Concealing birth
Concealing a birth is the act of a parent (or other responsible person) failing to report the birth of a child. The term is sometimes used to refer to hiding the birth of a child from friends or family, but is most often used when the appropriate authorities have not been informed about a stillbirth or the death of a newborn. This is a crime in many countries, with varying punishments.
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[edit] Australia
Australian Capital Territory
Section 47 of the Crimes Act 1900 creates the offence of concealment of birth. [1]
New South Wales
Section 85 of the Crimes Act 1900 creates the offence of concealment of birth. [2]
Northern Territory
Section 163 of the Criminal Code Act creates the offence of concealment of birth. [3]
South Australia
Section 83 of the Criminal Law Consolidation Act 1935 creates the offence of concealment of birth.[4]
Western Australia
Section 291 of the Criminal Code (Schedule to the Criminal Code Compilation Act 1913) creates the offence of concealing the birth of children. [5]
Tasmania
Section 166 of the Criminal Code Act 1924 creates the offence of concealment of birth.[6]
[edit] Canada
Section 242 of the Canadian Criminal Code (injury to, or death of, a child due to its mother neglecting to obtain assistance in child birth with intent that it should not live or to conceal its birth).[7] (English) [8] (French)
Section 243 of that Code (concealing the dead body of a child with intent to its conceal birth). [9] (English) [10] (French)
[edit] China
A birth is sometimes concealed when there is a violation of the one-child policy in the People's Republic of China.
[edit] England and Wales and Northern Ireland
In England and Wales, and in Northern Ireland, section 60 of the Offences against the Person Act 1861 creates the offence of concealing the birth of a child:
If any woman shall be delivered of a child, every person who shall, by any secret disposition of the dead body of the said child, whether such child died before, at, or after its birth, endeavour to conceal the birth thereof, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and being convicted thereof shall be liable, at the discretion of the court, to be imprisoned for any term not exceeding two years, ... ...
The words "with or without hard labour" omitted in the first place were repealed for England and Wales by section 1(2) of the Criminal Justice Act 1948.
The proviso to this section, as extended by any subsequent enactment, was repealed for England and Wales by section 10 of, and paragraph 13(1)(a) of Schedule 2 to, and Part III of Schedule 3 to, the Criminal Law Act 1967. Originally, the proviso allowed the jury to find an alternative verdict of this offence on a charge of murder. In England and Wales, it was subsequently extended to allow the jury to find an alternative verdict of this offence on a charge of child destruction[1] or a charge of infanticide.[2]
Section 60 of the Offences against the Person Act 1861 is framed on section 14 of the Offences against the Person Act 1828 (which applied to England, including Wales and Berwick) and section 17 of the 10 Geo 4 c 34 (which applied to Ireland).[3] This offence was previously created by section 4 of Lord Ellenborough's Act (43 Geo 3 c 58) (1803). This in turn replaced the 21 Jac 1 c 27 (1623)[4] and another Act applying to Ireland, which were repealed by section 3.
The words "if any woman shall be delivered of a child, every person" were retained in section 60 after a division in the select committee of the House of Commons, and the members were equally divided upon the subject. The word "secret" was in like manner retained after a division in the committee.[5]
An offence under section 60 of the Offences against the Person Act 1861 could not be tried at quarter sessions.[6]
Section 31 of the Offences against the Person Act 1828 made provision in relation to any person who should counsel, aid or abet the commission of, amongst other things, a misdemeanour under section 14.
[edit] United States
In the United States, concealing birth was once a crime punishable by Capital Punishment. In 1785, Hannah Piggen from Massachusetts was the last person to be put to death for concealing the birth/death of an infant. [7]
Concealing birth remains illegal in many states. Its seriousness as a crime, however, differs from state to state, ranging from a felony in Arkansas[8] to a misdemeanor in Washington[9].
[edit] References
- ^ The Infant Life (Preservation) Act 1929, section 2(4)
- ^ It was initially extended by the Infanticide Act 1922 and then by section 1(4) of the Infanticide Act 1938.
- ^ Davis, J E. The Criminal Law Consolidation Statutes of the 24 & 25 of Victoria. Butterworths. 1861. Page 279.
- ^ Ormerod, D. Smith and Hogan's Criminal Law. Thirteenth Edition. Oxford University Press. 2011. Section 16.1.3 at pages 581 and 582.
- ^ Davis, J E. The Criminal Law Consolidation Statutes of the 24 & 25 of Victoria. Butterworths. 1861. Page 279.
- ^ 5 & 6 Vict c 38
- ^ "Female Executions". The Espy File 1632-1962. Archived from the original on 2008-05-14. http://web.archive.org/web/20080514035210/http://users.bestweb.net/~rg/execution/FEMALES.htm. Retrieved 2008-09-10.
- ^ "§ 5-26-203 - Concealing birth.". Justia. http://law.justia.com/codes/arkansas/2010/title-5/subtitle-3/chapter-26/subchapter-2/5-26-203/. Retrieved 6 December 2011.
- ^ "9.02.050 Concealing birth". Justia. http://law.justia.com/codes/washington/2011/title9/9-02/9-02-050.html. Retrieved 6 December 2011.
[edit] External links
- 17 August 2007. "Tracing Baby Lilly's mother"
- 26 August 2005. "Mother concealed 2 babies' remains" at BBC News.
- 2 August 2005. "Dead babies find shocks Germany" at BBC News.
