Blaming mothers : American law and the risks to children's health / Linda C. Fentiman.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Introduction to risk -- Are mothers hazardous to their children's health? -- The social, psychological, and legal construction of risk -- How healthy are America's children? : myths and realities -- Mothers as vectors of risk -- Conceptions of risk : legal and medical interventions against pregnant women -- Drug use by pregnant women: context and consequences -- Caught in the crossfire : breastfeeding (or not) as dangerous behavior -- The "good mother" and crimes of omission -- Environmental hazards to children : toxic substances and contagious -- Diseases -- Childhood lead poisoning and other people's children -- The vaccination paradox -- A new framework for risk assessment and risk reduction -- Moving beyond blame: real solutions for children's health.

Online resource; title from PDF title page (EBSCO, viewed February 3, 2017).

In the past several decades, medicine, the media, and popular culture have focused on mothers as the primary source of health risk for their children, even though American children are healthier than ever. The American legal system both reflects and reinforces this conception of risk. This work explores how this occurs by looking at unconscious psychological processes, including the ways in which we perceive risk, which shape the actions of key legal decisionmakers, including prosecutors, judges, and jurors.

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