Neonaticide is an act of murder of a newborn child comitted by the mother of the child herself. It is an act in a complete opposition to every biological and evolutionary instinct. Today, however, it is relatively rare, though principally confronted by a wide and unanimous conviction. However, with an exception of a criminal investigation necessary for the processing of the subject of fellony, there is a marked scarcity of research that would point toward the essential causes of such an act and provide a basis for the development of methods usable in the prevention of those incidents futurewise. This research attempted to asses the most common causes of this act on the territory of the Republic of Croatia in the period between 1998.-2012. Psychological, economical and sociological conditions of every neonaticidal mother was assesed in order to percieve a possible pattern that would implicate a possible unique pathogenesis standing behind the development of the act of neonaticide. By using the methods of descriptive statistics, anamnestic, clinical and criminalistic data, gained from the legal and medical databases, was compared. Age, location, socioeconomic condition, psychological stability, marital status and parity were taken into consideration, also comparing modes of the murder, treatment of the body , legal procedures and the modes of conviction. Results show that 56% of neonaticides were comitted in a trimenonial period between late spring and early summer, also that 50% of them were located in the close proximity of the river Sava. Of all the neonates, 49% was firstborn and 56% of the neonates were male. Even though the mathematical average of the maternal age was 26.3 years, the period between 25 and 35 years of age was the leat likely (18%) to end in neonaticide, while the mothers age 22-24 and 39-41 had the highes record of committed neonaticides, 21% and 28% respectively. Mothers were in 90% of the cases in harsh socioeconomic situation, financially dependent of their partners, natal family or unemployed, while 58% of them were unmarried. Very few of all pregnancies went unsuspected by the mother (9%), while in 39% of all the inquired cases, the people closest to the mother claimed to have no information regarding the state of the woman. The pregnancies and deliveries were conducted without any form of mediacal assistance in 97% of all the cases. Neonaticides were committed in an active mode in 66% of cases, while the bodies were hidden in 58% of them. Legal persecution followed in 85% of cases, and 68% of women were convicted according to the law. Of all the cases 19% were concluded with the mothers being sentenced exclusively to psychiatric treatment. It is clear, therefore, that the mothers who commit neonaticide are most likely to be either younger or older than those in the zenith of pregnancy and childbirth. Most likely, they are coming from a bad socioeconomic background and are either living under a strong influence of the immediate surroundings or experiencing a constant fear of being discarded by those around them. Judging from the low percentage of medically controlled pregnancies, it is clear that most of these women have decided upon the outcome of their pregnancies fairly soon after realizing the existance of their pregnancies. Considering the conviction, neonaticide was almost regulary considered a crime under extenuating circumstances, therefore probational sentencing and psychiatric commitments remained more of a rule, than exception. In the view of prevention, it is painfully obvious that there is a strong need for an extensive organization of a network of support. It is necessary to provide better care for the mothers through better education, promoting accesible methods of family planning, and, in certain circumstances, allowing for a direct assistance in childcare. Also, in order to prevent the worst outcomes, it might be useful to provide a more discreet access to the institutionalization of the child, regardless of the adoptional possibilities.