From 1877 to 1896, Maine courts sentenced six women accused of infanticide to imprisonment for life. This harsh punishment was in stark contrast to the more lenient punishments given infanticides elsewhere. A close look at these cases through court documents, newspaper accounts, pardon petitions, and attorney general reports suggests that the trials marked a shift in the justice system in Maine as the state increasingly asserted its control over the communities’ response to crime. Historically, women’s expertise with regard to women’s bodies provided a place for them within the local legal system. Under the purview of the state’s attorneys general, the state increasingly assumed control over the detection, adjudication, and punishment of crime. While community members responded to crime with attention to the individual and the circumstances, the state called for the universal application of the written law regardless of the context and claimed that swift and inevitable retribution was necessary to protect all. This shift from the local to the state had a particular impact on women and their role within the community. Long accustomed to arbitrating issues surrounding pregnancy, women found their power to do so subverted and replaced by middle class professionals in distant urban locations.

中文翻译：

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“没有什么比人的生命更神圣了”：杀婴与缅因州，1877 年至 1917 年

从 1877 年到 1896 年，缅因州法院判处六名被控杀婴的妇女终身监禁。这种严厉的惩罚与其他地方对杀婴的较宽大惩罚形成鲜明对比。通过法庭文件、报纸报道、赦免请愿书和总检察长报告仔细研究这些案件表明，随着该州越来越多地宣称其对社区对犯罪的反应的控制，这些审判标志着缅因州司法系统的转变。从历史上看，女性在女性身体方面的专业知识为她们在当地法律体系中提供了一席之地。在州总检察长的职权范围内，州越来越多地承担对犯罪的侦查、裁决和惩罚的控制。虽然社区成员对犯罪行为的反应是关注个人和环境，该国呼吁不分情况地普遍适用成文法，并声称必须迅速和不可避免地进行报复以保护所有人。这种从地方到国家的转变对妇女及其在社区中的作用产生了特别的影响。长期习惯于仲裁围绕怀孕的问题，女性发现她们这样做的权力被遥远城市的中产阶级专业人士颠覆和取代。