Feminist Enlightenment in Criminal Law?

The treatment of infanticide in the Enlightenment discourse on criminal law policy and in the Prussian General Land Law

The project is dedicated to the question of whether there was a feminist Enlightenment in criminal law in the German-speaking world in the 18th century. Based on an analysis of the gender-specific differentiations to be found in criminal law and criminal prosecution before the advent of Enlightenment ideas, the project examines the extent to which the criminal policy Enlightenment of the 18th century took up demands and considerations of a feminist Enlightenment. The starting point for this is the controversially discussed offence of infanticide, which could only be committed by women. Infanticide as a social and legal problem can be described as a crystallisation point of legal enlightenment in the 18th century. Using the example of the legal policy discussions surrounding the regulation of infanticide in the Prussian General Land Law of 1794, the project shows that despite the discovery that the main reason for infanticide was a particular conflict situation of women caused by social stigmatisation and economic hardship, the focus of the reform was not on the recognition of this conflict situation, let alone on gender equality or women's rights. Rather, it can be seen that the Enlightenment in criminal law was primarily motivated by considerations of rational penal legislation and crime prevention, which were latently based on a gender-stereotypical image of women. Therefore, the Enlightenment in criminal law in the 18th century was largely independent of questions of women's rights and the (legal) equality of the sexes.