the explanations of the acts Already in the eighteenth century wider psychological concerns had started to be considered in Germany. For example, Johann Christian Quistorp suggested that those who committed crimes out of melancholia and sadness should be treated just as if they had committed their crime while being insane.926 An interesting aspect to consider is the scientific conclusion, that for persons that because of a psychiatric condition felt the urge to commit murder, this urge generally came suddenly and unexpected.927 Wouldthis also apply to some, maybe many, of those whose motive was the urge to be executed? Several cases from the seventeenth and eighteenth century demonstrate that the courts in Sweden, trying to judge the validity of capital confessions, not only considered the possibility of insanity, but also a number of other aspects that might indicate that the confession was false.928 Also, many evident cases seem to have existed. In 1851 Alexandre Brierre de Boismont stated that those being surprised by these crimes should not think they were that uncommon, as he himself had examined some nine or ten individuals having committed murder or attempted murder in order to be executed. They were all found by the courts to be suffering from mental illnesses.929 While all questions and explanations studied here reflects the fundamental question of drawing a line between motives or mental states, the psychiatric perspective clearly illuminates it. For example, we can consider Frances Cheek, hanged for the murder of her child in 1754. It is said that she ”said nothing but that she should be hanged and knew nothing of the matter”. The jury first did not want to find her guilty because of their doubts regarding her sanity but pressed by the judge they delivered the verdict of guilty.930 We could understand her utterance in several ways. Did she plan to be executed? Was she devastated by the act she had done 926 Quistorp 1782 p 20 sq. 927 Henke 1834 p 295. 928 Inger 1994 p 85, 89 sqq, 192 sqq, 203 sq. 929 Brierre de Boismont 1851 p 641. 930 Rabin 2003 p 96 sq (quotation p 96). 259
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