Infanticide is a lesser crime than homicide in Canada
Supreme Court of Canada Chief Justice Beverley McLachlin on Women Killing Babies
In her 1991 report titled Crime and Women -- Feminine Equality and the Criminal Law she stated:
"Women faced with an unwanted pregnancy now have a number of less desperate alternatives available to them."
Feminist Quotes About Infanticide
Author Kirsten Kramar, a feminist sociologist teaching at the University of Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada in her scholarly feminist book about infanticide.
The "I did it because of social pressures on me. It's not my fault at all." gynocentric approach:
"Single women who killed illegitimate babies to conceal their illicit sexual activity were acting out of the very sense of morality that the purity campaigns sought to inculcate. That the illegitimate babies did not survive to complicate paternal responsibility may also have explained juror reluctance to punish women harshly."
The "I'm doing my baby a favour by killing it." approach:
More broadly, the women who killed their newly born illegitimate babies were understood to be conforming to ideological notions governing motherhood and femininity since they killed their babies to hide the shame of their ex-nuptial sexual activity and to protect the infant from living a life stigmatized by illegitimacy."
Western Countries got it all wrong
"Certainly, the killing of newborn babies by their mothers has not been universally constructed as a moral, legal, or quasi-legal violation, a fact that is well documented by anthropological literature, which casts a very telling light on the narrow Western conceptualization of the killing of newborn babies as a crime requiring a retributive response, even if only for the purposes of general deterrence."
You have to read this feminist justification for killing babies:
"Infanticide law is part of a much wider cultural formation that disallows the killing of live-born babies. To assert that infanticide law constructs the categories of "bad" and "good" mother around the notion that killing babies is wrong cedes far too much power to an ill-conceived and poorly operating law. This idea already exists as a formidable component of the broader culture."
Criminal Code of Canada - Homicide
222. (1) A person commits homicide when, directly or indirectly, by any means, he causes the death of a human being.
Kinds of homicide
(2) Homicide is culpable or not culpable.
Non culpable homicide
(3) Homicide that is not culpable is not an offence.
Culpable homicide
(4) Culpable homicide is murder or manslaughter or infanticide.
Criminal Code - PART VIII: OFFENCES AGAINST THE PERSON AND REPUTATION
Homicide
| When child becomes human being |
223.
(1) A child becomes a human being within the meaning of this Act when it has completely proceeded, in a living state, from the body of its mother, whether or not (a) it has breathed; (b) it has an independent circulation; or (c) the navel string is severed. |
| Killing child | (2) A person commits homicide when he causes
injury to a child before or during its birth as a result of
which the child dies after becoming a human being.
R.S., c. C-34, s. 206. |
Infanticide
233. A female person commits infanticide when by a wilful act or omission she causes the death of her newly-born child, if at the time of the act or omission she is not fully recovered from the effects of giving birth to the child and by reason thereof or of the effect of lactation consequent on the birth of the child her mind is then disturbed. R.S., c. C-34, s. 216.
Punishment for infanticide
237. Every female person who commits infanticide is guilty of an indictable offence and liable to imprisonment for a term not exceeding five years. R.S., c. C-34, s. 220.
Punishment for murder
235. (1) Every one who commits first degree murder or second degree murder is guilty of an indictable offence and shall be sentenced to imprisonment for life.
Minimum punishment
(2) For the purposes of Part XXIII, the sentence of imprisonment for life prescribed by this section is a minimum punishment.
R.S., c. C-34, s. 218; 1973-74, c. 38, s. 3; 1974-75-76, c. 105, s. 5.
Manslaughter
234. Culpable homicide that is not murder or infanticide is manslaughter. R.S., c. C-34, s. 217.
Criminal Code - PART VIII: OFFENCES AGAINST THE PERSON AND REPUTATION
Neglect in Child-birth and Concealing Dead Body
| Neglect to obtain assistance in child-birth |
242. A female
person who, being pregnant and about to be delivered, with
intent that the child shall not live or with intent to conceal
the birth of the child, fails to make provision for reasonable
assistance in respect of her delivery is, if the child is
permanently injured as a result thereof or dies immediately
before, during or in a short time after birth, as a result
thereof, guilty of an indictable offence and is liable to
imprisonment for a term not exceeding five years.
R.S., c. C-34, s. 226. |
Criminal Code - PART VIII: OFFENCES AGAINST THE PERSON AND REPUTATION
Neglect in Child-birth and Concealing Dead Body
| Concealing body of child |
243. Every one who
in any manner disposes of the dead body of a child, with intent
to conceal the fact that its mother has been delivered of it,
whether the child died before, during or after birth, is guilty
of an indictable offence and liable to imprisonment for a term
not exceeding two years.
