Extreme Necessity on the Fringe – Copycat Crimes During the Great Famine of 1695–1697 in Finland

This article delves into three similar robbery-murders committed during the Great Famine of 1695–1697 on the periphery of Finland. The seventeenth century in Europe was marked by several famines, but Finland was especially hard-hit. The murders all occurred within six months of each other and were driven by hunger. The victims, defenceless women, were murdered in their sleep while their husbands were away. The first murder was committed by an adult, while the subsequent two, I argue, were copycat crimes carried out by twelve-year-old boys. The article carefully analyses the court records, and the legal arguments used in them, which have been either completely ignored or carelessly examined in previous studies. I also focus on the question of whether the decisions and the local discussions referred to any mitigating circumstances or to necessity – necessitas non habet legem. Even though there are no direct references to this principal, my findings show that despite the brutality of their acts, the children received reasonable trials, partly due to the community’s close-knit nature. The community both protected and understood the children, viewing them as perpetrators but also as victims of the dire circumstances they faced.