Judging Gender: The Sentencing of South African Mothers Who Murder Their Children

Abstract

Women who commit filicide are not only judged for their crime but also for their compliance/deviation from societal expectations of motherhood. Motherhood is interpreted through a specific set of socio-cultural norms with mothers needing to be loving, warm, selfless, and protective at all times. Any deviation from these norms can result in harsher sentencing. This article explores the complexity of maternal filicide and, the extent to which gendered constructions of motherhood are used in the South African criminal justice system to sentence women who murder their children. It examines how the dominant narrative identities of the bad/mad/sad mother influence the sentencing of these women and leads to inconsistent sentencing practice within the South African legal framework. By highlighting the disparities in sentencing and the importance of considering contextual information, it calls for reforms to ensure that sentencing aligns with the circumstances of these women, rather than reinforcing stereotypical perceptions of motherhood. It further highlights the need for reform to protect children from filicide.