title: 'A disease that makes criminals': encephalitis lethargica (EL) in children, mental deficiency, and the 1927 Mental Deficiency Act.
abstract: Encephalitis lethargica (EL) was an epidemic that spread throughout Europe and North America during the 1920s. Although it could affect both children and adults alike, there were a strange series of chronic symptoms that exclusively affected its younger victims: behavioural disorders which could include criminal propensities. In Britain, which had passed the Mental Deficiency Act in 1913, the concept of mental deficiency was well understood when EL appeared. However, EL defied some of the basic precepts of mental deficiency to such an extent that amendments were made to the Mental Deficiency Act in 1927. I examine how clinicians approached the sequelae of EL in children during the 1920s, and how their work and the social problem that these children posed eventually led to changes in the legal definition of mental deficiency. EL serves as an example of how diseases are not only framed by the society they emerge in, but can also help to frame and change existing concepts within that same society.
authors: Centre for the History of Science, Technology and Medicine, University of Manchester, Oxford Road, Manchester M13 9PL, United Kingdom. Electronic address: violeta.ruizcuenca@gmail.com.
authors: Violeta
authors: V
authors: Ruiz
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D001925:Brain Damage, Chronic / Q000209:etiology; D002648:Child; D000066479:Criminal Behavior / Q000941:ethics* / Q000266:history* / Q000502:physiology*; D057237:Criminals / Q000266:history; D004196:Disease Outbreaks / Q000266:history; D007174:Disruptive, Impulse Control, and Conduct Disorders / Q000209:etiology* / Q000266:history* / Q000628:therapy; D004495:Education of Persons with Intellectual Disabilities / Q000266:history / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence; D018792:Encephalitis, Viral / Q000150:complications* / Q000266:history* / Q000523:psychology* / Q000534:rehabilitation; D006291:Health Policy / Q000191:economics / Q000266:history* / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence*; D049673:History, 20th Century; D006801:Humans; D007326:Institutionalization / Q000191:economics / Q000941:ethics / Q000266:history / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence; D008607:Intellectual Disability / Q000209:etiology* / Q000266:history*; D007604:Juvenile Delinquency / Q000941:ethics / Q000266:history / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence; D008134:Long-Term Care / Q000191:economics / Q000941:ethics / Q000266:history / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence; D007319:Sleep Initiation and Maintenance Disorders / Q000209:etiology; D006113:United Kingdom; D055815:Young Adult