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"A Peculiar Species of Felony": Suicide, Medicine, and the Law in Victorian Britain and Ireland

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This paper examines the relationship between suicide and insanity in the eyes of both legal and medical professionals in nineteenth century Britain and Ireland. Both jurisdictions had a similar historical legacy in relation to the treatment of suicide, punishing sane suicides, those found felo de se, by ignominious burial and forfeiture. Legal changes between ¡823 and ¡882 negated the need for a
verdict of temporary insanity as suicide essentially became a crime without legal punishment. Nevertheless, the rise of forerxsic psychiatry within the legal system meant that definitions of the temporary insanity of suicides became a controversial question far medical professionab. Similarly, the retention of distinctions of sanity arui insanity far religious and insurance purposes ensured that there were spiritual and practical ramifications to a verdict of felo de se even if there were no legal consequences. The debate among doctors and legal professionals suggests that the process of "medicalization" of suicide was not, as MacDonald has suggested, driven by these elite professional groups, but rather by public opinion. While legal punishments far attempted suicide revnained in force and in use, by the end of the nineteenth century medicine was seen as the main actor in the fight agair\st this "social disease."

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Judul Seri

Joumal of Social History

No. Panggil

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Penerbit

: Oxford University Press., 2013

Deskripsi Fisik

Joumal of Social History vol. 46 no. 3 (2013), pp. 732-743

Bahasa

English

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Tipe Isi

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Tipe Media

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Tipe Pembawa

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Edisi

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Subjek

KESEHATAN JIWA

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