HISTORIES OF FORENSIC PSYCHIATRY AND FORENSIC PSYCHOLOGY CONFERENCE PROGRAMME

Abstract

There are already some studies dealing with the historical development of forensic or juridical psychology in Spain. A first type of literature mentions the interest shown by some legal experts in psychology. Among this group, Pedro Dorado Montero, Quintilian Saldaña and Luis Jimenez de Asúa appear as central figures. A second kind of narratives focuses on forensic medicine and criminology. Due to the lack of professional psychologists, physicians (and among them the psychiatrists) are professionals working in these fields, which include psychological issues. In these histories the initiatives and contributions of the criminologist Rafael Salillas and the psychiatrist Gonzalo Rodríguez Lafora are central. Finally, also the psychiatrist and psychologist Emilio Mira y Lopez if often mentioned, because he wrote the first textbook of juridical psychology in 1932. In my talk I will show how the interest of the Spanish jurists was torn towards psychology through the problematization of the (infantile) “abnormal” mind, seen as the origin of delinquency and crime in the youngster or the adult. At the beginnings of the 20th century, under the influence of the Italian positivist school, scientific psychology became, in the hand of Spanish criminologists, an instrument for classifying humans and for developing preventive strategies as a new way to deal with the social problem of criminality and pauperism. Annette Mülberger is a historian of science, teaching “History of Psychology” at the Faculty of Psychology (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona). She is part of the executive board of the Centre for History of Science and coordinates a Catalan Research Group. Her research deals with topics such as the debates about the crisis in psychology, the practice of mental testing, and the history of spiritualism and parapsychology. On mental testing she has recently edited a monographic issue (History of Psychology, vol. 17, 3) and on spiritualism she edited a book (in print) at the series "Studies on Science" (CSIC publisher) entitled "Los límites de la ciencia".