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Forensic Psychiatry: Human Science in the Borderlands Between Crime and Madness

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The Palgrave Handbook of the History of Human Sciences

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Abstract

The chapter is a broad overview of the history of forensic psychiatry in the nineteenth and twentieth century. It tracks the emergence of forensic psychiatry from discourses on penal reform, alienism, and criminology. After considering the status of forensic experts in courtroom settings, it then describes the twentieth century turn to the prophylactic and therapeutic strategies that targeted the criminal lunatic and to the trend toward greater patients’ rights. It emphasizes the dual realms in which forensic psychiatrists have operated: on the one hand, as expert witnesses before the court, subjected to public scrutiny at criminal trials (or coroner’s inquests) where they pronounced defendants sane or insane; and on the other hand, the “darker underbelly” of mostly invisible and often extralegal medical practices and administrative decision-making involved in the study, management, and rehabilitation of criminal lunatics.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of History, Humboldt University, Berlin, Germany

    Eric J. Engstrom

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  1. Eric J. Engstrom
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Correspondence to Eric J. Engstrom .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Victoria University, Melbourne, VIC, Australia

    David McCallum

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  1. Institut für Geschichtswissenschaften, Humboldt Universität, Berlin, Germany

    Eric J. Engstrom

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Engstrom, E.J. (2022). Forensic Psychiatry: Human Science in the Borderlands Between Crime and Madness. In: McCallum, D. (eds) The Palgrave Handbook of the History of Human Sciences. Palgrave Macmillan, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-4106-3_94-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-4106-3_94-1

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  • Print ISBN: 978-981-15-4106-3

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