A mistrial may have been the right outcome here. But moms of dead children tend to be harshly judged, even when they’ve done nothing wrong. Mia Brett traces the legal history of assuming maternal guilt.

Lindsay Clancy’s criminal trial for allegedly killing her three children ended in a mistrial on Sep. 4, 2026. Jurors who spoke to the media reported that 11 people voted to find her not guilty by reason of insanity and that a single hold-out juror wanted to find her guilty. 

To me, this should have been an open-and-shut case of insanity. In Massachusetts, that defense applies if a person can’t “appreciate” that their conduct is wrong or control their actions.

Clancy, 36, was, by all accounts, a doting and competent mother. After the birth of her third child, she complained of anxiety, insomnia, and intrusive thoughts about suicide. Her husband, Patrick Clancy, said she’d had thoughts of harming her children. Instead of receiving appropriate psychiatric help, the kind that might have prevented tragedy, Clancy was prosecuted for first-degree murder. 

As a feminist legal historian, I see Clancy’s case as part of a broader tendency to criminalize motherhood and pregnancy when women don’t meet certain gendered expectations: namely, to prioritize reproduction, motherhood, and rigid traditional gender roles above all else. 

If our children die, in the eyes of society—and, too often, in U.S. courtrooms—it is the mother’s fault. And that conclusion holds whether children die from disease, an accident, or as victims of a woman’s own untreated mental illness. 

What is postpartum psychosis?

Postpartum psychosis is a rare but dangerous mental illness that most commonly presents after birth. It may include hallucinations, delusions, paranoia, insomnia, and other symptoms. In a given year, one in three of every 1,000 postpartum women in the U.S. will be affected.

Postpartum psychosis is different from the more common diagnosis of postpartum depression, which affects one in seven postpartum people. While people suffering from postpartum depression experience feelings of hopelessness and anxiety, they do not have the break with reality that characterizes postpartum psychosis. 

While the vast majority of people who develop postpartum psychosis will not kill their children, researchers estimate that it carries a roughly 1-4 percent risk of infanticide. 

There is very little research on the condition. Postpartum psychosis is not included in the DSM-5—the professional diagnostic tool used by psychiatrists to identify, define, and treat mental health conditions—as a standalone diagnosis.

More than three dozen countries have passed separate criminal statutes providing for a reduced sentence for postpartum infanticide. A few U.S. states are following suit. In 2018, Illinois began allowing postpartum depression and postpartum psychosis to be considered as mitigating factors when sentencing women convicted of certain felonies; this would apply in cases of child neglect or infanticide. Some New York City lawmakers have called on the state to pass a similar law.

In 2025, Massachusetts proposed a bill that would require postpartum mothers charged with a crime within the first year of giving birth to get a mental health evaluation.

“New moms [in psychosis] lose touch with reality, placing themselves and their children at risk,” Dr.........

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