A Drunkard''s Defense : Alcohol, Murder, and Medical Jurisprudence in Nineteenth-Century America
Book Details
Format
Paperback / Softback
ISBN-10
1625345542
ISBN-13
9781625345547
Publisher
University of Massachusetts Press
Imprint
University of Massachusetts Press
Country of Manufacture
US
Country of Publication
GB
Publication Date
Feb 26th, 2021
Print length
216 Pages
Weight
350 grams
Dimensions
22.80 x 15.20 x 1.70 cms
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Examines a variety of court cases to explore the attitudes of nineteenth-century physicians, legal professionals, temperance advocates, and ordinary Americans toward the relationship between drunkenness, violence, and responsibility, providing broader insights into the country's complicated relationship with alcohol.
Is drunkenness a defense for murder? In the early nineteenth century, the answer was a resounding no. Intoxication was considered voluntary, and thus provided no defense. Yet as the century progressed, American courts began to extend exculpatory value to heavy drinking. The medicalization of alcohol use created new categories of mental illness which, alongside changes in the law, formed the basis for defense arguments that claimed unintended consequences and lack of criminal intent. Concurrently, advocates of prohibition cast "demon rum" and the "rum-seller" as the drunkard's accomplices in crime, mitigating offenders' actions. By the postbellum period, a backlash, led by medical professionals and an influential temperance movement, left the legacy of an unsettled legal standard.
In A Drunkard's Defense, Michele Rotunda examines a variety of court cases to explore the attitudes of nineteenth-century physicians, legal professionals, temperance advocates, and ordinary Americans toward the relationship between drunkenness, violence, and responsibility, providing broader insights into the country's complicated relationship with alcohol.
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