introduction society. The unnaturalness of female criminals had been a standard trope during at least the early modern period.17 The problem with studying motive is that we hardly ever know what the accused actually said. This is illustrated by a well-documented case from 1845 concerning Maria Johansdotter from the parish of Södra Sandsjö in Sweden, where the draft and final versions of the court record differs, sometimes substantially, in the rendering of her statement.18 Even when we do have their words, there may be little reliable information about motive, as it was not uncommon in trials to ask leading questions and to almost force the accused to answer.19 Similarly, judges and others varied considerably in their interest in searching out and documenting the accused’s motives, though it may have increased due to public debate and legislation, making it easier to establish the details of later cases than the probably more frequent earlier cases. That the criminal cases discussed here are almost exclusively taken from the literature increases the risk for factual inaccuracy and opens for serious critique.20 However, focusing not on crime or motive, but instead on interpretation and reaction, should reduce the risk. Discussing singular cases at all can be motivated by the diverse approaches to their possible existence, interpretations, and reactions to them in different countries. A key uncertainty concerns the willingness of perpetrators to reveal their motives. They might have something to gain by concealment, especially once the problem with these crimes had been noticed. Inflicting an especially hideous punishment on those who had committed a crime in the hope of being executed could be a strong impediment not to reveal their true motive, the risk of not being executed at all being even great17 Ballinger 2002 p 47, Kilday 2007 p 19 sqq, Stuart 2023 p 205: ”Undoubtedly, Koenig’s violation of gender norms contributed to her death sentence.” 18 Record 2 June 1845 p 11 sq, 17 AIa:132 Konga häradsrätts arkiv VaLA, draft of record 2 June 1845 (used as cover) FIa:162 Konga häradsrätts arkiv VaLA. Concerning the wider problem of the relation between the court documents and the reality they claim to describe see e g Nilsson 2017 p 5 note 8 while Bastien 2010 discusses our possible knowledge of the utterances of the condemned. 19 Neumeyer 2002 p 50 sq. 20 See e g Reeh and Hemmingsen 2018 p 114 sq. 24
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