Criminal offense of infanticide in Croatian criminal law

Većina autora i zakona određuje čedomorstvo kao ubojstvo novorođenčeta od strane njegove majke tijekom ili neposredno nakon poroda, pod utjecajem duševnog opterećenja koje su kod nje izazvali trudnoća ili porod. No unatoč tome postoje razlike, posebice u sankcioniranju ovog kaznenog djela. Stoga će u ovome radu biti prikazano podrijetlo, problematika i najvažnije odrednice pojma čedomorstva komparirajući različita rješenja navedenog kaznenog djela koja su predviđali zakoni koji su bili na snazi u Republici Hrvatskoj od osamostaljenja. Iz rada se također može dobiti uvid u položaj žena i njihovo sankcioniranje tijekom različitih povijesnih razdoblja, ali i promjene u shvaćanju čedomorstva i odnosu prema počiniteljicama tog kaznenog djela, od okrutnih smrtnih kazni do privilegiranja. S obzirom da statistike pokazuju kako su počiniteljice čedomorstva većinom ekonomski ovisne o drugima, dolaze iz ruralnih sredina i mlade (ali je počeo rasti broj starijih počiniteljica), bit će objašnjeno kako društvena sredina utječe na počiniteljice i njihov odnos prema vlastitom djetetu, trudnoći i čedomorstvu. Također valja uzeti u obzir različit splet motiva koji navode majke na ubojstvo novorođenčeta, a neki od najčešćih su: strah od sramote i osude okoline zbog izvanbračnog majčinstva, teške materijalne prilike, dijete kao posljedica preljuba, izbjegavanje konflikata s partnerom, strah od predbacivanja roditelja uz istodobnu ovisnost o roditeljskom domu itd. Na poslijetku, valja istaknuti i objasniti ono o čemu se prije nije vodilo računa, a to su psihičke promjene koje kod žene izazivaju trudnoća i porod i koje mogu dovesti do počinjenja čedomorstva.Most authors and laws determine infanticide as an murderous act of a newborn by his mother during or just after childbirth, under the influence of the mental burden that was caused by her pregnancy or childbirth. However, there are differences, especially in sanctioning this criminal offense. Therefore, the paper will outline the origin, the issues and the most important determinants of the concept of infanticide by comparing different solutions to the mentioned criminal offense, which were provided by the laws that were in force in the Republic of Croatia since its independence. From this master thesis, one can also gain insight into the position of women and their sanctioning during different historical periods, as well as changes in the perception of infanticide and the relation to the perpetrators of this criminal offense, from cruel death penalties to privileges. Given that statistics show that perpetrators of infanticide are mostly economically dependent on others, they come from rural areas and are mostly young adults (but the number of older perpetrators has started to grow), it will be explained how the social environment affects perpetrators and their relationship to their own child, pregnancy and infanticide. It should also be taken into consideration a variety of different motives that lead mothers to the killing of their newborns. Some of the most common are: fear of shame and condemnation of the environment due to extramarital motherhood, difficult material affairs, pregnancy as a result of adultery, avoidance of conflicts with the partner, fear of the involvement of ones own parents, dependence on a parent's home etc. At the end of this paper, it is worth pointing out and explaining what has not been considered in the past, which are the psychological changes that pregnany and childbirth are causing and which can lead to infanticide