http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/11/02/14882129-police-georgia-mom-stabs-newborn-baby-to-death-possibly-just-hours-after-birth?lite

I'd sure like to know why people will justify a 17 year old stabbing her baby saying she's a teenager and she's scared so we shouldn't be too harsh on her; but a 21 year old does the EXACT same thing, and what's her excuse supposed to be? That she's not 26 so her brain's not fully developed and therefore she couldn't be expected to figure out about save haven dropoffs for unwanted babies?

Shale wrote:

I would go with post-partum depression as a defense. Unless they could prove she was just batshit crazy otherwise.

I don't know that I buy that either; sometimes people are just sane psychotics who think it's fun to kill and mutilate people, babies included.

I'm sure many will contrive an excuse. They always do. But not me. She stabbed her newborn to death. She gets no excuse.

I agree, now I'm not sure how post-partum depression works, but the way regular depression works is if you're going to kill somebody, it's yourself. What, is the excuse that hormones make you think dead baby = happiness?

Supernova wrote:

I agree, now I'm not sure how post-partum depression works, but the way regular depression works is if you're going to kill somebody, it's yourself. What, is the excuse that hormones make you think dead baby = happiness?

The dead baby = happiness excuses do tend to be absurd, don't they?

I honestly don't care what label you slap on it. There's no excuse for what she did. Period.

Forgiveness Man wrote:

The dead baby = happiness excuses do tend to be absurd, don't they?

I honestly don't care what label you slap on it. There's no excuse for what she did. Period.

Besides, couldn't we argue that mothers who kill their 10 year olds only did it because of LONG term post partum depression? Exactly where do we draw the line on it's okay if you killed your child because your hormones made you do it?

Though really, I was recently reading a report that says mother with post partum depression do NOT hurt or kill their kids, that is post partum psychosis, which I guess makes a bit more sense, psychotics kill other people, not themselves, and usually the psychosis only happen when the women are already psychos or have a history of loons in the family. So clearly there is a trail to follow in these cases, it didn't JUST happen if they can't help it, and if they can help it, then it's without doubt first degree murder.

A 13 yr old stabbed her 2 yr old sister to death in GA, then dumped the body and went looking for the baby like everybody else in the neighborhood. I don't know what's in the water nowadays, I swear I don't.