Gėdos ir baimės nusikaltimas

LTStraipsnio tikslas - aptarti iki šiol Lietuvos istoriografijoje nenagrinėtą problemą: smurtinį moterų elgesį XIX a. Lietuvoje. [Iš leidinio]Reikšminiai žodžiai: Lietuvos kaimas XIX a; Moterys; Moterų nusikalstamumas; Smurtas; Vaikystė; Childhood; Female crime; Lithuanian village of the 19th centur; Violence; Women.

ENIn many European societies women accounted just for about 10 per cent of committed crimes. It would be wrong to think that women were not inclined to trespass, however, they dominated in some crimes. In Lithuania of the 19th century women made half of all murders. Killing an infant was the most frequent type of murder in the 19th century Lithuania. Statistics had registered 696 cases of infant murder in Kaunas province in 1884-1900, i.e. average 40.9 infants being killed in the province every year. Official statistics and court trials are disclosed crimes, while the real scale of such murders can only be implied. Cases that survived allow us to suppose that violent death of an infant surprised nobody in Lithuanian village of the 19th century. Why did women in the countryside strive to get rid of their illegitimate children? Does it mean that they were cruel? To answer these questions court trials of 85 women prosecuted for infant murders were analysed. Court verdicts depended on the circumstances and varied greatly: from spiritual penance at monasteries or sanctuaries to penal servitude in Siberia. [From the publication]