Female Criminality: Infanticide, Moral Panics and The Female Body

by A. Cossins

Overview

This is the first book to consider the moral regulation of the female body through an analysis of the crime of infanticide. An in-depth perspective from the nineteenth century to the present, Cossins provides a revealing insight into the history of a little-known but widespread social crime.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781349452743
Publisher:	Palgrave Macmillan UK
Publication date:	01/01/2015
Edition description:	1st ed. 2015
Pages:	302
Product dimensions:	5.51(w) x 8.50(h) x (d)

About the Author

Annie Cossins is Associate Professor in the Faculty of Law, University of New South Wales, Australia.

Table of Contents

1. Introduction: 'Dumb Brutes' and Murderous Mothers 2. The Moral Panic Concept: Its History, Social Utility and Ability to Interpret Past Events 3. Regulation of the Female Body: Was Infanticide a Moral Panic of the 1800s? 4. The Moral Regulation of Infanticidal Mothers 5. The Implications of the Body for Female Criminality

Editorial Reviews

"Annie Cossins has written a remarkable book. In tracing the moral regulation of the female body through the lens of infanticide from the nineteenth century to the present day, this work fills an important gaps in understandings of female criminality and moral panic theory. In situating her analysis within an historical, social, and legal context, Cossins makes a robust case for the way in which sexed bodies underpin how the female criminal might be framed and understood. Any scholar interested in gender and crime would do well to read this book and consider the challenge that this sexed body approach poses for them and their work." - Sandra Walkate, University of Liverpool, UK

From the Publisher