Child murder

The term child murder belongs to the legal vocabulary and indicates at the same time the murder of a Enfant, particularly of a Nouveau-né, and the author of such an act.

By extension, one also speaks about child murder in Zoologie to indicate the same practice in the reign Animal.

Child murder at the man

Various types of child murders

the filicide , which comes from Latin filius (wire), is the murder by a father or a mother of his own child. He can also designate the murderer.

the néonaticide indicates the homicide of a newborn since less than 12 midnight. This crime is committed almost exclusively by the mother of the child.

In the history

Child murder in Antiquity

In Greece , the βρεφοκτονία indicated the murder of an infant made either by one of his/her parents or by a person responsible for the child. The child murder was regarded as a homicide. Soiled by his act, the criminal became one excommunicated (προστρόπαιος or αλάστωρ) forced to go to purify abroad. The law then condemned its author to the exile and prohibited to him to attend the funeral of its victim.

The child murder was practiced in Sparte on the young boys who seemed unable to defend the city.

has Rome , the Roman law did not have clean technical term to indicate the child murder. Infanticidium and infanticidia , which is the etymological roots of the French word, is terms which come from Latin bottom . However, one should not conclude from it that the Roman legislation did not protect his/her children, on the contrary it was one of the concerns of the leaders of the city as of his foundation. One however needed much time for Rome so that the child murder is treated like a crime separately.

Child murder with the Middle Ages

Contemporary child murder

In India and China After having been frequent lasting of the centuries in India and China, the child murder of the girl S remains practiced today, but in a marginal way, in these two countries. The Naissance of a girl is indeed considered a shame, and in India, moreover, like a financial disaster, since its relative S must, to marry it, to pay a strong dowry. Since the Eighties, the parents thus select the births by the echography and the Avortement, in order to give the day to Garçon S (see the article on the Démographie of India). But the postnatal child murder did not completely disappear: today, in the campaigns of India, one still finds babies poisoned or choked girls. Moreover, the voluntary negligences of which they are the object (lack of care and food) explain why the young girls have a Infant mortality quite higher than that of the boys.

At the Indians of Amazonia In several Amazonian tribes such as Suruuarras or Yanomamis, the child murder of the individuals very weak or malformed avoids at the community carrying the weight of members who will be far from useful for the life of the group. At Suruuarras, the execution must be carried out by the parents. Today certain anthropologists defend this practice in the name of the Indian culture. But several deputies of the Brazilian government as of the members of organizations representing of the Indian ethnos groups want to see prohibiting this practice.

Child murder in the animal kingdom

In the animal kingdom, the child murder is relatively current on behalf of the male S, in particular in the species polygyne S. This behavior is explained by the Théorie of the evolution: the male makes sure by this skew that the children of which it will have the load are well its descendants.

In the species strictly Polygyne S in which the females reproduce with only one male known as Mâle dominating or Mâle alpha , it often arrives that, when this male is détrôné by another male with the head of the group, this last kills small group which it joined. These child murders can be the occasion of engagements between the mothers of the group and the new male dominating, but the male (often more extremely) generally carries it.

The Théorie of the evolution could explain this behavior which can seem terribly barbarian. Indeed, the evolution would support the individuals generating the maximum of descendants. However, the females which raise small are in general not sexually receptive. To be able to reproduce while it has the statute of male dominating, the male thus will kill small females of the group. Being occupied by the education of their (S) young person (S), those become again fertilizable and find a Estrus making it possible the male to couple themselves with them and thus to transmit its Gène S to the following generation. it is one of the biological examples of the Guerre of the sexes or antagonistic Co-evolution.

Contrary, once it was ensured that he is the father of small group, the male dominating will tend to protect them from the attacks of the other predatory ones.

However, the child murder on behalf of the females exists too. On the one hand, this one can kill a young person malformé or sick in order not to endanger the life of the other young people of the range. In addition, at the time of the engagements between rival groups, the females and the males do not hesitate to kill small their adversaries. In fact, the child murder was documented at very many species since the primates (Chimpanzé S, Gorille S), the carnivores (Putois, Lion S), the Zèbre S, until the American squirrel S terrestrial, frogs, clamping plates and with the Corneille S, the Goéland S etc Nevertheless, the behavior of certain males killers remains still prone to controversy and could also result from the sexual Conflit.

References

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