On July 27, 2006, the New York Times published an article on the findings of the retrial of Andrea Yates and her not guilty for cause of madness following deaths by drowning. of his five children. (Woman Not Guilty, 2006). The court decided to commit her to a state psychiatric hospital until medical experts decide she does not pose a threat to herself or others. In 2002, a previous jury rejected her claims that she was psychotic and found her guilty. Yates claimed that by murdering her children, she saved them. (Woman Not Guilty, 2006). The appeals court overturned the decision due to the “erroneous testimony of a prosecution witness.” (Woman Not Guilty, 2006). Yate's lead attorney, George Parnham, noted that the verdict was "a watershed moment for mental illness and the criminal justice system" (Woman Not Guilty, 2006). Yate's first conviction sparked debate over whether Texas' legal standards for mental illness were too harsh and whether courts viewed postpartum depression with a serious perspective. Yate's attorney said she was suffering from severe postpartum psychosis and a delusional state of mind when she committed the murders. Yates drowned her children believing that Satan lived inside her and believed that killing children saved them from hell. (Woman Not Guilty, 2006). Link Between Postpartum Depression and Crime A thorough search of the current literature shows that experts are unable to find conclusive evidence that there is a link between postpartum psychosis and crime. Susan Hatters Friedman and Renee Sorrentino found that 41 percent of mothers of children under three were depressed and thought they were harming their child. However, as both men noted, a general population study of mothers of infants with colic found that 70% of them had aggressive thoughts... middle of paper .... .Andrea Yates. (2006). Annals of the American Psychotherapy Assn, 9(3), 33-34. Friedman, S. & Sorrentino, Renee. (2012) Commentary: Postpartum psychosis, infanticide and insanity – Implications for forensic psychiatry. J Am Acad Psychiatry Law: 40: 326-32. Goldstein RL: Postpartum depression and the “assessment” of wrongfulness. Bull Am Academy Psychiatry Law 17:121-8, 1989, March, C. (2005). The conflictual treatment of postpartum psychosis in criminal law. William Mitchell Law Review. Retrieved from: http://www.wmitchell.edu/lawreview/Volume32/Issue1/7March.pdfMcGrath L., Peters, S., Wieck, A., & Wittkowski, A. (2013). The healing process in women who suffered from psychosis after childbirth. BMC Psychiatry, 13 doi: 10. 1186/1471-244x-13-341.Nau ML, McNeil DE, Binder RL: Postpartum psychosis and the courts. J Am Acad Psychiatry Law 40:318 –25, 2012