Unwilling Mothers Unwanted Babies

Author : Kirsten Johnson Kramar
Publisher : University of British Columbia Press
Page : 250 pages
File Size : 42,6 Mb
Release : 2005
Category : Infanticide
ISBN : UOM:39015060896852

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Unwilling Mothers, Unwanted Babies by Kirsten Johnson Kramar Pdf

This book traces twentieth-century Canadian criminal justice responses to women who kill their newly born babies. Initially, juries were reluctant to convict these women of murder since it carried the death penalty. The current "infanticide" law was adopted in 1948 to impose uniformity on legal practice and to ensure a homicide conviction. Even then, prosecutors faced considerable difficulties, but now, amidst media pressure, and with public attitudes possibly hardening, there are calls for the repeal of the infanticide law and the adoption of a draconian framework to deal with these cases. Kirsten Kramar provides an interdisciplinary feminist approach to the study of infanticide law, examining and linking historical, sociological, and legal scholarship. She examines in detail the legislative history and infanticide case law, as well as the range of relevant medical discourses from the past 100 years. By doing this, she provides a more nuanced approach to the debates around the broader issues of the medicalization of women’s deviance – one that reveals some of the political dangers inherent in hasty critiques of infanticide law, and shows the value of careful interdisciplinary analysis for studies in the history of law and socio-legal relations. Drawing on a wide range of original data sources (provincial and federal indictment case files, coroner’s records, reported legal cases, Hansard Parliamentary Debates, official crime statistics, media reports, and expert medical texts), Kramar presents a detailed picture of the developments, revealing the often ironic consequences of attempts to rationalize this area of law. An established feminist critique of "infanticide" as an inappropriately medical concept is shown to have been largely unhelpful, misconstruing the phenomenon’s history and significance, and lending support to calls for a "get tough" approach Unwilling Mothers, Unwanted Babies makes an important contribution to the international literature on maternal neonaticide as well as the medicalization of deviance, and will be of interest to those working in law, sociology, criminology, women’s studies, and gender history.

Author : Kirsten Johnson Kramar
Publisher : National Library of Canada = Bibliothèque nationale du Canada
Page : 628 pages
File Size : 46,8 Mb
Release : 2000
Category : Electronic
ISBN : 0612755878

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Unwilling Mothers and Unwanted Babies [microform] : Infanticide and Medico-legal Responsibility in 20th Century Canadian Legal Discourse by Kirsten Johnson Kramar Pdf

Author : Laury Oaks
Publisher : NYU Press
Page : 288 pages
File Size : 51,5 Mb
Release : 2015-06-05
Category : Law
ISBN : 9781479867523

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Giving Up Baby by Laury Oaks Pdf

“Baby safe haven” laws, which allow a parent to relinquish a newborn baby legally and anonymously at a specified institutional location—such as a hospital or fire station—were established in every state between 1999 and 2009. Promoted during a time of heated public debate over policies on abortion, sex education, teen pregnancy, adoption, welfare, immigrant reproduction, and child abuse, safe haven laws were passed by the majority of states with little contest. These laws were thought to offer a solution to the consequences of unwanted pregnancies: mothers would no longer be burdened with children they could not care for, and newborn babies would no longer be abandoned in dumpsters. Yet while these laws are well meaning, they ignore the real problem: some women lack key social and economic supports that mothers need to raise children. Safe haven laws do little to help disadvantaged women. Instead, advocates of safe haven laws target teenagers, women of color, and poor women with safe haven information and see relinquishing custody of their newborns as an act of maternal love. Disadvantaged women are preemptively judged as “bad” mothers whose babies would be better off without them. Laury Oaks argues that the labeling of certain kinds of women as potential “bad” mothers who should consider anonymously giving up their newborns for adoption into a “loving” home should best be understood as an issue of reproductive justice. Safe haven discourses promote narrow images of who deserves to be a mother and reflect restrictive views on how we should treat women experiencing unwanted pregnancy.

Author : A. Kilday
Publisher : Springer
Page : 338 pages
File Size : 54,5 Mb
Release : 2013-06-14
Category : History
ISBN : 9781137349125

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A History of Infanticide in Britain, c. 1600 to the Present by A. Kilday Pdf

The killing of new-born children is an intensely emotional and emotive subject. The hidden nature of this crime has made it an area incredibly difficult subject area for historians to approach up until now. This work provides the first detailed history of infanticide in mainland Britain from 1600 to the modern era.

