It is easy to forget that the death penalty was not abolished in Canada until 1976. But from the time of Confederation execution was an entrenched aspect of Canadian culture and criminal justice, one whose meaning was shaped by ritual, symbol, and theatricality.
The Practice of Execution in Canada is not about what led some to the gallows and others to escape it. It is about the taken-for-granted rituals and practices of execution, seen as a social institution. Drawing on hundreds of capital case files, Ken Leyton-Brown shows that each phase of the process - from the trial to...
It is easy to forget that the death penalty was not abolished in Canada until 1976. But from the time of Confederation execution was an entrenched ...
