Criminalistic aspects of the investigation of the murder of a newborn child by a mother committed in complicity

Petrosyan Mihail Artashesovich PhD in Law Associate Professor; Department of Criminology; I. T. Trubilin Kuban State Agrarian University Kalinin St., 13, Krasnodar Territory, 350004, Russia 9184303598@mail.ru

Dulepina Ol'ga Viktorovna Graduate student; Faculty of Law; I.T. Trubilin Kuban State Agrarian University 350044, Russia, Krasnodar region, Kalinin St., 13 budzzzhe6@mail.ru Other publications by this author

The legislator considers the murder of a newborn child by a mother to be one of the few types of privileged murders, guided by the special psychophysiological state of a special subject at the time of the commission of this kind of act. This factor also has a significant impact on the investigation process: for example, infanticide is characterized by special methods of committing and concealing crimes, typical traces and other factual data that differ significantly from the murder of a minor (paragraph 2 of Part 2 of Article 105 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation) ^[1]. It is implied that the mother, acting in a state similar to the state of affect received in connection with the postponed birth, as well as seeing in the newborn the source of her own pain and suffering, does not realize the actual danger and significance of her actions, does not direct them.

The research was based on monographs and textbooks representing the basis of criminalistic science: authors V. D. Zelensky, G. M. Meretukov, L. I. Murzina, Yu. M. Antonyan, as well as highly focused dissertation abstracts and scientific articles authored by T. A. Kapitsa, A.V. Dolganeva, V. S. Novgorodsky, K. V. Veselkov and others. The issue of infanticide is widely covered in scientific circles, however, an analysis of the currently existing legal literature shows a low level of scientific elaboration of the issue under consideration, which, in our opinion, is justified both by its narrow focus, the complex process of identifying an accomplice and proving his criminal role, and the low prevalence of the acts in question in practice. Thus, according to statistics for 2023, the number of persons convicted of a crime regulated by Article 106 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation is 22 people ^[2]. Consequently, complicity represents only a small percentage of this already small number.

As A. N. Popov rightly notes, the issue of complicity in infanticide is one of the most difficult in the science of criminal law, since it stands alone due to the grounds for distinguishing the composition of murder by the mother of a newborn child in the criminal law ^[3]. From the point of view of criminology, the described separation of the composition is directly reflected in the circumstances to be established and proved in these categories of cases, since it is justified by the personality characteristics of a special subject, from which, accordingly, comes the originality of the methods of committing and concealing infanticide, typical traces and other factual data.

At the same time, the relevance of this topic is beyond doubt: such a cruel and inhuman crime as the murder of a newborn child by a mother requires proper attention, especially in terms of the procedural regulation of its investigation – at this stage of development, criminalistic methodology has not formulated clear recommendations and guidelines for the investigation of these acts committed in complicity, There are also no fundamental scientific papers on the investigation of infanticide in general, which, in our opinion, requires the intervention of the scientific community.

As is rightly noted in the scientific literature, in relation to the murder of a newborn child by a mother, the method of crime is a complex of step-by-step actions (inaction) consisting in concealing pregnancy, childbirth, murder itself and concealing traces of the deed ^[4]. Thus, infanticide committed by a mother has a number of specific features due to her moral, emotional, and physical condition, which is unusual for other subjects of murder.

In fact, as the analysis of investigative and judicial practice in the categories of cases under consideration shows, there is often a premeditated intent to kill a newborn in the mother's actions, as evidenced by the woman's lifestyle, her refusal to register with a women's clinic, the absence of household signs of waiting for a child (there are no necessary baby supplies in the place of residence) and other stuff.

In addition, within the framework of the topic we are considering, actions to involve accomplices make it possible to assert the intentional commission of infanticide. Thus, based on the content of Verdict No. 1-324/2020 of November 5, 2020 in case No. 1-324/2020 of the Oktyabrsky District Court of Samara, a citizen of FIO1 gave birth, as a result of which a live-born and viable child was born. FIO1 underwent the process of childbirth at home, deliberately without seeking medical help, obviously having criminal intent to commit murder of a newborn immediately after giving birth. Having begun to execute it by drowning the child in the bathroom, FIO2 could not complete it for the reason that the newborn was "screaming loudly" and she was "afraid that the neighbors would hear" (which follows from the materials of the court verdict). Upon arrival at the scene of the incident, FIO2's roommate, FIO1 asked him to get rid of the child on his own, arguing that they "did not need" the child, they "did not plan" and "were not going to support him," and the measures she took did not lead to the indicated results. FIO2 was not against providing assistance, since they really did not plan to leave the child and raise him, moreover, FIO2 had doubts about the authenticity of paternity. So, by strangling a newborn with a plastic bag, PHIO2 carried out his criminal intent, followed by hiding the child's corpse in a wooded area outside the city limits.

