different realities and reactions 13th 1795 a woman imprisoned in Königsberg mortally wounded the 3month-old son of a fellow inmate by cutting him in his throat. Her motive was that she feared the harshness of the prison guard. She was sentenced to life imprisonment and to be publicly punished January 13thas long as she lived.478 A possible source of ideas for the punishment was the rather similar Danish legislation of 1767. It was known by Karl Ferdinand Hommel in Leipzig and its solution, not to let the delinquent receive the death she longed for, was recommended by him in 1778.479 Imprisonment was, however, also in Prussia not popular among all that could have been condemned to die. The robber Christian August Helckwitz stated in 1789 that he would prefer to be executed than the punishment consisting of corporal punishment and forced labour for life the king had given him. To this Friedrich Wilhelm II tersely stated that Helckwitz did not dispose over his own life. All justice belonged to the king himself.480 The restrictions on clerical presence changed over time. It was extended to all executions regardless of crime in theCriminal-Ordnung of 1805. Only Roman Catholic and Orthodox priests were still allowed to accompany those of their own confession.481 Also after a sentence to death had been made public visits were limited to officials of the judicial structure, clergy, and close relatives to the condemned. Absolutely prohibited was the showing of a condemned in the gaol to the simply curious.482 Forbidden was also all printing and sale of all texts, such as songs, concerning the condemned before the execution.483 These restrictions may have been an attempt to restrict the spread of perspectives not popular 477 Mannkopff 1838 p 541 §§ 831 sq, see also Mannkopff 1836 p 31 and Beseke and Enckevort 1772. 478 Metzger 1798 p 13 sq, 48. 479 Hommel 1778 p 181. 480 Rehse 2008 p 401. 481 Criminalordnung § 545 Allgemeines Criminalrecht 1830 p197. A rare example of how the debate not only dealt with those Lutheran and Reformed can be found in Allgemeine Bibliothek 1786 p 355 sq. In a very positive review of Sturm 1784a the reviewer however wished that it would have pointed out Catholic ceremonies as particularly dangerous. 482 Criminalordnung § 538 Allgemeines Criminalrecht 1830 p 194 sq. 483 Criminalordnung § 539 Allgemeines Criminalrecht 1830 p 195, see also Alker 1842 p 254. 139
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