Murder, medicine and motherhood / Emma Cunliffe.
2011
HV6541.A8 C86 2011 (Map It)
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Details
Author
Title
Murder, medicine and motherhood / Emma Cunliffe.
Published
Oxford ; Portland, Ore : Hart Pub., [2011]
Copyright
©2011
Call Number
HV6541.A8 C86 2011
ISBN
9781849461573 (hbk.)
1849461570
1849461570
Description
xiii, 232 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm
System Control No.
(OCoLC)696098987
Summary
"Since the early 1990s, unexplained infant death has been reformulated as a criminal justice problem within many western societies. This shift has produced wrongful convictions in more than one jurisdiction. This book uses a detailed case study of the murder trial and appeals of Kathleen Folbigg to examine the pragmatics of proof beyond a reasonable doubt. It explores how legal process, medical knowledge and expectations of motherhood work together when a mother is charged with killing infants who have died in mysterious circumstances. The author argues that Folbigg, who remains in prison, was wrongly convicted. The book also employs Folbigg's trial and appeals to consider what lessons courts have learned from prior wrongful convictions, such as those of Sally Clark and Angela Cannings. The author's research demonstrates that the Folbigg court was misled about the state of medical knowledge regarding infant death, and that the case proceeded on the incorrect assumption that behavioural and scientific evidence provided independent proofs of guilt. Individual chapters critically assess the relationships between medical research and expert testimony; the operation of unexamined cultural assumptions about good mothering; and the manner in which contested cases are reported by the press as overwhelming"--Provided by publisher.
Note
Based on the author's PhD dissertation, University of British Columbia, Faculty of Law.
Bibliography, etc. Note
Includes bibliographical references (pages 209-222) and index.
Record Appears in
Gift
Purchased from the income of the Rouse Fund
Gift

The Arthur W. Diamond Law Library
Purchased from the income of the Rouse Fund
Table of Contents
Acknowledgements
v
Table of Cases
ix
Table of Legislation
xi
List of Illustrations
xiii
1.
Introduction
1
I.
The Immediate Legal Context of Folbigg
5
II.
The Core Concerns of This Book
11
2.
The Folbigg Case
14
I.
The Case against Folbigg
14
II.
Judicial Decision-Making in Folbigg
18
3.
Unexplained Infant Death: A Shifting Theory of Maternal Culpability
25
I.
The Folbigg Children's Deaths
26
II.
Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS)
28
III.
The Emergence of Murder
34
4.
Distinguishing Homicide from SIDS
38
I.
The `True Incidence' of Child Homicide
39
II.
The Difficulty with Smothering
44
III.
Identifying Homicide
52
IV.
Exploring the Correlation between Recurrence and Homicide
57
V.
Conclusion
67
5.
The Scientific Case against Folbigg
72
I.
Collective and Individual Approaches to Infant Death
73
II.
The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) Policy Statement
79
III.
The Shifting Use of SIDS
88
6.
A Mother Who Would Kill Her Children
96
I.
Introduction
96
II.
The Dominant Ideology of Motherhood
98
III.
The Folbigg Family Unit
104
IV.
`Something I Carried in My Heart': Craig Folbigg's Evidence
117
V.
Conclusion
131
7.
Reading Guilt: Kathleen Folbigg's Diaries
134
I.
Diaries and Subjectivity
134
II.
`A Machine to Look into Her Mind': The Diary Entries
139
III.
Constructing a Murderous Mother
143
IV.
The Quest for a Confession
145
V.
Re-reading the Diaries: Looking for Interpretive Principles
150
VI.
Conclusion: Interpretive Principles for Diary Narratives
154
8.
Media Monster
157
I.
News Reports of the Folbigg Case
158
II.
Reporting the Science
171
III.
Reporting Folbigg's Motherhood
181
IV.
Conclusion
191
9.
Conclusion
193
I.
The Folbigg Case
193
II.
Comparing Folbigg with its Companion Cases
195
III.
Approaching Contentious Medical Evidence
196
IV.
The Dominant Ideology of Motherhood
202
V.
Newspaper Reporting
205
VI.
Conclusion
206
Bibliography
209
Appendix: Chronology of Folbigg Children's Lives and Deaths
223
Index
225