R.S., c. C-34, s. 227. |
Criminal Code of Canada is available at the Canadian Legal Information Institute ( www.CANLII.org ):
http://www.canlii.org/en/ca/laws/stat/rsc-1985-c-c-46/latest/rsc-1985-c-c-46.html
Woman who cut off her newborn son's private parts handed 5-year prison term
Mainichi Daily News, Sakai, Osaka, Japan, November 26, 2006
SAKAI, Osaka -- A woman accused of cutting off her newborn son's private parts in 2004 was ordered Monday to spend five years behind bars.
The Sakai branch of the Osaka District Court convicted Shizue Tamura, 27, a resident of Izumi, Osaka Prefecture, of inflicting bodily injury.
"The way she committed the crime was unprecedented, inhumane and cruel," Presiding Judge Masahiro Hosoi said as he handed down the ruling. Prosecutors had demanded an eight-year prison term. Read More ..
Mom's death dance
SHE PARTIED AS DAUGHTER LEFT TO DIE IN HEAT
Toronto Sun
September 29, 2004
SINGLE MOM Clara DaSilva admitted yesterday she danced the night away while her 2-year-daughter was dying of dehydration in a sweltering apartment. Tiny toddler Adrianna Maria DaSilva was abandoned for at least 33 hours in a 35C room before her mom discovered her dead on Sept. 9, 2002.
Clara DaSilva, 24, pleaded guilty to manslaughter. Justice David Watt will sentence her shortly after Jan. 17 following a five-day trial with one contested fact -- the allegation that her purse, with keys and cash, was stolen at a club the day of her child's death. Read More ..
New Brunswick woman ruled responsible in burning of baby's body
ST. STEPHEN, N.B. - A New Brunswick judge says a woman who burned and dismembered her newborn son is criminally responsible for her actions.
Becky Sue Morrow earlier pleaded guilty to offering an indignity to a dead body and disposing of a newborn with the intent of concealing a delivery.
Judge David Walker ruled Friday that the 27-year-old woman may have been suffering from a mental disorder when she delivered the baby but that that was not the case when the baby's body was burned and its remains hidden.
It is not known if the baby was alive at the time of birth.
At a hearing last month, the court heard contrasting reports from the two psychiatrists. One said Ms. Morrow was in a "disassociated" mental state when the crime occurred. The other said she clearly planned her actions and understood the consequences.
Woman convicted of killing 3 kids after custody battle
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS, USA, August 26, 2008
HELSINKI, Finland - A court in Finland has convicted a woman of murdering her three young children and has given her a life sentence.
The Espoo District Court says Thai-born Yu-Hsiu Fu was found guilty of strangling her 8-year-old twin daughters and 1-year-old son in her home.
She tried to kill herself afterward.
The verdict on Tuesday says the 41-year-old woman was found to be of sound mind at the time of the murders.
Court papers show the murders were preceded by a bitter custody battle with her Finnish husband who was living separately from her at the time of the murders.
A life sentence in Finland mean convicts usually serve at least 11 years in prison.
Ontario woman convicted of son's starvation death granted full parole
Canadian Press
Wednesday, May. 22, 2002
KINGSTON, Ont. (CP) -- An Ontario woman who was sentenced to 16 years in prison in one of Canada's stiffest penalties for child abuse will be released on full parole after serving less than half her term.
Lorelei Turner, 38, and her husband Steven were convicted of manslaughter in July 1995 for beating and starving their three-year-old son John to death in a case that horrified Canadians who followed the trial.
But on Wednesday, a panel of the National Parole Board in this eastern Ontario city ruled Turner will be released but placed on probation until July 2011.
Until then, she must remain within 25 kilometres of her residence, is not allowed unsupervised contact with anyone under 16, and must continue to receive counselling.
"The board would have looked at the risk and obviously found a low risk to reoffend," Carol Sparling of the National Parole Board said Wednesday.
Yeeda Topham killed her baby son but walks free
Australian Associated Press
December 05,
2008
A WOMAN who killed her infant son by jumping with him from the eighth floor of a city apartment block has walked free after being convicted of manslaughter.
Yeeda Topham, 40, of Roleystone near Perth, had pleaded guilty in the West Australian Supreme Court to a charge of unlawfully killing 21-month-old James Topham on November 5 last year. Read More ..
Firefighters Find Baby's Body In Washing Machine
Fire Officials Claim Fire Intentionally Set
NBC4-TV, Los Angeles, California, U.S.A.
LOS ANGELES, USA -- Murder charges are expected to be filed against a woman whose infant son's body was found in a washing machine after firefighters doused what they say was an intentionally set fire, authorities said Tuesday.
Latunga Starks, 32, was taken into custody last night, according to the Sheriff's Department Web site.
Los Angeles Police Department Lt. Dennis Shirey identified the mother and her nearly 3-month-old son, Michael Kelvin Thompson.
"Murder in the nursery"
Australian mom killed her 4 babies
TORONTO SUN, May 23, 2003
It seemed a tragic coincidence - at first.
