| Abstract [eng] |
Treatment of Infanticide in Laws of Lithuania and Other Countries. The Master Thesis is aimed at presenting a detailed analysis of the concept, development and typical elements of infanticide categorized as second-degree murder with mitigating circumstances and regulated in Article 131 of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Lithuania (hereinafter referred to as the CC of the RL). Infanticide is regulated by the criminal codes of other countries; hence, the Criminal Codes of Finland, Croatia and Poland were chosen for the study. To ensure that the study is comprehensive and consecutive, firstly, it is focused on defining the concept of murder and briefly reviewing its degrees (first-degree murder, first-degree murder with aggravating circumstances and second-degree murder with mitigating circumstances). Then, the concept of infanticide is further analyzed in detail, and the problems associated with the conception of life, the beginning to the right to life and determination of the moment of death are analyzed. Also, the historical development of the institute of infanticide in Lithuania and other foreign countries are discussed. The main parts of the paper describe all the constituent elements of the crime of infanticide in great detail. In particular, the objective elements include the act (action, inaction), consequences, causality between the act and pertaining consequences, and the time of committing the crime. The largest focus is given to the subjective facet of infanticide as the special subject of this act (the mother of the newborn), her mental state and condition ordained by giving birth allows segregating the activity regulated in Article 131 of the CC of the RL from other crimes. The paper also touches upon the dissociation of infanticide from other criminal activities, such as first-degree murder with aggravating circumstances (Clauses 1, 2 and 3 of Part 2 of Article 129 of the CC of the RL), illegal abortion (Article 142 of the CC of the RL) and child desertion (Article 158 of the CC of the RL). |
