Article ID: CBB910393573

A Propensity to Murder: Phrenology in Antebellum Medico-Legal Theory and Practice (2019)

unapi

This essay explores the uses of phrenological theory in the realm of jurisprudence between the mid-1830s and 1850s, focusing in particular on the adoption and circulation of phrenological language within medico-legal circles through this period. The article begins by contextualizing medical jurisprudence in early America; at the same time that phrenology was gaining ground in the United States, theories of medical jurisprudence were in flux. I next turn to the concept of the propensities in phrenological theory and their relationship to theories of moral insanity developed in the same period. This article concludes with an exploration of explicit and implicit uses of phrenology, focusing on court cases featuring phrenological expertise or language. The article thus suggests both the uses of phrenology for the building of medico-legal expertise and the extent to which phrenological language around the propensities inflected lay and medico-legal discourse around criminal responsibility and insanity.

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Authors & Contributors
Thompson, Courtney Elizabeth
Sara Matthiesen
Iorio, Elena
Rachel E. Walker
Kahan, Benjamin
Munno, Cristina
Concepts
Medicine and law
Medicine and society
Phrenology
Public health
Jurisprudence
Psychology
Time Periods
19th century
20th century
21st century
18th century
20th century, late
20th century, early
Places
United States
England
Italy
London (England)
Institutions
United States. Supreme Court
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