What About The Rights Of The Infant With Disabilities? Responses To Infanticide As Function Of Infant Health Status

Authors

  • Mariah E. MacKay Children’s Rights Centre, Cape Breton University
  • Katherine Covell Children’s Rights Centre, Cape Breton University

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.15353/cjds.v2i2.81

Keywords:

infants with disabilities, mercy killing, rights of children

Abstract

Building on recent work in the US, we examined the influence of infant disability status and defendant and juror gender on reactions to infanticide cases. Participants (282 juror-eligible adults) read one of four cases in which a parent is charged with first degree murder in the death of a four-month old. The cases varied on the dimensions of infant health status (healthy and typically developing or with a severe disability) and defendant gender (mother or father). Participants then completed case-related judgments, including guilt, and defendant and victim sympathy, similarity, and empathy.  In addition to some gender differences, the results showed pervasive effects of infant health status on perceptions of parental responsibility, verdict, and sentencing. When the infant was portrayed as having a disability, the mock jurors were less likely to hold the parent responsible for the infant’s death, less likely to render a guilty verdict, and more likely to recommend lenient sentences. The mock-juror participants also reported more sympathy and empathy for the defendant, and held fewer negative beliefs about the defendant.  The data overall suggest that adults perceive the life of an infant with a severe disability to be fundamentally unworthy. They are sympathetic to the infant’s murder and likely to render less punitive judgements and sentences. Such discriminatory attitudes stand in sharp contradiction to the legal rights of all children with disabilities as described in the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.

Author Biographies

Mariah E. MacKay, Children’s Rights Centre, Cape Breton University

Mariah MacKay graduated from Cape Breton University with an honors degree in Psychology. She is currently a graduate student at Mount St. Vincent University, Halifax, in the Department of Child and Youth Studies. Mariah has extensive experience working with children with challenges and has a particular interest in the rights of children living with disabilities.

Katherine Covell, Children’s Rights Centre, Cape Breton University

Katherine Covell, PhD. is a Professor of Psychology,Executive Director of the Children’s Rights Centre at Cape Breton University, and representative of North America on the International NGO Council on Violence against Children. Her work is focused on children’s human rights education, and the developmental implications of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. She has published numerous articles and five books on children’s rights, the most recent of which is Education in the Best Interests of the Child (Howe & Covell, 2013). Covell also advocates for children’s rights.  She has worked extensively with schools to develop materials for and to implement rights education, represented the Canadian NGO community at the UN Special Session on Children and Youth 2001-2002, presented Canada’s NGO report to the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child in 2003, and was the lead researcher for the UN Global Study on Violence Against Children, for North America in 2005.

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How to Cite

MacKay, M. E., & Covell, K. (2013). What About The Rights Of The Infant With Disabilities? Responses To Infanticide As Function Of Infant Health Status. Canadian Journal of Disability Studies, 2(2), 35–57. https://doi.org/10.15353/cjds.v2i2.81

Issue

Vol. 2 No. 2 (2013)

Section

Articles

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