Introduction

This introduction presents an overview of key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book examines how societies in England and Australia, at different moments in time from 1822 to 1922, made sense through news discourse of the act of infanticide and of the woman who killed her newborn baby. Up until 1803 women suspected of killing their newborn children were tried according to common-law rules of evidence, requiring the prosecution to provide proof that the child had been born alive. Where a murder charge failed the jury had the option of returning a verdict of concealment of birth with a penalty of up to two years imprisonment. Prostitution was a dangerous and uncertain occupation, women were forced to work long hours in appalling conditions, and prostitution led to further unwanted pregnancies. The medicalization of infanticide also influenced social and religious discourses on infanticide and the role of women within the family.