A BLOODY NEW CHAPTER
Jun 10, 2022
3 minutes
WORDS: RHIANNON DAVIES
“Capital offences included misdeeds such as damaging a garden or stealing a rabbit”
By the turn of the 19th century, the so-called ‘Bloody Code’ reigned supreme in England and Wales. Crimes as mundane as damaging a fishpond or cutting down a tree could earn you a one-way ticket to the gallows.
The harsh penal code (which was actually an accumulation of many different acts over several decades) emerged after a significant period of upheaval. From the start of the
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