KSTP reported that 24-year-old mother Cheyenna White, was convicted of failing to act while her boyfriend inflicted fatal injuries on her daughter. She has been sentenced to two years in prison. White's daughter, 2-year-old Donnasia Jackson, was slammed on the ground at least a dozen times by her boyfriend Anthony Knighton. White waited eight hours to seek medical treatment for her daughter's injuries.
According to "Mothers who Kill their Children" (Meyer & Oberman, 2001), the situation of Cheyenna White is referred to as 'Passive Partner-Involved Infantcide'. Most common are situations in which women do not behave violently toward their children but are blamed for their inability to prevent their partner from abusing/killing the children.
Our culture blames blames the women for these types of deaths. There are several similarities among the women in the passive partner-assisted infantcide category. The following list highlights these aspects that are commonly found among women in this subgroup.
Domestic violence
Domestic violence is extremely prevalent in this subgroup. Often times, the women reported fearing for their safety and were afraid that if they tried to save their child from the abuse, it would result in their death and their child's.
Nonbiological relationship
Another important aspect of women in this subgroup is the nonbiological relationship between the partner and the child. Most cases involve a mother's partner who is not the biological parent of her child and paternity has been found to play a large role in cases of infant death.
Death by severe abuse
The majority of women in this subgroup had children who were beaten to death. These deaths were found to be the result of extreme discipline involving physical abuse. Some of the incidents seemed to be provoked by anger and hatred toward the child, rather than the result of frustration.
Jealousy
It is very likely that the man's jealousy toward the child was a large factor in the child's death. The fact that most of the men in this subgroup were biologically unrelated to the children could explain the high number of continual physical abuse and humiliation that occurred.
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