Executions
In past centuries, public executions of criminals had several purposes. They were a deterrent, a vengeful enactment of moral justice and a morbid form of entertainment. In the 19th century, however, many western nations began moving their gallows behind grey prison walls. Why this decision was taken is hotly debated, but it wasn’t due to dwindling public interest. On the contrary, crowds in Victorian Britain were often rowdy mobs; in 1868, the last man to be publicly executed in Britain was booed by 2,000 people as he swung from the gallows at Newgate. For campaigners like Charles Dickens, such furore was uncivilised and cruel, and his protests likely contributed to the change in the law.