“There Is Nothing So Sacred as Human Life”: Infanticide and the State in Maine, 1877–1917

IF 0.4 3区 历史学 Q1 HISTORY Journal of the Gilded Age and Progressive Era Pub Date : 2023-04-01 DOI:10.1017/S1537781422000615
Mazie Hough
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Abstract

Abstract From 1877 to 1896, Maine courts sentenced six women accused of infanticide to imprisonment for life. This harsh punishment was in stark contrast to the more lenient punishments given infanticides elsewhere. A close look at these cases through court documents, newspaper accounts, pardon petitions, and attorney general reports suggests that the trials marked a shift in the justice system in Maine as the state increasingly asserted its control over the communities’ response to crime. Historically, women’s expertise with regard to women’s bodies provided a place for them within the local legal system. Under the purview of the state’s attorneys general, the state increasingly assumed control over the detection, adjudication, and punishment of crime. While community members responded to crime with attention to the individual and the circumstances, the state called for the universal application of the written law regardless of the context and claimed that swift and inevitable retribution was necessary to protect all. This shift from the local to the state had a particular impact on women and their role within the community. Long accustomed to arbitrating issues surrounding pregnancy, women found their power to do so subverted and replaced by middle class professionals in distant urban locations.
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“没有什么比人的生命更神圣”:1877-1917年缅因州的杀婴事件
从1877年到1896年,缅因州法院判处6名被控杀婴的妇女终身监禁。这种严厉的惩罚与其他地方对杀婴者的宽松惩罚形成鲜明对比。通过法庭文件、报纸报道、赦免请愿书和司法部长报告仔细研究这些案件,可以发现这些审判标志着缅因州司法系统的转变,因为该州越来越多地主张控制社区对犯罪的反应。从历史上看,妇女在妇女身体方面的专门知识为她们在当地法律制度中提供了一席之地。在州检察长的职权范围内,州政府越来越多地控制了对犯罪的侦查、裁决和惩罚。虽然社区成员对犯罪的反应是关注个人和环境,但国家要求普遍适用成文法,而不考虑具体情况,并声称迅速和不可避免的惩罚是保护所有人的必要条件。这种从地方到国家的转变对妇女及其在社区中的作用产生了特别的影响。长期以来,妇女们习惯了对与怀孕有关的问题进行仲裁,但她们发现自己的权力被颠覆了,取而代之的是遥远城市地区的中产阶级专业人士。
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