Join us on a literary world trip!
Add this book to bookshelf
Grey
Write a new comment Default profile 50px
Grey
Subscribe to read the full book or read the first pages for free!
All characters reduced
The History and Romance of Crime - Oriental Prisons from the Earliest Times - cover

The History and Romance of Crime - Oriental Prisons from the Earliest Times

Arthur Griffiths

Publisher: anboco

  • 0
  • 0
  • 0

Summary

Oriental Prisons: Prisons and crime in India, the Andaman Islands, Burmah, China, Japan, Egypt and Turkey. It is as true of crime in the Orient as of other habits, customs and beliefs of the East, that what has descended from generation to generation and become not only a tradition but an established fact, is accepted as such by the people, who display only a passive indifference to deeds of cruelty and violence. Each country has its own peculiar classes of hereditary criminals, and the influence of tradition and long established custom has made the eradication of such crimes a difficult matter.

Religion in the East has had a most notable influence on crime. In India the Thugs or professional stranglers were most devout and their criminal acts were preceded by religious rites and ceremonies. In China the peculiar forms of animism pervading the religion of the people has greatly influenced criminal practices. Murder veiled in obscurity is frequently attributed to some one of the legion of evil spirits who are supposed to be omnipresent; and to satisfy and appease these demons innocent persons are made to suffer. So great, too, is the power of the spirit after death to cause good or ill, that many stories are related of victims of vi injustice who have hanged themselves on their persecutors' door-posts, thus converting their spirits into wrathful ghosts to avenge them. The firm belief in ghosts and their power of vengeance and reward is a great restraint in the practice of infanticide, as the souls of murdered infants may seek vengeance and bring about serious calamity.

Oriental prison history is one long record of savage punishments culminating in the death penalty, aggravated by abominable tortures. The people are of two classes, the oppressed and the oppressors, and the last named have invented many devices for legal persecution. In early China and Japan, relentless and ferocious methods were in force.
Available since: 07/05/2017.

Other books that might interest you

  • Murder & Mayhem on Ohio's Rails - cover

    Murder & Mayhem on Ohio's Rails

    Jane Ann Turzillo

    • 0
    • 0
    • 0
    All aboard for a breakneck trip into history, as the author of Wicked Women of Ohio details the Buckeye State’s most daring train holdups.    Ride Ohio’s rails with some of the bravest trainmen and most vicious killers and robbers to ever roll down the tracks. The West may have had Jesse James and Butch Cassidy, but Ohio had its own brand of train robbers. Discover how Alvin Karpis knocked off an Erie Railroad train and escaped with $34,000. Learn about the first peacetime train holdup that took place in North Bend when thieves derailed the Kate Jackson, robbed its passengers and blew the Adam’s Express safe. Make no mistake—railroading was a dangerous job in bygone days.   Includes photos!   “Ohio was plagued by train bandits, too, and some of them were shockingly violent. Journalist Jane Ann Turzillo has researched 10 interesting cases for her book.” —Akron Beacon Journal
    Show book
  • The Making of Lee Boyd Malvo - The DC Sniper - cover

    The Making of Lee Boyd Malvo -...

    Carmeta Albarus

    • 0
    • 0
    • 0
    “The best explanation I have yet read for the madness that was the Beltway sniper spree can be found in the pages of [this] fascinating new book.”—The AtlanticIn October of 2002, a series of sniper attacks paralyzed the Washington Beltway, turning normally placid gas stations, parking lots, restaurants, and school grounds into chaotic killing fields. After the spree, ten people were dead and several others wounded. The perpetrators were forty-one-year-old John Allen Muhammad, a veteran of the first Gulf War, and his seventeen-year-old protégé, Lee Boyd Malvo.  In this intimate and carefully documented account, social worker Carmeta Albarus, who served on Malvo’s defense team and researched his background, details the nature of Malvo's tragic attachment to his perceived “hero father,” his indoctrination, and his subsequent dissociation. She recounts her role in helping to extricate Malvo from the psychological clutches of Muhammad, which led to a dramatic courtroom confrontation with the man who manipulated and exploited him. Psychologist Jonathan H. Mack identifies and analyzes the underlying clinical psychological and behavioral processes that led to Malvo’s dissociation and turn toward serial violence.With this tragic tale, the authors emphasize the importance of parental attachment and the need for positive and loving relationships during the critical years of early childhood development. By closely examining the impact of Lee Boyd Malvo’s childhood on his later development, they reach out to parents, social workers, and the community for greater awareness and prevention.“The book can be illuminating, especially when Albarus describes what it was like to pierce Malvo’s shield and help wrest his psyche from Muhammad.”—The Newark Star-Ledger“Fascinating.”—Publishers Weekly
    Show book
  • Alcatraz - The Last Escape - cover

