
American Infanticide
Sexism, Science, and the Politics of Sympathy
Clara S. Lewis(Author)
Rutgers University Press
Published on 30. June 2025
Book
Paperback/Softback
214 pages
978-1-9788-3382-1 (ISBN)
Description
On April 22, 2015, the sorority sisters at Ohio's Muskingum University's Delta house encountered a horrific scene: pools of blood and gore in the first-floor bathroom. No one knew exactly what had happened, but the sisters suspected it had something to do with Emile Weaver. Studious, athletic, and well-liked, Emile had recently started wearing bulky sweatsuits and hiding her midsection, as if she was covering up a sudden weight gain. Could Emile be pregnant?
Emboldened by fear, the sorority sisters investigated. In the driveway next to the kitchen door, they found Emile's newborn baby girl dead inside a garbage bag. Emile's crime seemed senseless and left her family and friends with an aching question: what happened?
American Infanticide situates Emile's tragic act in a long intellectual, social, and legal history, uncovering disturbing missing chapters in our national history that undercut myths that have shaped public reactions to so-called monster moms and dumpster babies since the colonial era. Ultimately, the book uncovers how bias and inconsistency dictate how women accused of infant homicide are perceived and punished and sheds new light on how and why our legal responses to infanticide are so deeply misguided.
Emboldened by fear, the sorority sisters investigated. In the driveway next to the kitchen door, they found Emile's newborn baby girl dead inside a garbage bag. Emile's crime seemed senseless and left her family and friends with an aching question: what happened?
American Infanticide situates Emile's tragic act in a long intellectual, social, and legal history, uncovering disturbing missing chapters in our national history that undercut myths that have shaped public reactions to so-called monster moms and dumpster babies since the colonial era. Ultimately, the book uncovers how bias and inconsistency dictate how women accused of infant homicide are perceived and punished and sheds new light on how and why our legal responses to infanticide are so deeply misguided.
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
New Brunswick NJ
United States
Target group
College/higher education
Illustrations
3 color images
Dimensions
Height: 139 mm
Width: 215 mm
Thickness: 17 mm
Weight
274 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-9788-3382-1 (9781978833821)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions

E-Book
06/2025
1st Edition
Rutgers University Press
€71.99
Available for download
Person
CLARA S. LEWIS is a senior lecturer at Dartmouth College in Hanover, New Hampshire. She is the author of Tough on Hate?: The Cultural Politics of Hate Crimes, also published by Rutgers University Press.
Content
Introduction: "Disgraced by a Crime So Disgusting"
Part I: Intellectual, Legal, and Social History
1. "Innocent and Seduced" versus "Lewd and Cunning": The Invention of Blameless and Blameworthy Infanticidal Mothers
2. The Discovery of Heterogeneity: Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Motive, Agency, and Culpability
Part II: A Double Tragedy
3. Losing Addison
4. Losing Emile
5. No Safe Haven: Addressing the Mistreatment of Neonaticide
Conclusion: A Social Theory of Neonaticide Risk
Acknowledgments
Index
Introduction: "Disgraced by a Crime
So Disgusting" 1
PA R T I
The Intellectual and Legal
History of Infanticide
1 "Innocent and Seduced" versus "Lewd and Cunning":
The Invention of Blameless and Blameworthy
Infanticidal Mothers
23
2 The Discovery of Heterogeneity: Interdisciplinary
Perspectives on Motive, Agency, and Culpability 55
PA R T I I
A Double Tragedy
3 Losing Addison 89
4 Losing Emile 111
5 No Safe Haven: Addressing the Mistreatment
of Neonaticide 153
Conclusion: A Social Theory of Neonaticide Risk 163
Acknowledgments
171
Notes 173
Index 000
Part I: Intellectual, Legal, and Social History
1. "Innocent and Seduced" versus "Lewd and Cunning": The Invention of Blameless and Blameworthy Infanticidal Mothers
2. The Discovery of Heterogeneity: Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Motive, Agency, and Culpability
Part II: A Double Tragedy
3. Losing Addison
4. Losing Emile
5. No Safe Haven: Addressing the Mistreatment of Neonaticide
Conclusion: A Social Theory of Neonaticide Risk
Acknowledgments
Index
Introduction: "Disgraced by a Crime
So Disgusting" 1
PA R T I
The Intellectual and Legal
History of Infanticide
1 "Innocent and Seduced" versus "Lewd and Cunning":
The Invention of Blameless and Blameworthy
Infanticidal Mothers
23
2 The Discovery of Heterogeneity: Interdisciplinary
Perspectives on Motive, Agency, and Culpability 55
PA R T I I
A Double Tragedy
3 Losing Addison 89
4 Losing Emile 111
5 No Safe Haven: Addressing the Mistreatment
of Neonaticide 153
Conclusion: A Social Theory of Neonaticide Risk 163
Acknowledgments
171
Notes 173
Index 000