Murder and Madness: 75 Years of Crime and Punishment in Renville County Minnesota

Murder is the willful killing of a human being with malice aforethought, either expressed or implied. Malice includes not only hatred and revenge, but every terrible and unjustifiable motive committed by one person against another. Malice indicates the state of mind of the person charged. Insanity is a legal and not a medical concept, and can be determined by applying certain legal tests. A hundred years ago, the wildest delusions were not always sufficient to get the prisoner off. The insa...