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RUSSIA.

CONCERNING THE DISCHARGE OF RECOVERED CRIMINAL INSANE..

(Criminal Code 1847.)

Art. 99. Among the causes in consequence of which a crime or misdemeanor is not considered punishable, belong idiocy, insanity, and attacks of sickness which produce confusion of mind or entire absence of consciousness.

Art. 100. An idiot is not accountable for a crime or misdemeanor, when there is any doubt, in consequence of his mental condition, that he realized, at the time of the action, the unlawfulness and nature of his deed.

Remark 4. Idiots or insane persons who have committed murder, or attempted murder or suicide or an incendiary crime, shall be placed in an insane asylum, even when the parents or relatives are willing to undertake the supervision and treatment of the patient at their own home.

Insane criminals placed in an asylum shall not be discharged without permission from the higher authorities.

If, however, it becomes evident, in the course of time, that such persons have entirely recovered, and that within two years no mental abnormities have been observed, they may, after a repeated and searching examination, be dismissed from the asylum, and their estates be freed from attachment, according to the existing civil laws.

This period of observation of two years for recovered patients may be abridged, when special reasons exist and there is sufficient security that no danger can arise therefrom.

A recovered idiot may be delivered to his relatives, when they bind themselves to keep him under close surveillance and, in case of the reappearance of morbid phenomena, to return him, using the necessary precautions, to the insane asylum.

Art. 103. A crime or misdemeanor is, also, not punishable, when it is proven that it has been committed in an attack of mental disturbance or complete unconsciousness (that is, caused by disease but not by intoxication).

Remark. Referring to the transient or temporary insanity (mania transitoria, acutissima), if, during such condition, a murder or attempted murder or attempted suicide has been committed, the same precaution is to be taken as in ordinary cases of insanity, concerning the period of observation; but that period need not be of so long duration as in the cases cited above:-six weeks of observation is sufficient in such cases for the determination of complete recovery.

Arts. 104 & 105. The exemption from punishment for the commission of crimes and misdemeanors, refers also to such persons, as have lost their mental faculties and the use of their reason in consequence of age and infirmities, and also to somnambulists, who act under the influence of their psychical nervous malady, without corresponding consciousness; also born deaf-mutes or persons who have lost in their earliest youth the faculties of hearing and language, are not held responsible for crimes or misdemeanors, when it is plain that they have not been enabled, either by education or by intercourse with other persons, to acquire ideas concerning duties and laws.

Remark. Such patients may be delivered, instead of to the insane asylum, to parents, relatives, guardians, or, with their assent, to strangers, when these latter bind themselves to keep the patient under continued and close surveillance, and to have him medically treated during his sickness, and also to avoid everything which might be hurtful to the surroundings, either to other persons or to the patient himself.

When the parent of the patient, his relatives, guardian, or strangers, who are willing to take the patient under their protection, do not offer sufficient guarantees, and it cannot be expected that they will exactly and punctually fulfil all their duties, the insane will be committed to an insane asylum for treatment and care. Deaf-mutes, by birth or from their earliest childhood, are kept in prison under close surveillance, but separate from other inmates.

Though somnambulists cannot strictly be classed among the

insane, yet, since they are deprived of self-consciousness and control over their actions during their attacks, and in such condition may harm themselves and others, therefore such persons, when they have committed a murder or any other crime, are treated by the law as really insane persons.

Idiots are those who from their birth have been devoid of understanding.

"Insane," the law applies to persons whose derangement has originated from accidental causes.

Besides this the Criminal Code speaks of complete mental confusion and unconsciousness.

REPORT OF COMMISSION

TO EXAMINE INTO THE PRESENT SYSTEM FOR THE CAKE OF THE INSANE OF THE STATE, ETC.

To the Senate and House of Representatives:

GENTLEMEN: In May, 1882, I requested John F. Hartranft, Richard C. McMurtrie, Joseph A. Reed, M.D., S. Weir Mitchell, M.D., J. T. Rothrock, M.D., L. Clarke Davis, and George L. Harrison to examine into the present system for the care of the insane of the State, and inquire into the legislation of other States and countries, and report the result of their investigations with their conclusions and recommendations for the further protection and amelioration of the insane.

This commission was constituted of persons who possessed a high order of learning and experience on the question, and whose professional reputations demanded the most conscientious and practical consideration and action. It is safe to ask you to accept their conclusions, contained in the accompanying report and proposed Act of Assembly, with a large measure of confidence.

HENRY M. HOYT.

REPORT.

PHILADELPHIA, January 2, 1883.

Governor HENRY M. HOYT,

Harrisburg.

DEAR SIR: Your Excellency appointed a commission on May 23, 1882, to "consider the question of the care of the insane in this Commonwealth, the mode of their introduction into public and private asylums, the general scope of their treatment, the mode of their supervision and release, which are believed now to be inadequately guarded and provided for; to examine into the present system, and inquire into the legislation of other States and countries, and report the result of their investigations, conclusions, and recommendations for the further protection and amelioration of the insane."

This commission has the honor to report, in response to the above application, a scheme of legislation on the subject referred to them, which was reached after careful thought and extended investigation and research, in conformity with expressed wishes. This result received the unanimous approval of the commission, and indicates the direction of the most moderate and conservative thought upon the subject.

your

The commission begs leave to accompany their proposed bill with an explanation of the facts and reasons which operated with them in the pursuit of their work, and to indicate the grounds upon which they have based their action. They venture, also, to make some suggestions, which may be convenient to your Excellency in determining upon your own course in the premises.

Topics of the act proposed by the commission:

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