Crime

Rum and Reform: The Party on Norfolk Island

As convicts celebrated Queen Victoria’s birthday on remote Norfolk Island, debates raged over the purpose of punishment and the merits of Alexander Maconochie’s project of moral reform.

The Tudor War on Libel

As rude rhymes and rumours threatened reputations, the Elizabethan government attempted to regulate barbed language.

Putting Mothers on Death Row

US law requires a stay of execution for pregnant women on death row. In practice, however, this once only applied to mothers considered ‘good enough’.