely associated with neonaticide, the killing of an infant within the first 24 h of life or less than 28-30 days depending on the jurisdiction. Abandonment of newborn infants occurs throughout the world and often the outcome for the infant is death. Together with neonaticide it is felt to be one of the least preventable crimes. In this retrospective study we present all forensically known Danish cases of abandoned newborn infant corpses, covering the period from 1997 to 2008. Eleven newborn infant corpses were found; we registered characteristics of the newborn infants and the circumstances of the cases based on autopsy reports. One further newborn infant was included, dating back to 1992, as it was found to be connected with one of the later cases. The mean age of the women who abandoned their newborn infants was 22 years, and five of the autopsied newborn infants were probably alive when abandoned. In two cases the newborn infants were half siblings and abandoned by the same mother. The time span from abandonment to when the newborn infant was found ranged from hours to 7 years. Two-thirds of the newborn infants were girls (66.6%). The most common means of disposal was in a plastic bag (~60%); only one newborn infant was wearing clothes when found. Causes of death were usually given as asphyxia, brain injury or simply undetermined. Two-thirds of the newborn infants showed signs of violence. None of the newborn infants had congenital malformations.

The authors performed an analysis of the causes of deaths of newborns with special emphasis placed on cases when neonaticide was suspected. In the discussed period, 17838 medico-legal autopsies were performed, 124 of them (0.695 per cent of all postmortem examinations) involved children who meet the WHO criteria for newborn - children under 28th day of life. The newborns were divided into two groups according to their exact age at the time of death - newborns who died within a short time after birth and newborns who died after the perinatal period. Their sex, body length and body weight were also taken into consideration. A total of 108 autopsies (87.1 per cent of all autopsied newborns) involved cases of suspected criminal infanticide within the first score of hours postnatally. In the majority of these cases, the cause of death was suffocation, rarely mechanical trauma. The case of death of older newborns was broadly understood trauma.

Infanticides are not specifically classified in German criminal records. Thus, the number of infanticides varies depending on different sources of information. Reports from expert witnesses (n=48, 1980-2007) from the German regions around Munich and Rostock were analyzed retrospectively in order to identify sociodemographic, clinical and forensic characteristics of child murders. In 87.5% of the cases the victims were the natural children of which 25 were younger than 1 year old. Female offenders outnumbered male offenders by 3:1 and on average females were 8 years younger than males (26.5 years for females and 34.2 years for males). The motives included unwanted pregnancy/child, altruistic deeds, acute psychoses, child abuse (sexual abuse, neglect or negligence), drug or alcohol abuse, sadistic punishment of the child and revenge on partners. In 27 cases a restricted or exemption from criminal responsibility was acknowledged. About one third of the offenders consulted a physician before the crime. For an improvement in primary prevention, support networks should be integrated and sensitized to the problem.

Objectives: To measure the extent and analyse the mechanisms of underestimation of neonaticides (infanticides in the first 24 h of life) and to identify characteristics of neonaticidal mothers., Design: A retrospective study was carried out in 26 courts in three French regions covering 34.6% of all births in France. Included in the study were all cases of infants dying on their day of birth during a 5-year period (1996-2000) that were submitted to courts by the state prosecutor. Complete court case data cover 1996-2007. WHO-International Classification of Diseases cause of death codes assigned in the mortality statistics were compared to causes assigned by the courts. Analysis was carried out on the psychiatric assessments of the mothers., Results: 27 cases of neonaticides were analysed. 17 mothers were identified. We observed sizeable underestimation of neonaticides in official mortality statistics (0.39 per 100 000 births vs 2.1 in our study). Mothers' median age was 26 years; one third had at least three children. More than half lived with the child's father. Two thirds were employed and did not differ significantly from women in the general population regarding occupation. These women appeared to have low self-esteem, be immature and dependent, but did not have frank mental illness. There was no true case of 'denial of pregnancy'. Contraception was not used., Conclusion: 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.

