killed by being smothered, but it had reportedly happened to all males over a 10-year period. however, this claim about male infanticide in papua new guinea was probably just the result of inaccurate and sensationalistic news reporting, because salvation army workers in the region of gimi denied that the supposed male infanticide actually happened, and said that the tribal women were merely speaking hypothetically and hyperbolically about male infanticide at a peace and reconciliation workshop in order to make a point. the tribal women had never planned to actually kill their own sons. england and wales in england and wales there were typically 30 to 50 homicides per million children less than 1 year old between 1982 and 1996. the younger the infant, the higher the risk. the rate for children 1 to 5 years was around 10 per million children. the homicide rate of infants less than 1 year is significantly higher than for the general population. in english law infanticide is established as a distinct offence by the infanticide acts. defined as the killing of a child under 12 months of age by their mother, the effect of the acts are to establish a partial defence to charges of murder. united states in the united states the infanticide rate during the first hour of life outside the womb dropped from 1.41 per 100,000 during 1963 to 1972 to 0.44 per 100,000 for 1974 to 1983; the rates during the first month after birth also declined, whereas those for older infants rose during this time. the legalization of abortion, which was completed in 1973, was the most important factor in the decline in neonatal mortality during the period from 1964 to 1977, according to a study by economists associated with the national bureau of economic research. canada in canada, 114 cases of infanticide by a parent were reported during 1964–1968. spain in spain, far-right political party vox has claimed that female perpetrators of infanticide outnumber male perpetrators of femicide. however, neither the spanish national statistics institute nor the ministry of the interior keep data on the gender of perpetrators, but victims of femicide consistently number higher than victims of infanticide. from 2013 to march 2018, 28 infanticide cases perpetrated by 22 mothers and three stepmothers were reported in spain. explanations for the practice there are various reasons for infanticide. neonaticide typically has different patterns and causes than for the killing of older infants. traditional neonaticide is often related to economic necessity – the inability to provide for the infant. in the united kingdom and the united states, older infants are typically killed for reasons related to child abuse, domestic violence or mental illness. for infants older than one day, younger infants are more at risk, and boys are more at risk than girls. risk factors for the parent include: family history of violence, violence in a current relationship, history of abuse or neglect of children, and personality disorder and/or depression. religious in the late 17th and early 18th centuries, "loopholes" were invented by some suicidal members of lutheran churches who wanted to avoid the damnation that was promised by most christian doctrine as a penalty of suicide. one famous example of someone who wished to end their life but avoid the eternity in hell was christina johansdotter (died 1740). she was a swedish murderer who killed a child in stockholm with the sole purpose of being executed. she is an example of those who seek suicide through execution by committing a murder. it was a common act, frequently targeting young children or infants as they were believed to be free from sin, thus believing to go "straight to heaven". although mainstream christian denominations, including lutherans, view the murder of an innocent as being condemned in the fifth commandment, the suicidal members of lutheran churches who deliberately killed children with the intent of getting executed were usually well aware of christian doctrine against murder, and planned to repent and seek forgiveness of their sins afterwards. for example, in 18th century denmark up until the year 1767, murderers were given the opportunity to repent of their sins before they were executed either way. in denmark on the year of 1767, the religiously motivated suicidal murders finally ceased in that country with the abolishment of the death penalty. in 1888, lieut. f. elton reported that ugi beach people in the solomon islands killed their infants at birth by burying them, and women were also said to practice abortion. they reported that it was too much trouble to raise a child, and instead preferred to buy one from the bush people. economic many historians believe the reason to be primarily economic, with more children born than the family is prepared to support. in societies that are patrilineal and patrilocal, the family may choose to allow more sons to live and kill some daughters, as the former will support their birth family until they die, whereas the latter will leave economically and geographically to join their husband's family, possibly only after the payment of a burdensome dowry price. thus the decision to bring up a boy is more economically rewarding to the parents.: 362–68 however, this does not explain why infanticide would occur equally among rich and poor, nor why it would be as frequent during decadent periods of the roman empire as during earlier, less affluent, periods.: 28–34, 187–92 before the appearance of effective contraception, infanticide was a common occurrence in ancient brothels. unlike usual infanticide – where historically girls have been more likely to be killed – prostitutes in certain areas preferred to kill their male offspring. uk 18th and 19th century instances of infanticide in britain in 18th and 19th centuries are often attributed to the economic position of the women, with juries committing "pious perjury" in many subsequent murder cases. the knowledge of the difficulties faced in the 18th century by those women who attempted to keep their children can be seen as a reason for juries to show compassion. if the woman chose to keep the child, society was not set up to ease the pressure placed upon the woman, legally, socially or economically. in mid-18th century britain there was