... the search for alternate methods of execution and the affects on the public who viewed them. It was not only the need for more reliable techniques, but the increasing problem of public executions. These instances forced the states to question these two issues that became greatly associated with capital punishment. By the turn of the 19th Century, the social elites and aspiring middle classes began to associate public executions with the worst of society. Those who continued to attend public executions, especially women, were seen as vulgar and unrefined if their tastes were "...low enough to enjoy a hanging."(p152) Most Northern and some Southern states moved executions into prison courtyards and away from the unruly crowds, that at times reached 25,000. Some questioned this decision, highlighting the fact that capital punishment helps deter the public from committing terrible crimes; by concealing the hangings, capital punishment was no longer a "first hand ...

See this essay or coursework document in full right now