Information AboutInfanticide |
| CATEGORIES ABOUT INFANTICIDE | |
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| murdered children | |
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| sociologyinfanticide | |
| homicide | |
| murdered children | |
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| murdered children | |
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In the UK , the Infanticide Act defines ''infanticide'' as a specific crime that can only be committed by the mother during the first twelve months of her infant's life. This article deals with the broader notion of infanticide explained above. INFANTICIDE IN HISTORY Infanticide was common in most well written ancient cultures, including those of ancient . Jewish practice was not to perform infanticide; Josephus wrote, "The Law orders all the offspring to be brought up, and forbids women either to cause abortion or to make away with the fetus." This practice was so eccentric that when Tacitus , in Book 5 of his ''Histories'' wrote of how "all their other customs, which are at once perverse and disgusting, owe their strength to their very badness," he include among them: "It is a crime among them to kill any newly-born infant." {Link without Title} One frequent method of infanticide in antiquity was simply to Abandon The Infant , leaving it to death by exposure -- or whatever other fate befell it, commonly acknowledged to be Slavery and Prostitution . Another method commonly used with female children was to severely malnourish them, resulting in a vastly increased risk of death by accident or disease. In some cultures, this is thought to have been an open and accepted practice, while in others it may have been practiced privately, with the passive acceptance of society. Classic Roman civilization can serve as an example of both aspects. In some periods of Roman history it was traditional practice for a newborn to be brought to the '' Pater Familias '', the family patriarch, who would then decide whether the child was to be kept and raised, or left to death by exposure. The Twelve Tables of Roman Law obliged the ''pater familias'' to put to death a child that was visibly deformed. Although infanticide became a capital offense in Roman law in AD 374 , offenders were rarely if ever prosecuted. A practice described in Roman texts was to smear the breast with Opium residue so that a nursing baby would die with no outward cause. |
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