thecrimes Krogh’s figures for Copenhagen are of great interest, also as he can identify the majority of the culprits as women, especially maids. A large group, of both sexes, but predominantly women, were prisoners in different institutions. Third were the military.81 Soldiers found it easier than many others to randomise their choice of victim by shooting someone in the street.82 That the most common murderer seems to have been a woman is also a prevalent idea in the literature.83 The corresponding notion is that the commonest victim was a child. In a study by Jansson, he found that the victim in fifty-two of sixty-two cases were children.84 From Copenhagen Krogh reports that three out of four of the victims during the period 1697–1789 were children not yet ten years old.85 In 1698–1699, nine out of thirteen executed in Hamburg were women who had murdered their own or somebody else’s child.86 During the 1770s and 1780s in Hamburg seven murders of children, either the perpetrator’s or somebody else’s, were committed in order to be executed. A small child was often chosen as it was thought to enter heaven without any problem.87 In 1744, a female servant murdered the child of her employers, as a result of her having attended the execution of a female child murderer. A similar case with relation to a previous execution is said to have occurred in Dresden some years before 1822.88 80 Krogh 2000 p 228 sq, Krogh 2012 p 16. Cf the critique of the criteria of selection chosen by Krogh by Reeh and Hemmingsen 2018 p 117 sq. 81 Krogh 2012 p 24. 82 See e g Krogh 2012 p 31. 83 See e g Hommel 1778 p 178 sq, Bode 1914 p 454 sq, Andersson 1998 p 67, Jansson 1998 p 54 sq, and Kaspersson 2000 p 97 sqq. Weber 1937 p 176, however, in his material found more men than women. 84 Royal letter 24 April 1754 printed in Jusléen 1787 p 379 sq, Jansson 1994 p 32, 36, 47 sq and Jansson 1998 p 53. 85 Krogh 2012 p 24. 86 Ausführlicher Bericht 1822 p 17 sq. Wosnik 1926 p 38 instead had eight out of ten because he does not mention the three executions Ausführlicher Bericht has noted for november 1699. 87 Martschukat 2000a p 88 sq, see also Martschukat 2000b p 54. 88 Jaspis 1822 p 63. 47
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