This article is about criminally insane patients assessed as dangerous and who were admitted to one of the two criminal asylums in Norway during the period 1895-1940. These asylums are unique in Norwegian history of psychiatry the first, Kriminalasylet, administered under the Department of Justice, the second, Reitgjerdet, under the Department of Social Affairs. Both were established with the aim of treating and confining criminally insane males, and the term dangerous was central to their establishment. Nevertheless, only a minority of the patient population was assessed as dangerous, either through a separate declaration signed by a psychiatrist or by a secure sentence given by the courts. The article explores who these dangerous insane men were, the crimes they had committed and what made them dangerous in the eyes of others. Patient journals, published debates and contemporary articles are the main sources.
