Report on the medical jurisprudence of insanity / by C. B. Coventry ; extracted from the Transactions of the American Medical Association.

  • Coventry, C. B. (Charles Brodhead), 1801-1875.
Date:
1858
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Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Report on the medical jurisprudence of insanity / by C. B. Coventry ; extracted from the Transactions of the American Medical Association. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the National Library of Medicine (U.S.), through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the National Library of Medicine (U.S.)

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    correct as to certain forms of insanity, give no idea of the different phases of this protean malady. These erroneous views, unfortu- nately, are not confined to the ignorant and illiterate. If we look at the comments and observations often found in newspapers, and, I am sorry to add, sometimes in our medical journals—where a better knowledge would be expected—or at the testimony sometimes given by medical men in courts of justice, we must be satisfied that the general intelligence on the subject of insanity is far from keep- ing pace with the few who have devoted particular attention to the subject. Whilst some of our judges and jurists have manifested a degree of intelligence and judgment alike creditable to themselves and the courts over which they preside, it must be admitted, that, in a large proportion of cases, the verdict is dictated more by popu- lar influence, or prejudice, or by the talent and ingenuity of coun- sel, than by the stern dictates of justice. Whilst, on the one hand, some persons who were really guilty have been acquitted, on the plea of insanity; on the other, popular clamor has condemned to an ignominious death many an innocent victim of disease, who was deserving of our pity and commiseration for his misfortune, and who should have found in the courts of justice, protection from popular excitement, instead of vindictive punishment. I have seen weeks spent in the trial of a poor demented being, who seemed totally unconscious of what was going on, and who scarcely had the intelligence of a dog. One witness testified that he believed he had the intelligence of an ordinary child of five years, but was not in- sane. On such testimony the prisoner was convicted of murder, but died in prison. A post-mortem examination revealed extensive disease of the brain. In another case, the prisoner, scarcely more intelligent, was convicted of murder, and hung. In a third case, the prisoner was convicted of murder, but the judge, instead of sentencing him, sent him to the asylum, where he still remains hopelessly insane. In all civilized countries, from the earliest ages to the present day, persons laboring under insanity have been considered irre- sponsible agents. They were deprived of the control of their pro- perty, confined in their person, and if any civil act was performed it was invalid, and for criminal acts they were not held responsible. The theory of the English and American law is that punishment is not inflicted as an act of vengeance or retaliation, but to prevent its repetition by the individual, and to deter others by the example. Milder and more humane modes than that of punishment can be