Objective: To evaluate the effect of perpetrator gender on victim presentation and outcomes, and perpetrator legal outcomes for abusive head trauma (AHT)., Methods: We performed a retrospective chart review of AHT cases from 1998 to 2008. Patient clinical data and information regarding perpetrator legal outcome was obtained. Relationship of brain injury and retinal hemorrhages (RHs) and differences in categorical variables of perpetrator gender were compared by using Fisher's exact test. Differences in continuous variables between perpetrator gender were compared by using the Mann-Whitney Test., Results: There were 34 cases of AHT with identified perpetrators, 17 of each gender. Mean age of the victims was 9.4 months (SD: 7.8). Thirty-two (94%) had intracranial hemorrhages, 14 (41%) had both primary and secondary brain injury, 28 (82%) had RHs, and 6 (18%) died. The severity of RH was related to the severity of brain injuries (P = .01). The median age for female perpetrators (34 years) was higher than that for males (27 years; P = .001). Six categorical variables were associated with male perpetrator gender: acute presenting symptoms of cardiopulmonary or respiratory arrest (P = .025), worse clinical outcome (P = .012), neurosurgical intervention (P = .037), death (P = .018), perpetrator confession (P = .0001), and conviction (P = .005)., Conclusions: There were significant perpetrator gender differences of AHT in children. Male perpetrators were younger and more likely to confess and be convicted. Victims of male perpetrators had more serious acute presentations and neurosurgical intervention and suffered worse clinical outcomes.

In the Kassena-Nankana District of Ghana, researchers and health interventionists describe a phenomenon wherein some children are subject to infanticide because they are regarded as spirit children sent "from the bush" to cause misfortune and destroy the family. This phenomenon remains largely misunderstood and misrepresented. Based upon both ethnographic research and verbal autopsy data from 2006 to 2007 and 2009, this paper clarifies the characteristics of and circumstances surrounding the spirit child phenomenon, the role it plays within community understandings of childhood illness and mortality, and the variations present within the discourse and practice. The spirit child is a complex explanatory model closely connected to the Nankani sociocultural world and understandings surrounding causes of illness, disability, and misfortune, and is best understood within the context of the larger economic, social, and health concerns within the region. The identification of a child as a spirit child does not necessarily indicate that the child was a victim of infanticide. The spirit child best describes why a child died, rather than how the death occurred. In addition to shaping maternal and child health interventions, these findings have implications for verbal autopsy assessments and the accuracy of demographic data concerning the causes of child mortality., (Copyright 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Objectives: Test the hypothesis of an underestimation of infant homicides in mortality statistics in France; identify its causes; examine data from the judicial system and their contribution in correcting this underestimation., Methods: A retrospective, cross-sectional study was carried out in 26 courts in three regions of France of cases of infant deaths submitted to the courts, 1996-2000, with follow-up of their files until case closing (1996-2008). For each case, cause of death established by the courts was compared with ICD cause of death as coded in official mortality statistics., Results: We examined 247 cases. Shortcomings in investigations were noted (autopsies: 75% of cases; fundus examination: 11%; diagnosis of sudden infant death syndrome [SIDS] without autopsy: 41%). Eighty deaths were considered homicides by the courts. Homicide rates in the court study are 2-3.6 times higher than those in mortality statistics. Nearly 1/3 of "accidental" deaths and 1/4 of deaths from unknown cause in mortality statistics are homicides. Mechanisms of underascertainment are: physicians' inappropriate death certification and underreporting of suspicious cases; inadequate investigation of cases; incomplete communication of final medical and forensic results to the mortality statistics department., Conclusions: In a country where neither transportation of the body to a hospital nor autopsy is obligatory, judicial data can make an important contribution to correcting mortality statistics., Practice Implications: This study led to the first French protocol for investigating sudden unexpected deaths in infancy (SUDI). The protocol includes a physician "training" section focused on understanding the symptomatology and risk factors of violence, as well as the quality of death certification., (Copyright © 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

The prevailing public view on women who kill their babies is that they are either monsters or psychotic, or both. The psychiatric and legal communities recognize that the issue is not as simply dichotomous as this. Evidence suggests that there are important distinctions to be drawn between different types of baby deaths and that this may have implications for identification, punishment, and/or treatment of potential and actual perpetrators. This article reviews and summarizes research, incidence statistics, and judicial and clinical outcomes ranging over four decades of work and sets out various ways forward in the study and prevention of infant murder.

