Book review: A Criminology of Moral Order

Abstract

explicitly considering ‘how the larger, social contexts in which mothers must operate contribute to her lethal violence’ (p. 13). By contextualising women’s violence against their infants in the structures of ideologies of ‘good mothering’, Smithey outlines how women assess their parenting actions and the behaviour of their infant against unrealistic standard, coming to the inevitable conclusion that they are simply not good enough mothers. As such, the crying of the baby and the inability to escape that crying, due to social-cultural circumstances that constrict parenting activities for all but the wealthy, results in a situation whereby force to gain compliance is not an unreasonable or unexpected next step for a mother. As such, Smithey roots mother’s fatal assaults of their infants firmly within the structures of patriarchy, exposing another consequence of gender economic and cultural inequality. As a conclusion of her analysis, Smithey briefly touches on the unhelpfulness of criminal justice and social services interventions, identifying the condemnation of ‘bad mothering’ as an element of the problem, rather than part of the solution, particularly in relation to stringent punishments and criminal justice responses (which is common in the United States comparative to legal jurisdictions that have the offence of infanticide, such as the England and Wales, Canada and New Zealand). As part of this conclusion, Smithey carefully skirts around the question of women’s agency in committing these violent acts. An assessment of agency was not a focus of Smithey’s analysis and so my comments here are not to note a limitation of the book. However, the complex and compelling analysis that Smithey presents lends itself to further develop this idea of agency and what role criminal control and punishment should play in response to maternal infant filicide if, as Smithey argues, the causes of this violence are entirely rooted in patriarchal capitalism, the oppression of women by men, and devaluation and disregard for the stresses and strains of raising children. The question of women’s agency as criminal offenders is one that has been at the focus of feminist criminology for decades and that still requires theorisation, particularly in light of sociological analysis of criminal activity, such as that provided by Smithey. Overall, this is a compelling book that provides an excellent overview of the issue of maternal violence towards their infants. The data presented and sociological theorisation is impressive. The book is well written, and the reader is walked through the theory, identifying the steps towards fatal maternal violence. The selected extracts from the interviews add depth and dynamic to the theorisation, supporting Smithey’s arguments and facilitating understanding.