ABSTRACT
The early to mid-nineteenth century was a turbulent period for the cities of an expanding America. The 1830s were a time of “epic homicidal riots,” 1 which prompted the creation of the first urban police force. The explosion of real-life crime 2 was accompanied by a new enthusiasm for gothic storytelling, focusing largely on the wily criminal and the internal dialogues of the guilty. How did these tremendously popular stories influence the development of nineteenth-century criminal law, in particular the parallel development and explication of criminal mens rea in both literature and the law?
