The following study aims to examine the women who were convicted of infanticide between 1852 and 1878, before and after the changes to the Penal law in 1864, through church records from Norrmalm Central Prison. In addition to the legal process, the study examines who these women were and what marital status they had when they committed the crimes, as well as whether there was any connection between marital status and the crimes. The purpose is examined with support in Ullaliina Lehtinens theory of guilt and shame. The purpose has been investigated through three questions, of which questions two and three have a sub-question: 1. How many women were convicted of infanticide between 1852 and 1878? What did the women’s marital status look like when they committed the crimes? 2. Is there a connection between marital status and the crimes? What did the women convicted of infanticide receive as punishment? 3. Was there any major difference in between the punishments before and after the Penal law in 1864? This study is a quantitative study with elements of a qualitative method to collect the source material and then analyze the results more deeply. The results have shown that there were 769 women convicted of infanticide between 1852 and 1878. Most of these women were unmarried, which has shown that marital status and crime are connected. The women convicted for infanticide received a sentence ranging from two years in prison to 10 years in prison as well as the corporal punishment of 28 days of water and bread. Of the 769 women who were convicted between 1852 and 1878, 345 of these women were sentenced before the Penal law in 1864 and 424 were sentenced after the Penal law in 1864. The results show that there was a difference between the punishments before and after the Penal law in 1864, partly because no one was sentenced to corporal punishment after 1864, partly that there were additional months and days women could be sentenced to. Differences also showed that before the Penal law 1864 it was more common to receive five years in prison or a longer sentence, but after the Penal law was introduced, more women were sentenced to five years or a shorter sentence. Ullaliina Lehtinens theory of guilt and shame has increased the understanding of how the women could both hide and confess their crime. By studying shame and guilt connected to the norms and ideals of the time, the women's decision to carry out infanticide can be seen from more aspects than the previous research.

In the following essay I have studied child suffocation and infanticide in Västbo district in Småland 1860–1949. This has been done with a quantitative study of the district's death and funeral books which have shown the reduced frequency of the phenomena over time. I have also been able to point to a connection where child suffocation tended to occur in cases where the parents were married. Infanticide, on the other hand, was in most cases caused by an extramarital affair. Based on theories concerning the role of marriage,combined with the assumption that a female ideal is constructed on the basisof two counter-images, I have been able to show how the child murderer was seen as a greater threat to the social morality, compared with the married woman who suffocated her child in her sleep. Thus, there was also a greater tendency to punish the former more severely. In the qualitative part of thestudy, I have reviewed the district court's records concerning child murderers. Based on a theory that pregnancies, births and morality fell within the scope of a female sphere of responsibility, I have analyzed the actions of to the accused woman's homosocial group. Here, the study has been able to shed light on a significant female presence. This was partly reflected in the gender distribution of witnesses, as well as in how the authorities seemed to show aconfidence in the female sphere to bring clarity to the case.