A New Model Law Offers Hope: Postpartum Disorders and the Law

A new Illinois statute, the first of its kind in the United States, permits postpartum depression and postpartum psychosis to be considered a mitigating factor at sentencing for crimes committed when women are suffering from these illnesses. Defense attorney Barry Lewis writes that although this legislation is limited in scope (when compared to laws in other countries), the hope is that it will serve as a model for similar or broader laws in other states.