Oh Joy

Oh Joy

Troubled Experiment wasn't exactly pleasant reading. They make the observation that about 1/3 of all rape charges in 1682-1800 Pennsylvania involved victims under 18--with some victims as young as 6 or 8. But now I'm about to start reading two books that are even more unrelentingly uncharming: Legal Executions in New York State and Legal Executions in New England.

Why such edifying material? It appears that there are relatively few murders in the Colonial period committed by clearly insane people--certainly not very many in Pennsylvania, a province with an enormous violence problem relative to the rest of the American colonies. My working hypothesis is that this is a combination of low insanity rates, and relatively easy commitment procedures for those who were perceived as dangerously mentally ill. Throughout the Colonial period, commitment didn't necessarily mean treatment, and certainly not effective treatment. It did not even generally mean humane custodial institutionalization.

I'm about to start reading these volumes to see if my initial impression is correct or not.