A History of Infanticide in Britain c. 1600 to the Present

This work provides a detailed history of infanticide in mainland Britain from 1600 to the modern era for the very first time.

It examines continuity and change in the nature and characteristics of newborn child murder in Scotland, England, and Wales over a chronology of more than four centuries.

Alongside offering a comparative analysis of the types of individuals suspected of the offense, and a detailed appreciation of the different ways in which the crime was carried out, the work also exposes the broad nexus of causal factors that underpinned its enactment.

In addition, the work investigates the evolving attitude in social, medical, and legal contexts to the killing of young infants in Britain over a substantive time period. Thus the work as a whole is both compelling and innovative as it provides the reader with much more than a mere history of infanticide.

The book also contributes much to our understanding of criminal history, gender history, legal history, medical history, and social history in its analyses of the different contexts allied to the offense. It does this also through its exploration of the complex characteristics of accusers, commentators, and perpetrators across cultures, borders, and time.

Author: A. Kilday
Publisher: Palgrave MacMillan
Published: 06/14/2013
Pages: 338
Binding Type: Hardcover
Weight: 1.36lbs
Size: 8.50h x 5.70w x 1.10d
ISBN: 9780230547070

Review Citation(s):
Choice 05/01/2014

About the Author

Anne-Marie Kilday is Professor of Criminal History at Oxford Brookes University, UK. She has published on widely on the history of violence and the history of female criminality in Britain, Europe, and North America from 1600 to the present.