The purpose of this retrospective study was to illustrate the differences in maternal and paternal filicides in Finland during a 25-year period. In the sample of 200 filicides [neonaticides (n = 56), filicide-suicides (n = 75), other filicides (n = 69)], the incidence was 5.09 deaths per 100,000 live births: 59 percent of filicides were committed by mothers, 39 percent by fathers, and 2 percent by stepfathers. The mean age of the maternal victims (1.6 y) was significantly lower than that of the paternal victims (5.6 y), but no correlation between the sex of the victim and the sex of the perpetrator was found, and the number of female and male victims was equal. The sample of other filicides (n = 65) was studied more closely by forensic psychiatric examination and review of collateral files. Filicidal mothers showed mental distress and often had psychosocial stressors of marital discord and lack of support. They often killed for altruistic reasons and in association with suicide. Maternal perpetrators also dominated in filicide cases in which death was caused by a single episode or recurrent episodes of battering. Psychosis and psychotic depression were diagnosed in 51 percent of the maternal perpetrators, and 76 percent of the mothers were deemed not responsible for their actions by reason of insanity. Paternal perpetrators, on the other hand, were jealous of their mates, had a personality disorder (67%), abused alcohol (45%), or were violent toward their mates. In 18 percent of the cases, they were not held responsible for their actions by reason of insanity. During childhood, most of the perpetrators had endured emotional abuse from their parents or guardians, some of whom also engaged in alcohol abuse and domestic violence. The purpose of this study was to examine the differences between maternal and paternal filicides in a sample of 200 cases in Finland. This report also provides a psychosocial profile of the perpetrator and victim in 65 filicides and a discussion of the influence of diagnoses on decisions regarding criminal responsibility.

Objective: The purpose of this study was to describe homicides of infants (children <2 years of age) in the U.S., Methods: Cases were derived from the National Violent Injury Statistics System; 71 incidents involving 72 infant homicides were in the data set. Type 1 involved beating/shaking injuries inflicted by a caretaker; type 2 involved all other homicides (including neonaticide, intimate partner problem-related homicide, crime-related death, and other types)., Results: Seventy-five percent of the incidents were type 1 incidents, perpetrated mainly by men (83%; typically the infant's father or the boyfriend of the infant's mother). In 85% of the type 1 incidents, the infant was transported to the hospital, usually at the initiative of the perpetrator or another household member. In almost one half of the type 1 incidents, a false story was offered initially to explain the injuries. In contrast, the type 2 incidents (16 cases) were perpetrated mainly by women (11 of 16 cases) and involved methods such as poisoning, drowning, sharp instruments, or withdrawal of food and water; most infants were not taken to the hospital. Although 93% of incidents were perpetrated by caretakers, the large differences between the 2 incident types suggest different avenues for prevention., Conclusions: The circumstances involved in the type 1 homicides (beatings by caretakers) suggested that those attacks occurred impulsively, death was unintended, and emergency care was summoned, often with a false story. Previous abuse was suspected in more than one half of those incidents.

Female feticide and infanticide is occurring at an alarming rate in India as a result of preference for sons. The cultural reasons for sex-selective abortions and the government's current strategies against this problem are identified. However, the problem's scope might be too great for the Indian government. Humanitarian efforts are needed to save the girl child. Nurses are a key group of people that need to be made aware of this issue as they are advocates for vulnerable populations.

This article explores the phenomenon of neonaticide, the murder of an infant during the first day of life. Characteristics of maternal neonaticide offenders in industrialized countries were identified based on a systematic literature review. Neonaticides were most often committed by poor, relatively young, single women who lacked prenatal care. Efforts to better prevent these tragedies should include improved sex education and contraceptive access. Two legal responses to the problem of neonaticide, Safe Haven laws utilized in the United States, and anonymous birth options in Europe are discussed.

Background: Filicides have decreased in Finland., Materials and Methods: All filicides (child homicides by parents) in Finland during 1995-2005 were elucidated in a register study. The material consisted of 50 parents of 66 killed children., Results: Altogether 15 parents also committed suicide. After the deed, 31 parents were subjected to psychiatric examination; ten out of them had a psychotic disorder. A personality disorder was found in 16 parents and a non-psychotic affective disorder in 12 parents., Conclusions: Homicidal parents differ from other homicidal persons. Prevention of suicides is also expected to prevent homicide mortality among children.

