summary 285 In 1741 legislation in Sweden incited by women killing children of others aimed at making the view of the executed condemned less attractive, and in 1753 a murder committed by a soldier led to a harsher capital punishment for those wanting to be executed. Eventually the official discussion of the role of the priests at the execution in 1830 led to some restrictions and especially the prohibition of any speeches at the execution. Finally these criminals seem to have been seen as cases for the psychiatrists. England is special in at least two ways. Every case has been treated separately. Neither law nor historians has seen a broader picture. This group of criminals and crimes however was discovered and discussed by the psychiatrists.TheEnglish courts,however,seems to have been remarkably reluctant to listen to them, possibly due to the accusatory system. In away, France seems to have similarities with England in the lack of specific legislation. The main difference was the central role played by psychiatry and psychiatrist, although they could complain about courts not listening to them. The widespread nature of the problem is then illustrated with cases from Brussels, Rome, Amsterdam, and the British colonies in North America and Australia. From the penal colonies in Australia horrible testimonies exist about many prisoners choosing to commit capital crimes to be hanged and thereby escape from aregime of excessive corporal punishments. Among the ideas studied is that to be well prepared and then executed is a safe and swift road to heaven, so this book also studies conflicting interpretations of the execution and how those condemned should be prepared for it. This idea also resulted in a discussion, mostly in Germany, and, as far as I know, not studied since the eighteenth century, with a theological focus on the possibilities or impossibilities for repentance and salvation for the condemned. In the summer of 1769 Prussian legislation restricting both the preparation of some murderers and the presence of priests at their execution was introduced. Five months earlier Gotthelf Samuel Steinbart, professor of theology in Frankfurt an der Oder and with contacts in the Prus-
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