Rites of Execution: Capital Punishment and the Transformation of America Culture, 1776-1865

by Louis P. Masur

Book Overview

Between the seventeenth and nineteenth centuries, Western societies abandoned public executions in favor of private punishments, primarily confinement in penitentiaries and private executions. The transition, guided by a reconceptualization of the causes of crime, the nature of authority, and the purposes of punishment, embodied the triumph of new sensibilities and the reconstitution of cultural values throughout the Western world. This study examines...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0195066634
• ISBN13: 9780195066630
• Release Date: May 1991
• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Length: 224 Pages
• Weight: 0.66 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 5.4" x 8.3"