Criminalising the Vulnerable
Marginalisation and Precarity in the Lives of Women Prosecuted for Perinatal Deaths in Argentina
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 21115986 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Belén Mattos-Castañeda (0009-0007-0689-2213, Durham University, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2026 |
| Publication date | 2026-07-04 |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Feminist Legal Studies (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0966-3622 • E-ISSN: 1572-8455 |
| Publisher | Springer Science and Business Media LLC (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1007/s10691-026-09616-4 |
| OpenAlex | W7167339031 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 28 |
Since the removal of infanticide as a mitigated form of homicide from the Argentine Penal Code in 1994, women who experience miscarriages, stillbirths, and perinatal accidents have faced prosecution for ‘aggravated murder’ and ‘child abandonment’. Drawing on judgments from courts at various levels across Argentina, this qualitative study examines the life histories of twenty-four women prosecuted for what I characterise as involuntary obstetric incidents between 2018 and 2024. The analysis reveals common themes in the women’s backgrounds, including lower socio-economic status, gender-based violence, young age, and other adverse circumstances, such as difficult socio-cultural contexts and family environments, disability and health issues, previous conflict with the law, and migration. Despite the treatment of these women as offenders by the criminal legal system, through a critical and feminist legal re-interpretation, I challenge this framing and argue that vulnerable backgrounds constitute the first step leading to their encounters with the state’s punitive power
Criminalization · Framing (construction) · Homicide · Poison control · Precarity · Pretext · Public health · Punitive damages · Qualitative research · Redress · Criminal Justice and Corrections Analysis · Homicide, Infanticide, and Child Abuse · Intimate Partner and Family Violence
Thematic Analysis
Lifetime Prevalence of Gender-Based Violence in Women and the Relationship With Mental Disorders and Psychosocial Function
When you cannot ask the judge
Feminist Methodology
The Vulnerable (M)other and the Autonomous Legal Subject
Feminism(s) and anti-gender backlash
Rethinking Women’s Mental Health After Intimate Partner Violence
The Fact That He Was a Police Officer Was Probably My Number 1 Challenge”
The Gendered Pains of Life Imprisonment
Mapping the Margins
The Conservative Backlash against Gender in Latin America
Intersectional Invisibility
Ideologia de gênero
Honor, Maternity, and the Disciplining of Women
| Highly cited | No |
|---|