Based on the above example, we can come to the following conclusion: other persons who are not special subjects act differently from the alleged actions of the infanticide mother: due to the absence of physical stressors, their physiological and hormonal background is calm, which also does not affect emotional balance. In addition, a stable physical condition allows an accomplice to hide the corpse of a newborn at a remote distance from home, unrelated to the scene of the incident, which is not a characteristic feature of the methods of concealing a crime by an infanticide mother, whose body is exhausted by childbirth, which excludes the movement of the corpse to distances remote from the scene ^[5].

Let's consider the concealment of a crime committed by a mother using the example of Verdict No. 1-125/20 dated July 15, 2020 in case No. 1-125/20 of the Yessentuki City Court of the Stavropol Territory, where FIO7 gave birth to a child while in a store, after which she went to the market, where she removed the child from the leggings she was wearing in the paid toilet, after which I mixed it into a plastic bag, which I took and left in a deserted place behind the shopping malls. FIO7 realized that without proper care, the child would soon die, but, as noted from her testimony, "... because of the unexpected birth, she was confused and could not think of anything else. She already understands that she should have given the child to a medical institution and abandoned him. She understood after giving birth, holding the baby in her arms, that she did not need the baby and decided to get rid of it in this way." Thus, we can observe that, being in an unstable emotional state and physical exhaustion after undergoing the birth process, the mother's actions are aimed at getting rid of the newborn's body as quickly as possible. Hiding the traces of a crime, as well as the traces of childbirth, is not typical for this type of crime.

It should also be noted that the absence of a psychophysiological shock of the accomplice allows us to approach the choice of the method of killing the newborn and hiding his corpse more deliberately ^[6]. As a rule, acting in the absence of emotional shock, such a subject is more cold-blooded and prudent: he is not influenced by the stressors inherent in a child-murdering mother. Consequently, the actions of the accomplice are guided by the need to commit infanticide as silently as possible (as outlined in the verdict of the Oktyabrsky District Court), leaving as few traces as possible and avoiding potential witnesses to the incident.

Thus, by Verdict No. 1-2-24/2021 of July 13, 2021 in case No. 1-2-24/2021 of the Sernursky District Court of the Republic of Mari El, the grandmother (FULL NAME) of a newborn child was sentenced to 12 years in prison. The woman, having learned about the pregnancy of her 15-year-old daughter, forbade her to tell anyone about her situation, to contact medical institutions both during pregnancy and after the end of the postponed birth. After the teenager gave birth to a viable child, PHIO1 threw him into a cesspool, where he died of asphyxia and hypothermia. FIO1 explained her actions by her unwillingness to feed and raise a newborn. The daughter was also forbidden to leave the house, call doctors or seek other help, as a result of which the teenager died 4 days after giving birth from bleeding and sepsis.

From what was described earlier, we can observe that complicity in infanticide encompasses the careful concealment of not only the fact of the murder itself, but also the presence of a woman who has undergone pregnancy. This is due to the fact that in the vast majority of cases, accomplices in this act are persons who have a direct close relationship with the pregnant woman (her close relatives, husband, cohabitant – as was the case in the sentences we reviewed). Thus, when establishing the fact of postponed pregnancy and childbirth in conjunction with the absence of a live-born child, the investigator is obliged to establish a circle of people who are aware of the past state of the woman's pregnancy, which may indicate a potential connection of a particular person to the committed infanticide ^[7].

Based on the above, we can conclude that the following factors may indicate complicity in the murder of a newborn child by the mother: hiding the corpse of a newborn child in a place far from the place of his murder, which is unusual for a mother to commit such an act; the mother's lack of access to a medical facility despite her critical physical condition caused by postponed childbirth, which may mean exerting external pressure on her; hiding the corpse of a newborn by means of a method not inherent in the concealment of a mother-infanticide.

