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🪵 The Threshold

Urbanization drove executions out of public view into prisons

Properties2
tagsja-picks, causal_relationships, trade, singleton, xref, category/causal-relationships
aliases@friedman_history_2005, loc. 1663

3 min read

Urbanization drove executions out of public view into prisons

Evidence

In the nineteenth century, polite society turned against this kind of spectacle. Hangings were supposed to be vivid, palpable lessons on the wages of sin. That may have worked for the small and deeply religious colonial towns, but in big, bustling, raucous cities like Boston or New York, they lost this feature. Instead, they seemed to be vulgar, barbaric rituals, which appealed, not to the moral sense, but to the “animal” instincts of the mob. At least this was a common point of view. A movement arose to privatize the hangman’s work. New York was a pioneer: under a law of 1835, executions were to be held “within the walls of the prison … or within a yard or enclosure adjoining.” Many other states moved in the same direction. — Lawrence M. Friedman, A History of American Law, 1663

Categorization

  • XREF: connects to: Preindustrial cities displayed executions publicly and frequently — Lyn H. Lofland, World of Strangers_ Order and Action in…, 1092; Preindustrial cities staged punishments as popular public spectacles in their busiest sectors — Lyn H. Lofland, World of Strangers_ Order and Action in…, 179; Preindustrial cities placed public torture in their busiest sectors for audiences — Lyn H. Lofland, World of Strangers_ Order and Action in…, 179 (+5 more)

Broader Connections

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