The issue of sudden deaths of children in the infant period is presented in the report. The analysis included a total of 54 cases of sudden deaths of infants. Death caused by a disease, neonaticide and intrauterine necrosis were observed. In the group of disease-associated deaths, the most common cause of death was pneumonia. The most common mechanism of neonaticide was strangulation.

Introduction: Child homicides are rare but serious crimes. In this study the homicide rate and the development in the crime pattern will be investigated., Material and Methods: The investigation is retrospective and comprises the 34 years during which the Institute of Forensic Medicine in Odense has existed. During this period 41 children under the age of 15 were killed in 30 episodes., Results: The most frequent method of homicide was manual strangulation, and the second most frequent was blunt violence. It is demonstrated that the incidence of child homicide has decreased considerably compared to a previous investigation comprising all of Denmark. By far the largest decrease is in homicides committed by women against their own children, which have often been followed by suicide (family homicides). The decrease in family homicides committed by men is much less. Today men commit family homicides 8 times as frequently as women in the area under investigation., Discussion: A possible explanation for the decreasing number of homicides committed by women against their own children is the decreased use of gas for cooking, whereby a frequent homicide method disappeared, and by improved socio-economic life conditions and gender balance. Men are now responsible for the majority of family homicides. Preventative measures for men in socially traumatic situations such as a divorce are recommended.

The parental killing of children constitutes a complex phenomenon which has been reported across numerous cultures and throughout history. Children in the 1st year of life are at the highest risk of filicide. Types of filicide in the postpartum period include altruistic filicide, extended suicide, fatal child maltreatment, and neonaticide. Babies are murdered more frequently by mothers who are psychiatrically disturbed. With high frequency, depressive and psychotic symptoms are related to the newborn or to the maternity itself. The knowledge about maternal factors associated with filicide is not homogeneous. Sociodemographic characteristics are presented in relation to the different types of filicide. Risk constellations that may lead to a child's murder are described.

Using a cultural ecological framework, the authors examined key psychological antecedents of a pressing public health problem in Tamilnadu, India: the persistence of extreme forms of female neglect including female infanticide and feticide. Community-based respondents (N = 798) were recruited from Tamilnadu, a south Indian state, from villages with highly male biased sex ratios. Study 1 examined beliefs about behavioral gender transgressions in the villages that are identified as having extremely male-biased sex ratios. Study 2 examined the same participants several weeks later, investigating beliefs about biological gender essentialism and attitudes toward violence. Although behavioral and biological aspects of gender were essentialized differently, a regression analysis controlling for SES and marital status found that the more men essentialized female identity, the more they endorsed violence against women and the less anxiety they felt. The authors conclude by discussing the cultural psychological implications of this asymmetry in the essentialist beliefs about gender.

Objective: To describe the sociodemographic, clinical, and forensic characteristics of people convicted of killing infants, including their outcome in court and the gender differences in these characteristics., Method: A consecutive case series of people convicted of infant homicide in England and Wales (1996-2001). Information on social demographic and clinical characteristics of perpetrators was collected from psychiatric reports prepared for court. Detailed clinical information was gathered from questionnaires completed by mental health teams for those in contact with mental health services., Results: Of the 2660 identified perpetrators that were convicted of homicide, 112 (4%) were convicted of infant homicide. Fathers killed 56 infants (50%); mothers killed 35 (31%). Forty-nine infants (44%) were killed within 3 months of birth, and 87 (78%) within 6 months. Seventeen perpetrators (24%) had symptoms of mental illness at the time of the offense. Thirty-eight (34%) had a lifetime history of mental illness. In total, 16 (14%) had been under the care of mental health services. Ten women (29%) were diagnosed with affective disorder, and 25 men (53%) had a history of alcohol or drug misuse. Men were more likely to have previous convictions for violence compared to women (p = .01). Most male perpetrators received a custodial sentence (N = 71, 96%), whereas 28 women (74%) received community sentences or hospital disposals., Conclusions: This study highlights the need for increased perinatal assessment and parenting support to encourage parents to seek help. Further research using a psychological autopsy methodology focusing on criminological and psychiatric antecedents may improve our understanding of why these deaths occur and prevent future tragedies.