In the sanity trial of Elizabeth Parsons Ware Packard, a jury of 12 men were asked to decide whether or not she was insane, mad, or deranged. This case was very controversial during this time period because women were not allowed to stand trial for insanity. A second opinion of one’s sanity was only a right given to men, according to Illinois state law. The process of sending a women to be committed to a mental asylum was fairly simple to say the least. No evidence of insanity was required to commit a women only the request of a husband was needed for a woman 's life to shackled. Women were at the dispense of their husbands and could find themselves committed if they behaved poorly. In 1860 that is exactly what had happened to Mrs. Packard. …show more content…
With this great power came great responsibility not to abuse it but it was indeed abused. Women at the time found themselves extremely vulnerable to being committed because the current medical opinion was that women were more likely to be insane than men. This was due to how a woman’s weak mind was plagued by her raging hormonal cycle. But this was not the only aspect of being a woman that made them vulnerable to accusations of false insanity and commitment to an asylum. The virtues of True Womanhood were being called into question. Packard was released from the Asylum by Dr. MacFarland for the reasons that she was unfixable in his eyes but an ulterior motive for Dr. MacFarland could have been that he did not want Packard’s strong will to bring her case in front of a judge. The possibility of her winning a hypothetical case could jeopardize his credibility and ruin his career. After her release her husband locked her up in a room with barred windows and no clothes or heat. Word got out through a letter that Packard slipped through the crack of her window to a fellow neighbor who went straight to a judge and the reverend was ordered to appear in court for ‘false imprisonment’. From there the case turned into a sanity trial because what was at question was the sanity of …show more content…
One of the main points of dispute at the trial was of Packard’s religion in relation to the virtues of True Womanhood. Cheree Carlson point out that “in the minefield of womanhood, even a pure moral life can be used against you?” This was because the plaintiff was in question of Packard’s sanity in relation to how well in past experiences she has embodied the ideals of True Womanhood. Her new religion was argued to be a sign of her madness but it seemed to be that it was only an issue because it went against her duty as a wife to submit to all of her husband 's wishes. Infact religiosity was known to be at the very core and nature of a women and was classified under the element of piety which was very desirable in a woman.Her Purity was also put into question when a “love letter” between her and Dr. MacFarland was presented to the court. This letter was a desperate attempt of Packard trying to persuade herself to freedom and any reasonable person could sympathize with a person who was unjustly incarcerated and labeled
...his seemingly routine case of fornication and premarital pregnancy proved to be significant for early American legal history. The unfolding of this story and the legal changes that it brought about makes evident that by the end of the seventeenth century, The Eastern Shore had shaped a distinct legal culture. The characters involved in each case also revealed the extent the powerful players were able to shape the law to their own self-interests. The goal of the powers to be was to protect property interests, protect personal reputation and liberty, and to maintain social order.
In The Murder of Helen Jewett, Patricia Cohen uses one of the most trivial murders during the 1800’s to illustrate the sexiest society accommodations to the privileged, hypocritical tunneled views toward sexual behavior, and the exploitation of legal codes, use of tabloid journalism, and politics. Taking the fact that woman was made from taking a rib from man was more than biblical knowledge, but incorporated into the male belief that a woman’s place is determined by the man. Helen had the proper rearing a maid servant, but how did she fall so far from grace. Judge Weston properly takes credit for rearing her with the proper strictness and education. Was Helen seduced at an early age and introduced to sexual perversions that were more persuasive that the bible belt life that the Weston’s tried to live? Was Helen simply a woman who knew how to use what she had to get what she wanted? Through personal correspondence, legal documentation, census reports, paintings, and newspapers we are able to make our own determinations. Cohen provides more than enough background and history to allow any one to make their own opinion how the murder of a woman could be turned into a side show at a circus.
