ABSTRACT
There is probably no other country in the world in which so many and so great a variety of human actions are punishable with loss of life as in England. These sanguinary statutes, however, are not carried into execution. For some time past the sentence of death has not been executed on more than a sixth part of the persons on whom it has been pronounced, even taking into the calculation crimes the most atrocious and the most dangerous to society,—murders, rapes, burning of houses, coining, forgeries, and attempts to commit murder. This chapter focuses on how all the fluctuations of opinion and variations in practice must operate upon that portion of mankind, who are rendered obedient to the law only by the terror of punishment. After giving full weight to all the chances of complete impunity which they can suggest to their minds, they have to calculate the probabilities of their escaping a severe punishment.
