O Código Penal Brasileiro, atualmente em vigor, prevê o crime de infanticídio como o ato de matar, sob a influência do estado puerperal, o próprio filho, durante o parto ou logo após. Trata-se de crime cuja agente é necessariamente a parturiente ou a puérpera. Com pena reduzida em relação ao homicídio, é considerado um crime excepcional, pelo fato de ser cometido por mulher sem completo domínio dos seus atos. No Brasil, os saberes sobre o tema são produzidos especialmente nas doutrinas penais e médico-legais, sendo restrito o diálogo com pesquisas empíricas que analisam o fenômeno do infanticídio sob uma ótica interdisciplinar. O presente trabalho apresenta uma etnografia dos usos e entendimentos do tipo penal infanticídio, feita por meio da análise de sete processos judiciais; 179 acórdãos, entrevistas e conversas informais com personagens processuais envolvidos em casos nos quais se discutiu se tratar de infanticídio; participação em três sessões de julgamento, pelo Tribunal do Júri, de mulheres acusadas da morte de seu/sua recém-nascido/a; e análise da produção sobre infanticídio publicada em doutrinas penais e médico-legais. Seu principal objetivo foi compreender como quem acusa, defende ou julga essas mulheres utiliza e interpreta o tipo penal infanticídio e os elementos que fazem deste crime peculiar. Mapeei, também, que visões de mulher, maternidade, crime feminino estão embutidas na construção desse tipo penal específico, bem como a maneira como este é trabalhado nas defesas e acusações judiciais. Por fim, identifiquei como os casos são apresentados e decididos no Sistema de Justiça Criminal. Concluí que há uma grande discrepância no modo como estes são interpretados e julgados, apesar da semelhança nítida que há entre eles, tendo as moralidades dos personagens processuais peso considerável nos rumos tomados nos autos. A mulher acusada de matar seu/sua recém-nascido/a é considerada mais ou menos cruel dependendo das lentes com as quais o caso é visto, sendo as expectativas acerca de uma maternidade sadia parâmetro para se julgar. / The present Brazilian Criminal Code establishes infanticide as a criminal offense, describing it as the act of killing, under the influence of the \"puerperal state\", ones own child, during labor or shortly after. The offender is necessarily the laboring or puerperal woman. Considered an exceptional crime, its sentence is shorter than a homicide, for its committed by a woman not fully aware of her acts. In Brazil, the knowledge on the issue is produced mostly in criminal and legal-medical doctrinal analysis, limiting the dialogue with empirical researches that analyses the infanticide phenomenon under an interdisciplinary approach. This work presents an ethnography of uses and understandings of infanticide as a criminal offense, by means of the analysis of seven judicial cases; 179 decisions; interviews and informal conversations with people with roles in cases related to infanticide; participation in three Jury trials of women accused of the death of their own newborns; and analysis of the literature on infanticide published in criminal and legal-medical doctrinal analysis. Its main purpose is to understand how who accuses, defends or judge women for the death of their newborns uses and interprets the criminal offense infanticide and the elements that make this a peculiar crime. I have also mapped which visions of woman, motherhood, and feminine crime are enmeshed in the building of this specific criminal offense, as well as the way it is engaged in judicial accusations and defenses. Finally, I have identified how cases of women accused of the death of their own newborns are presented to and decided by the Criminal Justice System. The research concludes that there is a great discrepancy in the way the cases are interpreted and decided, despite the notorious resemblance between them, for the morality of the processual characters has a relevant impact on the unfolding of the process. The woman accused of killing her own newborn is considered more or less cruel depending on the lenses by which the case is regarded, as the expectations of what is a healthy motherhood are the judgement parameters.

Les femmes représentent seulement 18% des personnes mises en cause pour des crimes et délits, 10,3% des personnes condamnées et 3,6% des personnes détenues. Les chiffres laissent apparaitre une sous-représentation des femmes au sein des condamnations et plus particulièrement pour les condamnations pour crime (5,4% de l’ensemble). Ainsi, la criminalité féminine se caractérise par sa marginalité tout autant par sa spécificité. En dépit des évolutions sociales et la promotion de la parité et de l’égalité des sexes, les criminalités féminine et masculine ne se confondraient pas, tant quantitativement que qualitativement, mais ne divergeraient pas autant que les stéréotypes sexuels ne le laisseraient présager. Si, les causes du passage à l’acte sont identiques quel que soit le sexe de l’auteur, tel n’est pas le cas du mode opératoire et du choix victimaire qui se différencient considérablement en fonction du sexe. Outre, la dissymétrie statistique traditionnelle entre les deux sexes, la criminalité féminine et son traitement pénal, manifestent certaines spécificités indéniables. Le sexe de l’auteur de l’infraction n’est pas totalement indiffèrent au droit pénal et la pratique judiciaire, les hommes et les femmes ne sont pas égaux face à la justice. Ils ne sont pas d’ailleurs plus égaux en milieu carcéral. Les hommes et les femmes font ainsi, l’objet d’un traitement judiciaire et pénitentiaire différencié. Dès lors, le sexe de l’auteur de l’infraction est non seulement un facteur de spécificité dans le passage à l’acte criminel mais également un facteur de spécificité dans la réaction pénale à la criminalité. / Women account for only 18% of those charged with crimes and misdemeanors, 10.3% of those convicted and 3.6% of those detained. The figures show an under-representation of women in convictions and more particularly for convictions for crime (5.4% of all). Thus, female crime is characterized by its marginality as well as its specificity. Despite social developments and the promotion of gender parity and equality, female and male criminality would not be confused, both quantitatively and qualitatively, but would not diverge as much as sex stereotypes would predict. If the causes of the act of acting are the same regardless of the sex of the author, this is not the case with the modus operandi and the choice of victim who are significantly different according to sex. In addition, the traditional statistical dissymmetry between the two sexes, female crime and its penal treatment, show some undeniable specificities. The sex of the offender is not totally indifferent to criminal law and judicial practice, men and women are not equal in the face of justice. They are not more equal in prison. In this way, men and women are subject to differential judicial and penitentiary treatment. Therefore, the sex of the perpetrator is not only a specificity factor in the crime but also a specificity factor in the criminal reaction to crime.