Intellectual disability, mental illness and offending behaviour: forensic cases from early twentieth-century Ireland

The history of institutional care for individuals with intellectual disability is under-researched, complex and troubling.

To explore the experiences of women who may have had intellectual disability and/or mental illness and were admitted to forensic psychiatric care in early twentieth-century Ireland.

All female case records at the Central Mental Hospital, Dublin from 1910 to 1948 (n = 42) were studied for evidence of possible intellectual disability and a series of five cases is presented in detail.

These committals occurred in the context of adverse social conditions, over-crowding in asylums and a belief that rates of mental illness were rising. Particular challenges included diagnostic issues (especially in relation to intellectual disability), adjustment to asylum environments, mental illness and physical ill-health.

The institutional experiences of individuals with intellectual disability represents an important area for further historical research, using larger and more varied forensic populations.