The criminalization of women with postpartum psychosis: "a call for action" for judicial change

PurposeTo prevent the incarceration and influence outcomes when criminal culpability is linked to postpartum psychosis.MethodsInfanticide, neonaticide and filicide are most often linked with postpartum psychosis, which affects 1-2 women per 1,000 births or 4,000 women each year in the United States. Multiple genetic, hormonal and psychosocial factors surrounding childbirth result in a 1 to 4% risk of infanticide in women with postpartum psychosis. The authors seek to increase awareness of postpartum psychosis and postpartum depression in state legislatures. Others are working to have it recognized in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) as a specific illness. Specific postpartum legislation for those charged with crimes related to maternal mental illness is necessary.ResultsIn Illinois, the very first criminal law in the nation recognizing the pernicious effects of this illness went into effect in 2018. The authors and others are attempting to cause similar or broader legislation to be brought in other states. Several women have been released from extended incarceration utilizing this law.ConclusionsThis temporary mental illness can lead to tragic outcomes when hospitalization and crisis intervention is delayed or the illness is misdiagnosed. The legal/judicial system has not utilized the growing body of scientific developments that medical researchers have discovered in recent decades. The lack of a unique diagnostic classification in the DSM and the lack of postpartum criminal laws, lead to mentally ill mothers in the U.S. receiving excessively harsh sentences when prosecuted, evidenced both in trial and sentencing.