About this book
Des homicides commis par les aliénés by Émile Blanche challenges assumptions about madness and violence with clear, clinical authority. Written by a 19th-century French physician and member of the Académie de Médecine, this landmark work in forensic psychiatry examines why the severity of a criminal act does not reliably reflect the extent of an offender’s mental disorder.
Blanche explores patterns of homicidal behavior among the mentally ill, dissecting cases and concepts—such as monomania and delusional impulses—that shaped early legal medicine. He argues that acts of violence committed by the “aliené” often arise from fragmented, sometimes transient disturbances of mind, and that striking crimes can occur even when intellectual impairment appears limited. Combining clinical observation, medico-legal analysis, and historical perspective, the book situates its findings within the evolving science of psychiatry and the courts’ struggle to evaluate criminal responsibility.
Ideal for readers of science and psychology, Des homicides commis par les aliénés will appeal to students of forensic psychiatry, legal historians, criminology enthusiasts, and anyone curious about how nineteenth-century medical thought influenced modern approaches to mental illness and culpability. Listen to gain a foundational, thought-provoking view of madness and crime.
