Author: Wakefield, Edward Gibbon
Title: Facts Relating to the Punishment of Death in the Metropolis.
Description: London, Ridgway 1831. Octavo, uncut in original boards (neatly rebacked); xii,198,[2 advert]pp. A crisp copy. ¶ First edition. Parents of underage heiresses may have wished Wakefield hanged but he wasn't in any great danger in Newgate. So he was able to become a good example of his own precept - that it was certainty rather than severity of punishment that works: he never kidnapped another wealthy teenager.

Keywords: social sciences law crime punishment c19th England Australia New Zealand progress reform