There are many differences when it comes to gender within the trial of Thomas and Jane Weir. Women were usually domestic workers within the household and society, doing jobs such as child-rearing, weaving, and roles of mother, sister, daughter, wife and caretaker in the community. Men were either seen as the husbands of the female witchcraft users or someone of an intense authority figure. “Sir Andrew Ramsay, Lord Abbotshall then Provost of Edinburgh” were all men with high statuses within the community in Edinburgh in which Thomas lived. Women during the time of witchcraft in Scotland came to be connected with the Devil by possession while most men do not have carnal knowledge of the work of the Devil himself
This scandalous case centers on a woman named Katherine Watkins. On Friday, August 18, 1681, Katherine accused a slave by the name of John Long, also known as Jack, of rape. There was some evidence of violence, but there were also outstanding questions about her character and conduct. Those who testified, however, painted a different picture about certain events preceding the crime. They were John Aust, William Harding, Mary Winter, Lambert Tye, Humphrey Smith, Jack White (Negro), Dirk (Negro), and Mingo (Negro). Whether these individuals were so inclined because Katherine Watkins was a Quaker, rather than an Anglican, we can never really know. That certainly fueled the fire, though. The day in question involved an afternoon of cider drinking. Several of the witnesses in the testimonies recounted Mrs. Watkins sexual advances to multiple of Thomas Cocke 's slaves, particularly, a mulatto named Jack. John Aust pleaded that Katherine, at one point, had lifted the shirt of one slave and announced “Dirke thou wilt have a good long thing” (Sex and Relations, 53). She allegedly had thrown another on the bed, kissed him, and, “put her hand into his codpiece” (Sex and Relations, 53). The most interesting piece of evidence that Aust brings forward is that Jack was actually avoiding Watkins at the party, an apparent attempt at avoiding any intimate entanglement with her (Sex and Relations, 52). Finally, he reported that Watkins and Jack had gone into a side room (Sex and Relations, 53). Later in the trial, Humphrey Smith seemingly referred to Aust 's testimony. His deposition suggested that he and Aust had some reservations about Jack 's guilt (Sex and Relations 54). Clearly, the character of the plaintiff was considered important evidence in the trial of a slave for rape. The reasonable extenuating circumstances of the case might have granted the magistrates leave way
Ken Kesey’s One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest explores the dysfunctions and struggles of life for the patients in a matriarch ruled mental hospital. As told by a schizophrenic Native American named Chief Bromden, the novel focuses primarily on Randle McMurphy, a boisterous new patient introduced into the ward, and his constant war with the Big Nurse Ratched, the emasculating authoritarian ruler of the ward. Constricted by the austere ward policy and the callous Big Nurse, the patients are intimidated into passivity. Feeling less like patients and more like inmates of a prison, the men surrender themselves to a life of submissiveness-- until McMurphy arrives. With his defiant, fearless and humorous presence, he instills a certain sense of rebellion within all of the other patients. Before long, McMurphy has the majority of the Acutes on the ward following him and looking to him as though he is a hero. His reputation quickly escalates into something Christ-like as he challenges the nurse repeatedly, showing the other men through his battle and his humor that one must never be afraid to go against an authority that favors conformity and efficiency over individual people and their needs. McMurphy’s ruthless behavior and seemingly unwavering will to protest ward policy and exhaust Nurse Ratched’s placidity not only serves to inspire other characters in the novel, but also brings the Kesey’s central theme into focus: the struggle of the individual against the manipulation of authoritarian conformists. The asylum itself is but a microcosm of society in 1950’s America, therefore the patients represent the individuals within a conformist nation and the Big Nurse is a symbol of the authority and the force of the Combine she represents--all...
In the 1800’s people with mental illnesses were frowned upon and weren't treated like human beings. Mental illnesses were claimed to be “demonic possessions” people with mental illnesses were thrown into jail cells, chained to their beds,used for entertainment and even killed. Some were even slaves, they were starved and forced to work in cold or extremely hot weather with chains on their feet. Until 1851, the first state mental hospital was built and there was only one physician on staff responsible for the medical, moral and physical treatment of each inmate. Who had said "Violent hands shall never be laid on a patient, under any provocation.