Author : Veronica Strong-Boag
Publisher : Wilfrid Laurier Univ. Press
Page : 318 pages
File Size : 49,7 Mb
Release : 2011-08-15
Category : Family & Relationships
ISBN : 9781554583195

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Fostering Nation? by Veronica Strong-Boag Pdf

Fostering Nation? Canada Confronts Its History of Childhood Disadvantage explores the missteps and the promise of a century and more of child protection efforts by Canadians and their governments. It is the first volume to offer a comprehensive history of what life has meant for North America’s most disadvantaged Aboriginal and newcomer girls and boys. Gender, class, race, and (dis)ability are always important factors that bear on youngsters’ access to resources. State fostering initiatives occur as part of a broad continuum of arrangements, from social assistance for original families to kin care and institutions. Birth and foster parents of disadvantaged youngsters are rarely in full control. Children most distant from the mainstream ideals of their day suffer, and that suffering is likely to continue into their own experience of parenthood. That trajectory is never inevitable, however. Both resilience and resistance have shaped Canadians’ engagement with foster children in a society dominated by capitalist, colonial, and patriarchal power. Fostering Nation? breaks much new ground for those interested in social welfare, history, and the family. It offers the first comprehensive perspective on Canada’s provision for marginalized youngsters from the nineteenth to the twenty-first century. Its examination of kin care, institutions, state policies, birth parents, foster parents, and foster youngsters provides ample reminder that children’s welfare cannot be divorced from that of their parents and communities, and reinforces what it means when women bear disproportionate responsibility for caregiving.

Author : Karen Brennan,Emma Milne
Publisher : Bloomsbury Publishing
Page : 301 pages
File Size : 47,9 Mb
Release : 2023-10-19
Category : Law
ISBN : 9781509961665

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100 Years of the Infanticide Act by Karen Brennan,Emma Milne Pdf

This book provides the first comprehensive and detailed analysis of the Infanticide Act and its impact in England and Wales and around the world. It is 100 years since an Infanticide Act was first passed in England and Wales. The statute, re-enacted in 1938, allows for leniency to be given to women who kill their infants within the first year of life. This legislation is unique and controversial: it creates a specific offence and defence that is available only to women who kill their biological infants. Men and other carers are not able to avail of the special mitigation provided by the Act, nor are women who kill older children. The collection brings together leading experts in the field to offer important insights into the history of the law, how it works today, the impact and legacy of the statute and potential futures of infanticide laws around the world. Contributors consider the Act in practice in England and Wales, the ways it has been portrayed in the British media and justifications for and criticisms of the provision of special treatment for women who kill their infants within a year of birth. It also looks at the criminal justice responses to infanticide in other jurisdictions, such as Australia, Ireland, Sweden and the United States of America.

Author : Richard Jochelson, et al.
Publisher : Manitoba Law Journal
Page : 404 pages
File Size : 41,9 Mb
Release : 2024-05-07
Category : Law
ISBN : 8210379456XXX

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Manitoba Law Journal: Criminal Law Edition (Robson Crim) 2018 Volume 41(3) by Richard Jochelson, et al. Pdf

Robson Crim is housed in Robson Hall, one of Canada's oldest law schools. Robson Crim has transformed into a Canada wide research hub in criminal law, with blog contributions from coast to coast, and from outside of this nation's borders. With over 30 academic peer collaborators at Canada's top law schools, Robson Crim is bringing leading criminal law research and writing to the reader. We also annually publish a special edition criminal law volume of the Manitoba Law Journal, providing a chance for authors to enter the peer reviewed fray. The Journal has ranked in the top 0.1 percent on Academia.edu and is widely used. This issue has articles from a variety of contributing authors including: Anna Tourtchaninova, Brendan Roziere, Michelle I. Bertrand, R.C.L. Lindsay, Jamal K. Mansour, Jennifer L. Beaudry, Natalie Kalmet, Elisabeth I. Melsom, Christopher Totten, Sutham Cobkit, Ryan Mullins, John Burchill, Celeste McKay, David Milward, Leah Combs, Russell C. Smandych, Raymond R. Corrado, and Scott Mair.

