Psychiatry and the Fate of Women Who Killed Infants and Young Children, 1850–1900

Prior, Pauline M.

doi:10.1057/9780230304628_6

Cited by 1 publication

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“…Their findings make clear that women were less likely than men to be executed across the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, because women committed fewer crimes punishable by death and because gender influenced commutations. Research by Pauline Prior (2003Prior ( , 2006Prior ( , 2008Prior ( , 2010 and Brendan Kelly (2008) has shown how violent women were not uncommonly classified as insane and transferred to the Dundrum Central Criminal Lunatic Asylum in Dublin. Mental ill-health seemed to offer a reason for violent behaviour that could not otherwise be explained.…”

Section: Women and Violence In Nineteenth-and Early-twentieth-century...mentioning

confidence: 99%

The Voices of Violent Women in Nineteenth-Century Ireland

Farrell¹

2023

The Emerald International Handbook of Feminist Perspectives on Women’s Acts of Violence

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This chapter focuses on women's descriptions of their own violence in nineteenth-century Ireland, as revealed in prisoner petitions held in the National Archives of Ireland. It privileges the case files of women imprisoned or sentenced to death for violent crimes, including infanticide, manslaughter, murder, wounding and assault. This chapter takes an empirical approach and considers the ways that women explained and rationalised their violent acts. An analysis of the petitions offers an insight into women's views of their own violence, gendered attitudes at the time, and women's sense of the factors that might lead to a commutation of sentence. The truthfulness of the petitions is not important in this study; instead, the chapter explores the self-image that women wanted to portray and the tactics that they opted to use to seek a reduction in their sentences. As shown in this chapter, most women emphasised their passivity: they typically claimed to be innocent, coerced or provoked into violence.

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Section: Women and Violence In Nineteenth-and Early-twentieth-century...mentioning

confidence: 99%

The Voices of Violent Women in Nineteenth-Century Ireland

Farrell¹

2023

The Emerald International Handbook of Feminist Perspectives on Women’s Acts of Violence

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

Psychiatry and the Fate of Women Who Killed Infants and Young Children, 1850–1900

Cited by 1 publication

References 16 publications

The Voices of Violent Women in Nineteenth-Century Ireland

The Voices of Violent Women in Nineteenth-Century Ireland

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