A naked newborn baby was found dead in a carrier bag which had been left outside a vicarage in near freezing conditions. It is not clear whether the infant had been alive when it was abandoned.
So what we have here is a case of suspicious death. In another case it was established that the child had died from neglect after birth. Even when the baby survives, it’s a clear case of reckless endangerment. Yet in every case, the immediate police response is the same – to express concern for the welfare of the mother. I cannot think of any other type of crime – still less one as serious as those under discussion – that routinely elicits such a compassionate response.
I want to be clear that I am not arguing for a more punitive, less compassionate approach. The perpetrators of these crimes are presume to be – and every often are – desperate and vulnerable young women. My point is that many male criminals are also young, desperate, and vulnerable, yet we never see this compassionate response to them.
Saw this recently too.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11579355
http://www.americanews.com/story/crime/2016/04/01/mother-who-filmed-herself-raping-her-1-year-old-son-receives-shocking
A large national newspaper in Norway recently ran a series of narrative articles looking at a case from 1991 where a newborn baby was found in a plastic-bag in a cemetery in Oslo in October.
Apparently the mother thought the child was stillborn and she left the baby in the cemetery for others to handle the burial. She was an immigrant worker from the Philippines. The mother was allowed to obtain custody of the child after a few weeks and moved back to the Philippines soon after. The newspaper managed to track down the child and he is now an well-adjusted adult who considers his survival a miracle.
Prior to reading these articles I wasn’t aware that according to the Norwegian penal code a mother who attempts to kill their newborn child within 24 hours after birth may be exempt from punishment if there is no serious injury on the child.
§ 234. If a felony mentioned in section 233 is committed by a mother against her own child during the birth or within 24 hours thereof, she shall be liable to imprisonment for a term of from one to eight years.
In the case of a repeated offence or otherwise under especially aggravating circumstances, imprisonment for a term not exceeding 12 years may be imposed.
An attempt may go unpunished if the child is not seriously injured in body or health.
“Prior to reading these articles I wasn’t aware that according to the Norwegian penal code a mother who attempts to kill their newborn child within 24 hours after birth may be exempt from punishment if there is no serious injury on the child.”
I have to say this feels like a basically humane exception. People can get loopy after a significant event and then straighten up later.
I do not disagree Gingko – I just was a bit surprised that it actually was explicitly being exempt by law.
But I also wonder why men who are “loopy after a significant event” aren’t given much opportunity to straighten themselves up later without any punishment.
That, in a nutshell, is the entire point of my post.