Author : Vanessa E. Munro
Publisher : Routledge
Page : 548 pages
File Size : 50,5 Mb
Release : 2016-04-01
Category : Law
ISBN : 9781317043416

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The Ashgate Research Companion to Feminist Legal Theory by Vanessa E. Munro Pdf

As a distinct scholarly contribution to law, feminist legal theory is now well over three decades old. Those three decades have seen consolidation and renewal of its central concerns as well as remarkable growth, dynamism and change. This Companion celebrates the strength of feminist legal thought, which is manifested in this dynamic combination of stability and change, as well as in the diversity of perspectives and methodologies, and the extensive range of subject-matters, which are now included within its ambit. Bringing together contributors from across a range of jurisdictions and legal traditions, the book provides a concise but critical review of existing theory in relation to the core issues or concepts that have animated, and continue to animate, feminism. It provides an authoritative and scholarly review of contemporary feminist legal thought, and seeks to contribute to the ongoing development of some of its new approaches, perspectives, and subject-matters. The Companion is divided into three parts, dealing with 'Theory', 'Concepts' and 'Issues'. The first part addresses theoretical questions which are of significance to law, but which also connect to feminist theory at the broadest and most interdisciplinary level. The second part also draws on general feminist theory, but with a more specific focus on debates about equality and difference, race, culture, religion, and sexuality. The 'Issues' section considers in detail more specific areas of substantive legal controversy.

Author : Gina Wong, Ph.D.,George Parnham, J.D.
Publisher : American Psychiatric Pub
Page : 466 pages
File Size : 55,5 Mb
Release : 2020-12-09
Category : Medical
ISBN : 9781615373512

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Infanticide and Filicide by Gina Wong, Ph.D.,George Parnham, J.D. Pdf

"Maternal filicide-the killing of a child by the mother-is not a new phenomenon. Evidence of mothers killing their infants dates back to at least 2000 B.C.E. and the ancient Chaldean civilization. The trial of Andrea Yates in 2001 for drowning her five children, however, captured the public attention in a way few similar cases had before. Initially met with public shock and outrage, the Yates case also spotlighted postpartum psychosis and maternal mental health forensics-the intersection of maternal mental illness and the criminal justice system. Coedited by George Parnham, the attorney who successfully defended Yates, this book includes his narrative account of how he first heard about and came to take on the case. It also features real case examples from more than 30 experts in the field representing eight countries. In addition, the book includes a chapter on paternal filicide, an important subject that receives far too little attention in the literature. Firmly rooted in research, thorough in its description of theory, and packed with practical applications, this volume highlights the necessary competency areas for those involved in maternal mental health forensics, whether psychologists, psychiatrists, social workers, or lawyers"--

Author : Kent Roach
Publisher : Simon and Schuster
Page : 400 pages
File Size : 52,7 Mb
Release : 2023-04-18
Category : Law
ISBN : 9781668023686

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Wrongfully Convicted by Kent Roach Pdf

A top legal scholar explains Canada’s national tragedy of wrongful convictions, how anyone could be caught up in them, and what we can do to safeguard justice. Canada’s legal system has a serious problem: a significant but unknown number of people have been convicted for crimes they didn’t commit. There are famous cases of wrongful convictions, such as David Milgaard and Donald Marshall Jr., where the system convicted the wrong person for murder. But there are lesser-known cases: people who feel they have no option but to plead guilty, and people convicted of crimes that were imagined by experts or the police that never, in fact, happened. Kent Roach, cofounder of the Canadian Registry of Wrongful Convictions, award-winning author, and law professor, has dedicated his illustrious career to documenting flaws in our justice system. His work reveals that the burden of wrongful convictions falls disproportionately on the disadvantaged, including Indigenous and racialized people, those with cognitive issues, single mothers, and the poor. Wrongfully Convicted raises awareness about wrongful convictions at a time when DNA exonerations are less frequent and the memories of most famous wrongful convictions are fading. Roach makes a compelling case for change that governments have so far lacked the courage to make. They include better legislative regulation of police and forensic experts and the creation of a permanent and independent federal commission both to investigate wrongful convictions and their multiple causes. Roach’s research and vast knowledge point to systemic failings in our legal system. But he also outlines vital changes that can better prevent and correct wrongful convictions. Until we do, many of the wrongfully convicted are still waiting for the promise of justice. It is an issue that affects all Canadians.

Author : Emma Milne,Karen Brennan,Nigel South,Jackie Turton
Publisher : Springer
Page : 252 pages
File Size : 49,7 Mb
Release : 2018-05-04
Category : Social Science
ISBN : 9783319767741

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Women and the Criminal Justice System by Emma Milne,Karen Brennan,Nigel South,Jackie Turton Pdf

Bringing together academics and professionals, this edited collection considers key issues in current criminal justice policy and practice related specifically to women to answer the important question: are women being failed by the criminal justice system? In a landscape where women’s involvement in the criminal justice system still tends to be ignored or lost in discussions about men, contributors place special emphasis on women as both victims and offenders. The chapters cover a wide range of topics relating to women and crime, including: violent and sexual victimisation, violent offending, sentencing and punishment, and rape myths. Since the peak of feminist criminal justice scholarship in the 1990s, the place of women in the criminal justice system has arguably slipped down the agenda and the authors of this collection draw on original research to make the compelling case for a swift remedy to this. Drawing on recent academic studies and professional experience to set an agenda for future research – as well as legal and policy reform – this book injects new life into the dialogue surrounding women and the criminal justice system. Innovative and timely, this collection of essays holds broad appeal to academics and practitioners, as well as students of criminology, criminal justice and law, and all those with an interest in feminism, justice, and inequality.

