Comments on: Execution

By: Ardis E. Parshall

Ardis E. Parshall — Sun, 28 Mar 2010 01:59:16 +0000

/snicker/

By: Bookslinger

Bookslinger — Sun, 28 Mar 2010 01:54:45 +0000

Researcher: if women wrote the laws, enforced them, and judged the offenders, male adulterers might end up being sent to…
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a much smaller guillotine.

By: Bookslinger

Bookslinger — Sat, 27 Mar 2010 23:17:13 +0000

Deterrence.

In the 1970′s the murder rate increased dramatically. It is postulated that this was because the change in the death penalty laws and in the way the death penalty was applied, the criminal class (or those inclined to commit crime, etc) came to realize that the probability of paying the ulimtate price for the ultimate crime had become relatively small.

Also when the death penalty and lengthy prison sentences stopped being applied to those under age 18, crime in that age range also increased. Causation, or correlation? The street cops I’ve known have told me causation.

By: Hunter

Hunter — Sat, 27 Mar 2010 01:37:49 +0000

“Right?

BWAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!”

Ardis, your joke was well-executed.

(Sorry. Had to do it.)

By: Justin

Justin — Fri, 26 Mar 2010 21:11:16 +0000

It appears to me that WJL made very close use of material published in Chambers’s Encyclopaedia, including its entries on capital punishment, drowning, guillotine, and breaking on the wheel (wheel, breaking on the).

By: Mex Davis

Mex Davis — Fri, 26 Mar 2010 20:25:54 +0000

The dog, cat and snake were added punishment. They would react very badly to the confinement and attack the culprit inflicting severe pain but taking their mind off the fact that they are drowning (OK in made up that last part). People can be very cruel when it comes to punishment or doling out death. Anne you get two for one, animal and criminal control. Still don’t see where this fits in to any lession plan.

By: Mark B.

Mark B. — Fri, 26 Mar 2010 20:20:39 +0000

That almost reminds me of the joke where the cow and pig came to the farmer’s door to complain about the traveler who had been sent to sleep in the barn.

By: Anne (U.K)

Anne (U.K) — Fri, 26 Mar 2010 19:00:49 +0000

I’d like to know what the unfortunate cat, dog and snake did in 1734 to warrant the death penalty, that’s really odd.

By: Researcher

Researcher — Fri, 26 Mar 2010 17:41:21 +0000

Oh my goodness, Ardis. I must have been reading too fast. I somehow thought that the included article was by May Green, and I was feeling rather astounded, since I had just seen her in the Mormon Migration records that you linked to on the sidebar. Her mother’s occupation was listed as “Lady” and everything I know about the very proper Green family would not encompass the fact of May Green writing an article like this.

The article actually sounds like it was written by a man — the author lists the punishments for faithless wives and mothers who do away with their children but does not mention an equivalent punishment for males committing the same crimes.

By: Coffinberry

Coffinberry — Fri, 26 Mar 2010 17:11:50 +0000

Oh. One more thought. These articles with their woodcuts remind me very much of the Martyr's Mirror, an Anabaptist staple continuing through the 19th century.