1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910286407703321

Autore

Bennett Rachel E

Titolo

Capital Punishment and the Criminal Corpse in Scotland, 1740–1834 [[electronic resource] /] / by Rachel E. Bennett

Pubbl/distr/stampa

Cham : , : Springer International Publishing : , : Imprint : Palgrave Macmillan, , 2018

ISBN

3-319-62018-5

Edizione

[1st ed. 2018.]

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (XV, 237 p. 1 illus.)

Collana

Palgrave Historical Studies in the Criminal Corpse and its Afterlife

Disciplina

941

Soggetti

Great Britain—History

Social history

Crime—Sociological aspects

Civilization—History

History

History of Britain and Ireland

Social History

Crime and Society

Cultural History

History of Science

Electronic books.

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Nota di contenuto

Chapter 1: Introduction --  Part I: The Implementation of the Death Sentence in Scotland -- Chapter 2: Capital Punishment and the Scottish Criminal Justice System -- Chapter 3: Contextualising the Punishment of Death -- Chapter 4: Scottish Women and the Hangman’s Noose -- Part II: The Theatre of the Gallows in Scotland -- Chapter 5: The Spectacle of the Scaffold --  Chapter 6: A Fate Worse than Death? Dissection and the Criminal Corpse -- Chapter 7: Hanging in Chains: The Criminal Corpse on Display --  Chapter 8: Conclusion -- Index. .

Sommario/riassunto

This book is open access under a CC BY 4.0 license. This book provides the most in-depth study of capital punishment in Scotland between the mid-eighteenth and early nineteenth century to date. Based upon an



extensive gathering and analysis of previously untapped resources, it takes the reader on a journey from the courtrooms of Scotland to the theatre of the gallows. It introduces them to several of the malefactors who faced the hangman’s noose and explores the traditional hallmarks of the spectacle of the scaffold. It demonstrates that the period between 1740 and 1834 was one of discussion, debate and fundamental change in the use of the death sentence and how it was staged in practice. In addition, the study provides an innovative investigation of the post-mortem punishment of the criminal corpse. It offers the reader an insight into the scene at the foot of the gibbets from which criminal bodies were displayed, and around the dissection tables of Scotland’s main universities where criminal bodies were used as cadavers for anatomical demonstration. In doing so it reveals an intermediate stage in the long-term disappearance of public bodily punishment. .