Author : Emma Cunliffe
Publisher : Bloomsbury Publishing
Page : 246 pages
File Size : 52,9 Mb
Release : 2011-05-27
Category : Law
ISBN : 9781847316608

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Murder, Medicine and Motherhood by Emma Cunliffe Pdf

Since the early 1990s, unexplained infant death has been reformulated as a criminal justice problem within many western societies. This shift has produced wrongful convictions in more than one jurisdiction. This book uses a detailed case study of the murder trial and appeals of Kathleen Folbigg to examine the pragmatics of proof beyond a reasonable doubt. It explores how legal process, medical knowledge and expectations of motherhood work together when a mother is charged with killing infants who have died in mysterious circumstances. The author argues that Folbigg, who remains in prison, was wrongly convicted. The book also employs Folbigg's trial and appeals to consider what lessons courts have learned from prior wrongful convictions, such as those of Sally Clark and Angela Cannings. The author's research demonstrates that the Folbigg court was misled about the state of medical knowledge regarding infant death, and that the case proceeded on the incorrect assumption that behavioural and scientific evidence provided independent proofs of guilt. Individual chapters critically assess the relationships between medical research and expert testimony; the operation of unexamined cultural assumptions about good mothering; and the manner in which contested cases are reported by the press as overwhelming.

Author : Lesley Erickson
Publisher : UBC Press
Page : 361 pages
File Size : 41,8 Mb
Release : 2011-08-01
Category : Law
ISBN : 9780774818605

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Westward Bound by Lesley Erickson Pdf

Westward Bound debunks the myth of Canada’s peaceful West and the masculine conceptions of law and violence upon which it rests by shifting the focus from Mounties and whisky traders to criminal cases involving women between 1886 and 1940. Erickson’s analysis of these cases shows that, rather than a desire to protect, official responses to the most intimate or violent acts betrayed an impulse to shore up the liberal order by maintaining boundaries between men and women, Native people and newcomers, and capital and labour. Victims and accused could only hope to harness entrenched ideas about masculinity, femininity, race, and class in their favour. This fascinating exploration of hegemony and resistance in key contact zones draws prairie Canada into larger debates about law, colonialism, and nation building.

Author : Rachel Dixon
Publisher : Routledge
Page : 230 pages
File Size : 40,5 Mb
Release : 2023-02-02
Category : History
ISBN : 9781000474145

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Infanticide by Rachel Dixon Pdf

Infanticide examines medical expert evidence in infanticide cases, focusing specifically on the shifting notion of "certainty" in medical testimony. Beginning in the Early Modern period and concluding in the mid-twentieth century, it considers how courts determined whether an infant died from natural causes or other reasons, including violence. The book explores expert evidence in cases of infanticide and examines the extent of certainty created by medical specialists who founded their testimony on anatomical exploration and science. As the book progresses, it becomes clear that medical specialists were unable to scientifically establish cause of death and in doing so conveyed uncertainty in court proceedings. Rather than being regarded as a professional failing, Dixon argues that the uncertainty created by medical specialists redirected the outcomes of infanticide cases. The combination of uncertainty and the changing perceptions of infanticidal women by the court lead juries to find infanticidal women not guilty of a capital offence in many cases. This book will be of great interest to students and scholars of Criminology, Law and History.

Author : Michael Boudreau
Publisher : UBC Press
Page : 354 pages
File Size : 41,9 Mb
Release : 2012-05-15
Category : Social Science
ISBN : 9780774822077

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City of Order by Michael Boudreau Pdf

Interwar Halifax was a city in flux, a place where citizens debated adopting new ideas and technologies but agreed on one thing: modernity was corrupting public morality and unleashing untold social problems on their fair city. To create a bulwark against further social dislocation, citizens, policy makers, and officials modernized the city's machinery of order � courts, prisons, and the police force � and placed greater emphasis on crime control. These tough-on-crime measures, Boudreau argues, did not resolve problems but rather singled out ethnic minorities, working-class men, and female and juvenile offenders as problem figures in the eternal quest for order.