From Moses to rubbish bin: the abandonment of new-borns

Abstract

The paper was intended as short review of historical and current behaviours of abandonment of infants and children. The analysis was developed through a long journey that starts from the dawn of civilization to this day. Social customs, legal rules, they application and their breach through the centuries are described. The purpose was to know how and why this phenomenon is unfortunately still present. A survey was conducted classifying stories reported by the main Italian daily newspaper. The study examined a period of 15 years (1995-2010). Data showed that this crime is still today undoubtedly closely related to social and economic conditions, especially in high populated regions