She controlled every movement and every person’s actions and thoughts. She made the doctors so miserable when they did not follow her instructions, that they begged to be transferred out if. “I'm disappointed in you. Even if one hadn't read his history all one should need to do is pay attention to his behavior on the ward to realize how absurd the suggestion is. This man is not only very very sick, but I believe he is definitely a Potential Assaultive” (). This quote from the book illustrated how Nurse Ratched controlled her ward. She manipulated people into siding with her regardless of whether it was the right decision. This was malpractice by Nurse Ratched because she did not allow the doctor, who was trained to diagnose patients, to do his job properly. Instead, she manipulated the doctor to diagnose the patients incorrectly in order to benefit her interests rather than those of the
In the novel Cold Sassy Tree (1984), Olive Ann Burn's plot focuses heavily on religion and its role in society. Mary Willis Blakeslee, a Baptist, is tried for heresy by the deacons of the Baptist church for marrying Hoyt Tweedy, a Presbyterian. “The deacons voted to put it in the church records that ‘Mary Willis Blakeslee has swapped her religious birthright for a mess of matrimonial pottage’” (11). After her father Rucker Blakeslee confronted the deacons they agreed to remove the pottage element from the document (11). Although this confrontation with Grandpa intimidated the deacons it didn’t impede them from excommunicating Mary Willis from her “birth church.” As it ended up she decided to attend the church of her husband, Hoyt Tweedy. As Cold Sassy Tree illustrates, in Georgia in the early 1900’s religion played a major role in marriage decision along with membership to the church. This sort of attention that Mary Willis acquired was very hard for her to tolerate emotionally. It was important to her to appear respectable to the community. Regardless of this embarrassment caused by the Baptist...
During that time, Mental illness and depression was not generally understood. Outspoken women were diagnosed with "hysteria" and put on bed rest. The woman gradually goes insane when she is put on bed rest for all hours of everyday. It is a criticism of a medical practice that was created solely for women, which is one reason for it being considered a feminist story. She was thought to be delicate and predisposed to emotional outbreaks. The story explains that the bed rest and the views that supplement such a practice, is what makes women hysterical.
For many decades the mentally ill or insane have been hated, shunned, and discriminated against by the world. They have been thrown into cruel facilities, said to help cure their mental illnesses, where they were tortured, treated unfairly, and given belittling names such as retards, insane, demons, and psychos. However, reformers such as Dorothea Dix thought differently of these people and sought to help them instead. She saw the inhumanity in these facilities known as insane asylums or mental institutions, and showed the world the evil that wandered inside these asylums. Although movements have been made to improve conditions in insane asylums, and were said to help and treat the mentally ill, these brutally abusive places were full of disease and disorder, and were more like concentration camps similar to those in Europe during WWII than hospitals.
In the psychological community, "insanity" is a legal term and is in no way psychological (Strickland 330). The Encyclopedic Dictionary of Psychology defines "insanity" as "A legal and social term for a mental disorder that causes people to be judged incapable of managing their own affairs and not responsible for their actions." (Pettijohn 144). He continues to say that ".. the term is no longer a correct synonym for a psychotic disorder or any other form of abnormal behavior [in psychology]" (Pettijohn 144). In the time period of "The Yellow Wallpaper", insanity was a valid term for what the women of the time were sometimes said to be. In "The Yellow Wallpaper", the narrator's misunderstood illness and treatment cause her descent into madness.
...eople that went to jail because of the confusion with the insanity defense and the law has become unfavorable towards the insanity defense. As the New York Times says,” Congress barred federal courts from finding defendants legally insane “merely” because they were too mentally ill to have avoided committing the crime.” This means that mentally unstable people are going to jail untreated. The insanity defense has come to questioning our morals. When someone is mentally unstable, do they deserve to be endure the sometimes harsh punishments of our law or should they be treated for their illness in a psychiatric hospital?
Much of my skepticism over the insanity defense is how this act of crime has been shifted from a medical condition to coming under legal governance. The word "insane" is now a legal term. A nuerological illness described by doctors and psychiatrists to a jury may explain a person's reason and behavior. It however seldom excuses it. The most widely known rule in...
Blau, GL, H McGinley, and R Pasewark. “ Understanding the Use of the Insanity Defense. ”Journal of Clinical Psychology 49.3 (1993): 435-440. MEDLINE. 10 May. 2014.
The insanity defense pertains that the issue of the concept of insanity which defines the extent to which a person accused of crimes may be alleviated of criminal responsibility by reason of mental disease. “The term insanity routinely attracts widespread public attention that is far out of proportion to the defense’s impact on criminal justice” (Butler,133). The decision of this defense is solely determined by the trial judge and the jury. They determine if a criminal suffers from a mental illness. The final determination of a mental disease is solely on the jury who uses evidence and information drawn from an expert witness. The result of such a determination places the individual accused, either in a mental facility, incarcerated or released from all charges. Due to the aforementioned factors, there are many problems raised by the insanity defense. Some problems would be the actual possibility of determining mental illness, justify the placement of the judged “mentally ill” offenders and the total usefulness of such a defense. In all it is believed that the insanity defense should be an invalid defense and that it is useless and should potentially be completely abolished.