    Alcatraz - The Last Escape

    Ken Widner, Mike Lynch

    • 0
    • 0
    • 0
    When Frank Morris and brothers John and Clarence Anglin boldly escaped from Alcatraz prison on June 11, 1962, it is widely believed that they succumbed to the waters of San Francisco Bay, though no trace of the men has ever been found, only their makeshift raft. In this reexamination of the escape and its aftermath, the Anglin brothers' nephew presents compelling evidence that his uncles did, in fact, survive and eventually made their way to Brazil, where they married and had children. Using official, government documents showing how mobster Mickey Cohen may have been involved in the escape, some revealing letters from fellow inmate Whitey Bulger, and recorded testimony from the person who facilitated their escape to Brazil, the authors make a strong case for the Anglin brothers' survival. In addition, a 1975 photograph of the brothers in Brazil has overcome all challenges to its authenticity by skeptics. This book provides a plausible outcome to one of America's enduring mysteries.
    Show book
  • Dark Psychology - How to Notice Manipulators and Psychopaths - cover

    Dark Psychology - How to Notice...

    Amanda Grapes

    • 0
    • 0
    • 0
    Psychopaths and sociopaths are everywhere in our society. You may not realize it, but they are out there. Chances are that you know someone who is a sociopath and you don’t even know it. 
    So what is the difference? 
    How do they compare? 
    And are they all dangerous? 
    Aside from answering these questions, we will also look into other topics that are related to manipulation. For example, we’ll go deeper into how to see if someone is manipulating you, or which sales tactics people use to make you buy something. All of these things will be helpful as you try to get a better grasp of the human psyche.
    Show book
  • Catherine and Friends - Inside the Investigation Into Ireland's Most Notorious Murder - cover

    Catherine and Friends - Inside...

    Pat Flynn

    • 0
    • 0
    • 0
    The trial and conviction of Catherine Nevin for her role in the murder of her husband Tom monopolized the attention of the country for weeks. It was the main topic of conversation in pubs, homes and workplaces as newspapers daily carried new and salacious details of the "Black Widow's" scheming, as well as images of her glamorous and expansive wardrobe, on their front pages. In the days before murders became a daily occurrence in Ireland, the allegations of contract killers, extra-marital affairs, fraud and involvement with Republican organisations seemed better suited to the big screen than a small town pub. Pat Flynn led the investigation against Catherine, a woman whom he had encountered several times before these events unfolded. He had witnessed her fabricate accusations of sexual abuse against his Garda colleagues while she continued to enthral his superior officers and Judge O'Buachalla. He describes how holes in her version of the events on the night of the murder were found, along with evidence of how she had been plotting for years to have her husband murdered.
    Show book
  • The Boys in Chicago Heights - The Forgotten Crew of the Chicago Outfit - cover

    The Boys in Chicago Heights -...

    Matthew J. Luzi

    • 0
    • 0
    • 0
    Chicago Heights was long the seat of one of the major street crews of the Chicago Outfit, but its importance has often been overlooked and misunderstood.The crew's origins predate Prohibition, when Chicago Heights was a developing manufacturing center with a large Italian immigrant population. Its earliest bosses struggled for control until a violent gang war left the crew solidified under the auspices of Al Capone. For the remainder of the twentieth century, the boys from Chicago Heights generated large streams of revenue for the Outfit through its vast gambling enterprises, union infiltration and stolen auto rackets. For the first time, the history of the Chicago Heights street crew is traced from its inception through its last known boss.
    Show book