Infanticide is usually considered as a typically female offence. This gendered characterization is often used to explain why, in the second half of the nineteenth century, this crime was transformed from a serious one, punished with death penalty, to a lesser offence. It has been argued that punishment was reduced because of the unfortunate conditions of the murderess. And historical studies have usually portrayed the offender as a woman who was seduced and abandoned. This article will demonstrate instead that Italian legislation, beginning with the first Penal Code in 1890, mandated light punishment above all for the benefit of the men who killed an infant to defend their male honor. This was even more apparent under the Fascist law of 1930 until 1981 when honor was dropped as an extenuating circumstance. Only then infanticide became a female, maternal crime. Yet, the new Italian law has many flaws. L’infanticide est généralement considéré comme une infraction typiquement féminine. Cette caractérisation sexuée sert fréquemment d’explication au fait que, dans la deuxième moitié du XIXe siècle, ce crime passa du statut de crime capital à un statut de moindre gravité. On a affirmé que cette atté­nuation était due à la condition malheureuse de la meurtrière et les travaux historiques l’ont généralement dépeinte comme une femme séduite et abandonnée. Le présent article entend au contraire démontrer que la législation italienne, à partir du premier Code pénal de 1890 prévoyait une punition légère principalement au bénéfice des hommes qui tuaient un enfant pour défendre leur honneur masculin. Ce fut encore plus visible sous la législation fasciste de 1930, et jusqu’en 1981, lorsque la circonstance atténuante de l’honneur fut abolie. Ce n’est qu’alors que l’infanticide devint une infraction féminine et maternelle. La loi nouvelle conserve cependant de nombreux défauts. CHS is a bilingual journal published by the International Association for the History of Crime and Criminal Justice. issue on "Special theme: Gender, honour ad the Courts"

Men committing female crime: infanticide, family and honor in Italy 1890-1981 / P. GUARNIERI. - In: CRIME, HISTOIRE & SOCIÉTÉS. - ISSN 1422-0857. - STAMPA. - XIII,2009/2:(2009), pp. 41-54. [10.4000/chs.1108]

Men committing female crime: infanticide, family and honor in Italy 1890-1981

GUARNIERI, PATRIZIA
2009

Abstract

Infanticide is usually considered as a typically female offence. This gendered characterization is often used to explain why, in the second half of the nineteenth century, this crime was transformed from a serious one, punished with death penalty, to a lesser offence. It has been argued that punishment was reduced because of the unfortunate conditions of the murderess. And historical studies have usually portrayed the offender as a woman who was seduced and abandoned. This article will demonstrate instead that Italian legislation, beginning with the first Penal Code in 1890, mandated light punishment above all for the benefit of the men who killed an infant to defend their male honor. This was even more apparent under the Fascist law of 1930 until 1981 when honor was dropped as an extenuating circumstance. Only then infanticide became a female, maternal crime. Yet, the new Italian law has many flaws. L’infanticide est généralement considéré comme une infraction typiquement féminine. Cette caractérisation sexuée sert fréquemment d’explication au fait que, dans la deuxième moitié du XIXe siècle, ce crime passa du statut de crime capital à un statut de moindre gravité. On a affirmé que cette atté­nuation était due à la condition malheureuse de la meurtrière et les travaux historiques l’ont généralement dépeinte comme une femme séduite et abandonnée. Le présent article entend au contraire démontrer que la législation italienne, à partir du premier Code pénal de 1890 prévoyait une punition légère principalement au bénéfice des hommes qui tuaient un enfant pour défendre leur honneur masculin. Ce fut encore plus visible sous la législation fasciste de 1930, et jusqu’en 1981, lorsque la circonstance atténuante de l’honneur fut abolie. Ce n’est qu’alors que l’infanticide devint une infraction féminine et maternelle. La loi nouvelle conserve cependant de nombreux défauts. CHS is a bilingual journal published by the International Association for the History of Crime and Criminal Justice. issue on "Special theme: Gender, honour ad the Courts"
2009
XIII,2009/2
41
54
P. GUARNIERI
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Utilizza questo identificatore per citare o creare un link a questa risorsa: https://hdl.handle.net/2158/348303
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