Archives of Women's Mental Health - Call for Papers: Topical Collection on Reproductive Mental Health Forensics

The field of perinatal mental health has gained a prominent place not only in the clinical world but in the justice system where criminal cases of infanticide and filicide are decided. Those in the legal system (judges, attorneys) are recognizing a diagnostic link between infanticide and perinatal mental illness, and the laws are slowly changing. This growing field of research and clinical study recognizes a broad range of issues, events, and diagnostic concerns in the field of Forensics and Maternal Mental Illness that go beyond postpartum psychosis and infanticide. The Archives of Women’s Mental Health has brought much of the research to the forefront.

Co-editors Jane Fisher and Diana Barnes are establishing a call for papers to the international community at large, towards the goal of furthering understanding of reproductive mental health forensics. A list of potential topics for this special edition are as follows:

• Defining perinatal mental health forensics: What does it look like and how to assess.
• Creating an ethical framework for forensic vs. clinical evaluation as it relates to perinatal mental illness
• Reproductive justice
• Perinatal mental illness and advocacy in the forensic arena
• Understanding postpartum psychosis in the courtroom as relates to sentencing decisions.
• Developing a common language for discussing neonaticide/pregnancy denial/unperceived pregnancies.
• A systematic review of neonaticide analyzing case studies over the past decade.
• The role of the perinatal expert witness: A competency framework.
• The role of media and its influence on public perception of maternal mental illness

Submission Deadline: 31 August 2023.