Public reactions to the case of Mary Wilson, the last woman to be sentenced to death in England and Wales

Seal, L.

Public reactions to the case of Mary Wilson, the last woman to be sentenced to death in England and Wales

Seal, L.

Authors

L. Seal

Abstract

In 1958, 68 year old Mary Wilson became the last woman to be reprieved from the death penalty in England and Wales. She was convicted of the capital murders of two of her husbands, whom she poisoned. This article examines the discourses of capital punishment that were articulated in letters members of the public sent to Rab Butler, Home Secretary at the time, about Mary’s case. It identifies discourses both in support of the death penalty and against it, and places them within their mid twentieth‐century context. The article also explores how Mary’s identity as an older working class woman shaped people’s views regarding the acceptability of her punishment.

Citation

Seal, L. (2008). Public reactions to the case of Mary Wilson, the last woman to be sentenced to death in England and Wales. Papers from the British Criminology Conference, 8, 65-84

Journal Article Type	Article
Publication Date	Jan 1, 2008
Deposit Date	Apr 8, 2010
Publicly Available Date	Apr 21, 2010
Journal	Papers from the British Criminology Conference
Publisher	British Society of Criminology
Peer Reviewed	Peer Reviewed
Volume	8
Pages	65-84
Keywords	Death penalty, 1950s, Punishment, Discourse.
Publisher URL	http://www.britsoccrim.org/v8.htm