Craig and Kathleen Folbigg's first son died in his sleep at 19 days old. Their next child, Patrick, died two years later at nine months.
Still, it was after their fourth baby died before Australian police suspected something was terribly wrong.
In Sydney's New South Wales State Supreme Court this week, Kathleen Folbigg, 35, was found guilty of killing all four of her babies.
The jury's work would have been made much easier if they had been allowed to read Folbigg's entire secret diary. In it, she practically confesses to following in her dad's deadly footsteps.
"Obviously I am my father's daughter," the Australian woman wrote in her diary Oct. 14, 1996, having already killed three of her four children.
"But I think losing my temper and being frustrated and everything has passed. I now just let things happen and go with the flow. An attitude I should of had with all my children, if given the chance, I'll have it with the next one."
Folbigg was pregnant at the time with her fourth child. She would go on to kill her as well.
Mother Shoots father, has his Baby and then kills the Baby and Herself
Investigation into the Death of Zachary Andrew Turner (18 July 2002 to 18 August 2003)
Zachary Turner, a 13 months old baby, died at the hands of his fugitive mother, Dr. Shirley Turner, who killed him and then committed suicide on August 18, 2003.
Turner was facing extradition to the United States to stand trial for the 2001 murder of Dr. Andrew Bagby, Zachary's father.
28-year-old Dr. Andrew Bagby was found shot to death in Keystone State Park, 55 kilometres northeast of Pittsburgh, PA, U.S.A.
Turner fled to Newfoundland, Canada where Zachary was born. She was out on bail against the wishes of U.S. authorities at the time of Zachary's death. Read More ..
Boy, 8, found dead; mom faces charge
Canadian Press, (various newspapers across Canada, including the Toronto Star) Aug. 16, 2006.
ISLE LA MOTTE, Vt. A Montreal mother recovering from alleged self-inflicted wounds will be charged in the coming days with murdering her 8-year-old son, whose body was found in Lake Champlain, a Vermont state attorney said today.
I am going to prepare a charge of first-degree murder, Grand Isle States Attorney David Miller said in a telephone interview. Read More ..
Affair led to mother murdering her own kids
Days after buying another woman Valentine's Day flowers, a Sydney father came home to find a trail of blood leading him to the bodies of his two young children lying next to their mother, a court has been told.
Australian Associated Press
Aug 24 2009
The woman had given the couple's three-year-old daughter and four-year-old son rat poison and an unidentified pink liquid before smothering them and killing them, court papers said.
She then tried to take her own life, the NSW Supreme Court was told.
Doctors agree the mother, from Canley Heights in Sydney's west, was suffering from "major depression" when she poisoned her children on February 19 last year.
She has pleaded not guilty to the two murders by reason of mental illness.
As her judge-alone trial began, the mother's lawyer told Justice Clifton Hoeben his client didn't think life was worth living after learning about her husband's affair.
Wicked mum murdered son, 8, with electrical cables after he caught her in sex romps with his granddad
The Mirror, UK, October 19 2016
Vicious Veronica Panarello throttled her son Loris to death and abandoned his body in a remote gully after he found out about the fling.
The "manipulative" mum, wept as she was jailed for 30 years at a court in Italy on Monday
A wicked mum who brutally murdered her eight-year-old son after he allegedly discovered she was having an affair with his grandfather has been jailed.
Vicious Veronica Panarello throttled her son Loris Stival with electrical cables and abandoned his body in a remote gully after he found out about the fling.
The "manipulative" mum wept as she was jailed for 30 years at a court in Italy on Monday.
Panarello, 28, had tried to pretend her son had been abducted to cover up the horrendous killing in November 2014.
Panarello throttled her eight-year-old son Loris to death with electrical cables. Read More ..
CanadianCRC Editorial Commentary:
A woman who kills her 5 month old child and claims mental illness, may be charged with "infanticide" according to the definition which has a limited penalty of a maximum time in prison much less than if she had been charged with murder of an adult.
If a father, who is deeply depressed, kills his 5 month old child, he has committed "murder" and is often treated by the media and judges as another violent male. These judges are subject to feminist indoctrination in their training at Canada's National Judicial Institute.
Established in 1988, the National Judicial Institute coordinates and provides training programs and continuing education services to all of Canada's judges. It is located in Ottawa.
Although the curriculum of the institute is not available to the general public, analysis of the biographies of law professors and judges who teach there reveal the feminist political influence on members of the institute. Often law professors receive judgeships.
No where did we find references to any masculist training of Canadian judges or training from independent children's rights organizations that don't receive some form of federal government funding and therefore have a feminist slanted view. Female post-partum depression is well known to judges but not male post-partum depression. See our section on fathers and post-partum depression.
An independent judiciary should have transparency of their training materials and a broad experience of considering a wide range of views.