Dr. Guy on insanity & crime, and on the plea of insanity in criminal cases.
- William Augustus Guy
- Date:
- 1869
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: Dr. Guy on insanity & crime, and on the plea of insanity in criminal cases. Source: Wellcome Collection.
Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.
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![Table XIX. 1851... ’52.... ’53.... ’54.... ’55.... ’56.... ’57.... ’58.... ’59.... ’60... ’61... ’62... ’63... ’64.... ’65.... ’66.... ’67.... Homicides found Insane at or after Trial, per 20,000,000. Convicts Certified as Insane, per 10,000. 1851 to 1866. 1852 to 1867. 1851 to 1866. 1852 to 1867. ^}l7 1 T U3 J ®]-131 81 ®|25j 1 r-79 |221 Ulj ”}l9f 7 l84 ‘3] U3^ 30J ^78 481 3/ lll8^ 70j 8 1 1 621 U19J 1 57 J ^4J f |l021 5° ( 11685 it} 66J 1 U33I 1 ^5] ll94J -}6x! 48 63] li2n 58] ^264 67] r j 76] 801 ll74^ 94J 1 !>358 99] 1 U84J 85J It will be observed that, during these seventeen years (being more than half of the whole period under review) the number of insane homicides, not only did not increase, but slightly diminished, being 82 in the eight years 1851-57 and 79 in the eight years 1859- 66; 84 in the eight years, 1852-59, and 78 in the eight years, 1860- 67. And yet, during this same period, the convicts certified as insane, out of a number assumed to remain constant at 10,000, increased by more than 50 per cent. And even when allowance is made for the circumstance that a few of the men and women certified from the convict prisons were found insane soon after trial, the fact still stands out in strong relief, that among convicts shut out from contact with the outer world, and from the influence of example, and of the sentences passed at sessions and assize, the certified insane largely increase in number, while those found insane at or soon after trial show, for the same period, a slight falling off. The figures of this table, therefore, may be taken to prove, not only that insanity may increase, or seem to increase, among criminals shut out from all intercourse with the world, and ignorant of the issue of the plea of insanity when set up on behalf of offenders against the law, but also that other causes may be in operation, much more influential than any encouragement that the verdicts of juries may be supposed to afford. Now the causes which might be alleged as bringing about this increase of certified convicts are, some difference in the treatment of convicts tending to harass and](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b22350366_0031.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
