Should convict labour be abolished because it is said to rob honest workers of jobs or should it be maintained to help ease the burden on taxpayers? Workers at Kingston wanted it abolished but business men, at an annual meeting, thought otherwise. From the Kingston Daily News, January 30, 1860. The mechanics of Kingston memorialized […]
Tag: Criminal justice
Death penalty abolished in 30-year reform campaign
Law and order 1822-1967 From my book, About Canada, Toronto, Civil Sector Press, 2012. For some two centuries, the death penalty hung over the parts of North America that eventually became Canada, before it was abolished—for all but military crimes. Under British law, there were some 230 crimes that carried the death penalty, early in […]
You could be hanged for stealing turnips
Law and order 1822-1967 In early nineteenth century Canada, you could be hanged for stealing turnips. If you fell into debt, you could be imprisoned for life—in possibly the world’s worst prisons, perhaps together with your wife and children. Women were not sentenced to debtors’ prison, but if they lived on poverty street without means […]