Cargando…

‘Other Spaces’ for the Dangerous Dead of Provincial England, c.1752–1832

The Murder Act (1752) decreed that homicide perpetrators should be hanged and sent for post‐execution punishment. This article explores the event management of criminal dissections by penal surgeons in situ. It reveals that the punishment parade of the condemned did not stop at the scaffold, contrar...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autor principal: HURREN, ELIZABETH T.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: John Wiley and Sons Inc. 2018
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5817235/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29491511
http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/1468-229X.12534
_version_ 1783300834628468736
author HURREN, ELIZABETH T.
author_facet HURREN, ELIZABETH T.
author_sort HURREN, ELIZABETH T.
collection PubMed
description The Murder Act (1752) decreed that homicide perpetrators should be hanged and sent for post‐execution punishment. This article explores the event management of criminal dissections by penal surgeons in situ. It reveals that the punishment parade of the condemned did not stop at the scaffold, contrary to the impression in many standard historical accounts. Instead, ordinary people accompanied criminal corpses to many different types of dissection venues. Penal surgeons hand‐picked these performance spaces that were socially produced for legal and practical reasons. They had to be able to process large numbers of people who wanted to be part of the consumption of post‐mortem ‘harm’ in English communities. Event management on location had to have emotional and visual appeal, moral coherence, be timed appropriately, and, if successful, would enhance the deterrence value of the capital code. Yet, managing the ‘dangerous dead’ involved a great deal of discretionary justice with unpredictable outcomes. It often happened in ‘counter‐sites’ of punishment in the community and involved a great deal of immersive theatre. Some events worked well, others threatened the social order. In ‘Other Spaces’ the ‘Dangerous Dead’ was hence a fascinating feature of the Murder Act outside the Metropolis from 1752 to 1832.
format Online
Article
Text
id pubmed-5817235
institution National Center for Biotechnology Information
language English
publishDate 2018
publisher John Wiley and Sons Inc.
record_format MEDLINE/PubMed
spelling pubmed-58172352018-02-26 ‘Other Spaces’ for the Dangerous Dead of Provincial England, c.1752–1832 HURREN, ELIZABETH T. History (Lond) Articles The Murder Act (1752) decreed that homicide perpetrators should be hanged and sent for post‐execution punishment. This article explores the event management of criminal dissections by penal surgeons in situ. It reveals that the punishment parade of the condemned did not stop at the scaffold, contrary to the impression in many standard historical accounts. Instead, ordinary people accompanied criminal corpses to many different types of dissection venues. Penal surgeons hand‐picked these performance spaces that were socially produced for legal and practical reasons. They had to be able to process large numbers of people who wanted to be part of the consumption of post‐mortem ‘harm’ in English communities. Event management on location had to have emotional and visual appeal, moral coherence, be timed appropriately, and, if successful, would enhance the deterrence value of the capital code. Yet, managing the ‘dangerous dead’ involved a great deal of discretionary justice with unpredictable outcomes. It often happened in ‘counter‐sites’ of punishment in the community and involved a great deal of immersive theatre. Some events worked well, others threatened the social order. In ‘Other Spaces’ the ‘Dangerous Dead’ was hence a fascinating feature of the Murder Act outside the Metropolis from 1752 to 1832. John Wiley and Sons Inc. 2018-01-23 2018-01 /pmc/articles/PMC5817235/ /pubmed/29491511 http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/1468-229X.12534 Text en © 2018 The Author. History © 2018 The Historical Association and John Wiley & Sons Ltd This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
spellingShingle Articles
HURREN, ELIZABETH T.
‘Other Spaces’ for the Dangerous Dead of Provincial England, c.1752–1832
title ‘Other Spaces’ for the Dangerous Dead of Provincial England, c.1752–1832
title_full ‘Other Spaces’ for the Dangerous Dead of Provincial England, c.1752–1832
title_fullStr ‘Other Spaces’ for the Dangerous Dead of Provincial England, c.1752–1832
title_full_unstemmed ‘Other Spaces’ for the Dangerous Dead of Provincial England, c.1752–1832
title_short ‘Other Spaces’ for the Dangerous Dead of Provincial England, c.1752–1832
title_sort ‘other spaces’ for the dangerous dead of provincial england, c.1752–1832
topic Articles
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5817235/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29491511
http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/1468-229X.12534
work_keys_str_mv AT hurrenelizabetht otherspacesforthedangerousdeadofprovincialenglandc17521832