Tuesday 7 December 2010

Rough Justice

Are you watching the fascinating series, Garrow, about the 18th century London barrister who champions the victims of the rough justice which existed in those days?  William can't bear to see women and young children being sent to the gallows for trifling offences.  Garrow was a real person who became a politician and judge and who reformed our advocacy system.  He introduced the phrase  'innocent until proven guilty', insisting that defendants' accusers and their evidence be thoroughly tested in court.
My book, The A-Z of Punishment and Torture, highlights some of the kind of cases Garrow would have defended and the lives he would have saved, had he been able.  We owe him a great deal.