Naslov
‘They accused me of strangling her’: epilepsy and violence debate in Croatia at the end of the nineteenth and the beginning of the twentieth centuries

Autori
Kuhar, Martin ; Fatović-Ferenčić, Stella

Izvornik
History of psychiatry (0957-154X) 28 (2017), 4; 460-472

Vrsta, podvrsta i kategorija rada
Radovi u časopisima, članak, znanstveni

Ključne riječi
Cesare Lombroso ; Croatia ; epilepsy ; eugenics ; forensic psychiatry ; Ivo Žirovčić ; 19th century

Sažetak
Nineteenth-century psychiatry shifted its focus to the brain as the seat of mental disorders. With a new understanding of mental disorders arose the need to consult forensic psychiatrists in cases of criminal acts committed by persons with mental illness. This article focuses on three murders committed by ‘epileptics’ at the end of the nineteenth and the beginning of the twentieth centuries in Croatia. An analysis of these cases will help to situate forensic psychiatry at the turn of the century within the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and reveal the authority that forensic experts wielded in the courts. We will argue that Cesare Lombroso’s biological theory of crime, as well as the influence of eugenicists and pharmaceutical companies, shaped the long-standing relationship between epilepsy and violent behaviour.

Izvorni jezik
Engleski

Znanstvena područja
Temeljne medicinske znanosti, Povijest

POVEZANOST RADA