The Peterson case: a revealing follow-up.

Los Angeles -- Having been convicted of the 2002 double murder of his wife and unborn child, Scott Peterson of California was condemned to death Dec. 3, 2004, by the jury. As he awaits the formal sentence by a judge, his case, which attracted great media attention, has produced a significant spin-off.

A recent report in the Washington Post has highlighted statistics of pregnant (and postpartum) women who have been murdered--a total of 1,367 women in 14 years. The correlation of numbers has only recently begun across the American nation; previously such statistics were tabulated only by individual states. One example is found in figures from the state of Maryland where, of 407 maternal deaths in the period 1993-2002, 20% were attributed to homicide--a greater percent than those caused by caradiovascular disease, embolisms, or accidents.

A John Hopkins University researcher, surprised at the number of cases, said, "I didn't think it was a trend.... It probably was always there, but we just didn't know." Students of social trends have noted that, in the majority of such homicides, the killers are husbands or boyfriends who are unwilling "to deal with fatherhood, marriage, (or) child support." Says criminal profiler Pat Brown of Minneapolis: "Pregnancy is a huge, life-altering event ... you are escalating people's responsibilities and curtailing their freedoms."

This seems to have been the position with Scott Peterson. One of the positive results of the sad story might be to raise awareness of this under-reported trend. (Files from Toronto Star, 18 Dec. 2004.)