assistance available for women who were not able to raise their children. the foundling hospital opened in 1756 and was able to take in some of the illegitimate children. however, the conditions within the hospital caused parliament to withdraw funding and the governors to live off of their own incomes. this resulted in a stringent entrance policy, with the committee requiring that the hospital: will not receive a child that is more than a year old, nor the child of a domestic servant, nor any child whose father can be compelled to maintain it. once a mother had admitted her child to the hospital, the hospital did all it could to ensure that the parent and child were not re-united. macfarlane argues in illegitimacy and illegitimates in britain (1980) that english society greatly concerned itself with the burden that a bastard child places upon its communities and had gone to some lengths to ensure that the father of the child is identified in order to maintain its well-being. assistance could be gained through maintenance payments from the father, however, this was capped "at a miserable 2 s and 6 d a week". if the father fell behind with the payments he could only be asked "to pay a maximum of 13 weeks arrears". despite the accusations of some that women were getting a free hand-out, there is evidence that many women were far from receiving adequate assistance from their parish. "within leeds in 1822 ... relief was limited to 1 s per week". sheffield required women to enter the workhouse, whereas halifax gave no relief to the women who required it. the prospect of entering the workhouse was certainly something to be avoided. lionel rose quotes dr joseph rogers in massacre of the innocents ... (1986). rogers, who was employed by a london workhouse in 1856 stated that conditions in the nursery were 'wretchedly damp and miserable ... ... overcrowded with young mothers and their infants'. the loss of social standing for a servant girl was a particular problem in respect of producing a bastard child as they relied upon a good character reference in order to maintain their job and more importantly, to get a new or better job. in a large number of trials for the crime of infanticide, it is the servant girl that stood accused. the disadvantage of being a servant girl is that they had to live to the social standards of their superiors or risk dismissal and no references. whereas within other professions, such as in the factory, the relationship between employer and employee was much more anonymous and the mother would be better able to make other provisions, such as employing a minder. the result of the lack of basic social care in britain in the 18th and 19th century is the numerous accounts in court records of women, particularly servant girls, standing trial for the murder of their child. there may have been no specific offense of infanticide in england before about 1623 because infanticide was a matter for the by ecclesiastical courts, possibly because infant mortality from natural causes was high (about 15% or one in six). thereafter the accusation of the suppression of bastard children by lewd mothers was a crime incurring the presumption of guilt. the infanticide acts are several laws. that of 1922 made the killing of an infant child by its mother during the early months of life as a lesser crime than murder. the acts of 1938 and 1939 abolished the earlier act, but introduced the idea that postpartum depression was legally to be regarded as a form of diminished responsibility. population control marvin harris estimated that among paleolithic hunters 23–50% of newborn children were killed. he argued that the goal was to preserve the 0.001% population growth of that time.: 15 he also wrote that female infanticide may be a form of population control.: 5 population control is achieved not only by limiting the number of potential mothers; increased fighting among men for access to relatively scarce wives would also lead to a decline in population. for example, on the melanesian island of tikopia infanticide was used to keep a stable population in line with its resource base. research by marvin harris and william divale supports this argument, it has been cited as an example of environmental determinism. evolutionary psychology evolutionary psychology has proposed several theories for different forms of infanticide. infanticide by stepfathers, as well as child abuse in general by stepfathers, has been explained by spending resources on not genetically related children reducing reproductive success (see the cinderella effect and infanticide (zoology)). infanticide is one of the few forms of violence more often done by women than men. cross-cultural research has found that this is more likely to occur when the child has deformities or illnesses as well as when there are lacking resources due to factors such as poverty, other children requiring resources, and no male support. such a child may have a low chance of reproductive success in which case it would decrease the mother's inclusive fitness, in particular since women generally have a greater parental investment than men, to spend resources on the child. "early infanticidal childrearing" a minority of academics subscribe to an alternate school of thought, considering the practice as "early infanticidal childrearing".: 246–47 they attribute parental infanticidal wishes to massive projection or displacement of the parents' unconscious onto the child, because of intergenerational, ancestral abuse by their own parents. clearly, an infanticidal parent may have multiple motivations, conflicts, emotions, and thoughts about their baby and their relationship with their baby, which are often colored both by their individual psychology, current relational context and attachment history, and, perhaps most saliently, their psychopathology almeida, merminod, and schechter suggest that parents with fantasies, projections, and delusions involving infanticide need to be taken seriously and assessed carefully, whenever possible, by an interdisciplinary team that includes infant mental health specialists or mental health practitioners who have experience in working with parents, children, and families. wider effects in addition to debates over the morality of infanticide itself, there is some