Thus, significant deviations from the usual manifestations of infanticide require the investigator to verify investigative versions about the involvement of other persons in the process of killing a newborn. Verification can be carried out by conducting investigative actions such as examining the scene of the incident, interrogating suspects (both the mother of the newborn and her husband, roommate), interrogating the mother's relatives and neighbors as witnesses, personally examining suspects, appointing forensic examinations (medical, biological, tracological and other types), as well as giving a number of instructions to the body of inquiry on conducting operational search activities (house-to-house (apartment-by-apartment, yard-by-yard) interview of neighbors, collection of samples for comparative research (samples of the tissue in which the child is wrapped; traces of blood), request data from medical institutions and, in particular, women's counseling, etc.) ^[8].

Thus, the testimony obtained during the interrogations will help the investigation identify those potentially involved in the commission of the crime: those who were aware of the pregnancy, the birth that took place, as well as the nature of the family and household relations of the woman in labor, her attitude to pregnancy and those who are in close contact with her. In addition, when analyzing the received testimony, it is possible to establish contradictions – in this case, it is possible to verify the testimony on the spot or a confrontation in order to eliminate them ^[9].

In the aforementioned verdict of the Sernursky District Court of the Republic of Mari El, it was noted that the neighbors knew about the teenager's pregnancy, and this fact was also noticed by the girl's interviewed classmates and teachers at her place of study. Thus, a home survey of neighbors and a survey of students confirmed the actual attitude of the teenager's mother to her pregnancy, as well as attempts to conceal the pregnancy throughout its duration (which, as mentioned earlier, indicates an unwillingness to leave the child) ^[10].

At the same time, the study by T. B. Ramazanov and E. G. Muslimova notes a low level of fruitfulness of operational investigative measures aimed at establishing data on the pregnancy of suspects in the files of medical institutions ^[11]. The authors justify their position by the fact that often those responsible for infanticide are not registered in the antenatal clinic. Indeed, refusal to register is one of the elements of concealing an unwanted pregnancy, but, in our opinion, this is not enough to express agreement with this opinion: acting in conditions of non–obviousness, the investigator is obliged to put forward and verify a number of investigative versions ^[12] - thus, omission of these medical institutions may lead to their shortcomings. In addition, a woman may change her decision regarding the abandonment of a child, being very pregnant or even at the time and immediately after giving birth, including cases of giving birth to a child in appropriate conditions in a medical facility. Thus, we cannot support the authors' belittling of the importance of this type of assignment.

When examining the scene of the accident, special attention should be paid to the particles of fabric, clothing, towels and other things surrounding the newborn's body, in which the child was wrapped. It should be noted that if infanticide is not completed and the child is found in a life-threatening condition, but in an environment dangerous to his life and health (in snow, earth, pond, etc.), immediate measures should be taken to normalize the newborn's condition. The authors of the current study share a number of recommendations by L. A. Zlobina, who in turn notes that the inspection of the scene of the murders of a newborn child by the mother at the initial stage of the investigation should always be carried out systematically, solve organizational and tactical tasks in full and comprehensively, it is mandatory to take photographs and (or) video, as well as procedurally competently to draw up a protocol, which together will give a positive result in providing real assistance to the subject of the investigation in this complex process ^[13].

By assigning and conducting an expert study, it is possible to detect biological particles on the newborn's body and objects located near the corpse (diapers, bags, murder weapons, etc.), at the crime scene and at the place of discovery of the corpse that are not related to the child's mother. Thus, it becomes possible to establish the fact of direct involvement and the role of an accomplice in the murder of a newborn.

Summarizing all of the above, we note that the investigator must necessarily put forward and verify the version of the commission of an act of complicity, as well as the exertion of physical or psychological external pressure on the mother of a newborn from other persons both at the time and after childbirth, and throughout pregnancy. This is essential both for the direction of the investigation as a whole and for further qualification of the act: for example, in the direct execution of the murder of a newborn by a person other than the mother, his actions will be subject to evaluation by the court in accordance with paragraph 2 of Part 2 of Article 106 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, which is a qualified murder, whereas the mother, even if she is actually an instigator (as was the case in the verdict of the Oktyabrsky District Court of Samara), she will be criminally liable for attempted commission of a crime regulated by Article 106 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, which is a privileged type of murder with reduced criminal liability.