charge of child destruction or a charge of infanticide. Section 60 of the Offences against the Person Act 1861 is framed on section 14 of the Offences against the Person Act 1828 (which applied to England, including Wales and Berwick) and section 17 of the 10 Geo 4 c 34, which applied to Ireland. This offence was previously created by section 4 of the Lord Ellenborough's Act (43 Geo 3 c 58) (1803). This in turn replaced "An Act to prevent the Murthering of Bastard Children" (21 Jac 1 c 27) (1623) and another Act applying to Ireland, which were repealed by section 3. The words "if any woman shall be delivered of a child, every person" were retained in section 60 after a division in the select committee of the House of Commons, and the members were equally divided upon the subject. The word "secret" was in like manner retained after a division in the committee. An offence under section 60 of the Offences against the Person Act 1861 could not be tried at Quarter Sessions. Section 31 of the Offences against the Person Act 1828 made provision in relation to any person who should counsel, aid or abet the commission of, amongst other things, a misdemeanour under section 14. South Africa In South Africa, section 113 of the General Law Amendment Act, 1935, amended by the Judicial Matters Amendment Act 66, 2008, creates the offence of concealing the birth of a child: United States In the United States, concealing birth was once a crime punishable by capital punishment. In 1785, Hannah Piggen from Massachusetts was the last person to be put to death for concealing the birth/death of an infant. Concealing birth remains illegal in many states. Its seriousness as a crime, however, differs from state to state, ranging from a felony in Arkansas to a misdemeanor in Washington. References External links 17 August 2007. "Tracing Baby Lilly's mother" 26 August 2005. "Mother concealed 2 babies' remains" at BBC News. 2 August 2005. "Dead babies find shocks Germany" at BBC News. Parenting Crimes