Christine Ekholst's new book is here! | College of Arts

Christine Ekholst's new book is here!

Posted on Wednesday, July 2nd, 2014

Our own Dr. Christine Ekholst has just published a monograph, A Punishment for Each Criminal: Gender and Crime in Swedish Medieval Law, with Brill.

from the dust jacketA Punishment for Each Criminal is the first in-depth analysis of how gender influenced Swedish medieval law. Christine Ekholst demonstrates how the law codes gradually and unevenly introduced women as possible perpetrators for all serious crimes. The laws reveal that legislators not only expected men and women to commit different types of crimes; they also punished men and women in different ways if they were convicted. The laws consistently stipulated different methods of executions for men and women; while men were hanged or broken on the wheel, women were buried alive, stoned, or burned at the stake. A Punishment for Each Criminal explores the background to the important legislative changes that took place when women were made personally responsible for their own crimes.