Hanged by the neck : an exposure of capital punishment in England

Polemic, anti-capital punishment tract that was put out (1961) a few years before hanging was abolished in the UK (1965). Frankly, I was not impressed by much of the book. A great deal of time is spent discussing the iniquities of capital punishment as it was imposed in the 18th and 19th centuries, which was of relatively little relevance to how it was imposed ca. 1961. There is also a sneering, snotty tone toward the other side of the debate that frankly is off-putting. The only part of the book that I found interesting was a catalogue of the hangings that took place in the post-war era, and how many involved people for whom mercy had been recommended, or had some mental health issues. There's apparently another book that came out at show more the same time, called "Hanged in Error," also by Penguin, which I intend to read to see if it's a better argument. Not recommended. show less

Some parts of this book were interesting - for instance the part about how they used to hang animals for killing people. But much of it was very dry and obviously written for a British audience quite awhile ago!

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