The Rise of Insanity Defenses in Nineteenth Century England

This legal transcript contains information involving the murder of Henry John Base. The accused, Esther Base, threw her 9-month-old newborn child out of the window in fear that someone would kidnap her child. I will use this case to exemplify the commonalities between insanity and infanticide among women because it has had a detrimental impact on the legal issues surrounding criminal accountability. Similarly, I will use this case to reflect on the role of medical practioners in defining the defendant’s state of mind, as this case involved Dr. Whitlock suggesting that Esther Base suffered from delirium tremens.

This document is a legal transcript describing a criminal case involving breaking peace through the act of wounding. The defendant, Alfred Gadd, feloniously wounded his mother, Martha Gadd, by striking her with a knife on her head and elbow. Witnesses testified against his character, suggesting that he was not of right mind and that he demonstrates inconsistent behaviours of violence. Surprisingly, Alfred Gadd intended to strike Martha with a hammer because he claimed that she was threatening to poison him; But, after talking to the police chief, Alfred altered his story to suggest that his mother “fell down the fender”. He was found guilty for the act, but not of right mind. I will use this transcript to define the impact witnesses can have upon individuals in the decision-making process and shape the outcome for criminal cases of insanity.

This Act explains that although juries can return with a guilty verdict for an accused, different outcomes can develop if the defendant is found insane. They were to be held in custody if determined insane as a “critical lunatic”. Instilling this legislation can be identified to serve as an effective deterrent on the mentally ill because the outcome often involved a lifelong sentence. This special verdict of guilty but insane constructs this notion that although defendants are exempt from their crimes, I will use this to argue that punishment was still significantly prevalent for those “excused” from the law through isolation in custody and asylums.

Melling and Forsythe express the influence gender had towards the process in establishing a verdict of insanity. Using statistical tables, Melling and Forsythe illustrate the length of stay between male and female patients in Wonford House Asylum between 1855 to 1914. The majority of women found guilty of criminal offences but excused based on insanity was as a consequence of mania, childbirth and menopausal symptoms among middle-aged women. I will use this book to express that pleas of insanity were vastly shaped by gender, and it challenges gendered stereotypes that women are inherently irrational, less culpable and uncapable of committing heinous crimes compared to men.

White describes that defendants seeking protection from the death penalty often sought out the insanity defense. He argues that the trial outcome of Daniel McNaughtan, who shot the secretary of Robert Peel, was a pivotal moment in English law for establishing a criminal test for insanity. The introduction of McNaughtan Rules in 1843 created measures for establishing insanity, such as defendants suffering disease(s) of the mind at the time of the crime. The purpose of this defense during the 19th century was to exempt punishments for individuals that were considered corrupt, yet not deterrable. I will show that the McNaughtan Rules was the central platform for establishing legal guidelines for measuring insanity that helped to promote distinctions of culpability.

Wiener argues that “temporary insanity” was one of the ways to establish the lack of intent in criminal cases, particularly involving drunkenness. “Temporary insanity” became more common in situations that involved drunken killings, however Wiener indicates that it was rarely effective, nor successful at the beginning of the century. Moreover, the rise of prestige medical experts and ‘medicalization’ created the plausibility of immunity for deviant behaviour, including habitual drunkenness. I will use Wiener’s book to demonstrate the gradual shift of criminal offences, that were once seen as felonious, being justified. I will also use this book to specify the role of medical experts in the penal system for evaluating insanity.