To: vannrox
In the sixteenth to eighteenth centuries, death sentences were passed for everything from theft and burglary to treason and murder.Thus motivating the idea of leaving no witness to even a small crime. Most of these death sentences for "petty" crimes were repealed in the 1800s under the prodding of Scotland Yard (as it was then known.)
10 posted on
02/19/2004 1:42:32 PM PST by
Doctor Stochastic
(Vegetabilisch = chaotisch is der Charakter der Modernen. - Friedrich Schlegel)
To: Doctor Stochastic
Thus motivating the idea of leaving no witness to even a small crime. I've heard this is one of the dangers of California's three-strikes-you're-out-for-life laws.
12 posted on
02/19/2004 1:46:26 PM PST by
scan59
(CNN Lies)
To: Doctor Stochastic
There was a long list of offenses for which a person could be hanged, but sometimes criminals were transported to the colonies instead. See Daniel Defoe's Moll Flanders, part of which is set in colonial Virginia. Sometimes the criminal would choose hanging over transportation.
To: Doctor Stochastic
Most of these death sentences for "petty" crimes were repealed in the 1800s After the discovery of Australia...
32 posted on
02/19/2004 6:46:10 PM PST by
Alouette
(Atlantis -- the Real Palestinian State)
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