An Enquiry into the Causes of the Frequent Executions at Tyburn (1725)

A series of persuasive letters examines why so many people are condemned to death at public executions, describing the Newgate-to-Tyburn spectacle and how it fosters morbid fascination rather than reform. The author argues that the penal code prioritizes deterrence over rehabilitation and considers how harsh penalties, social practices, and failures in prosecution encourage crime; proposes reforms such as tighter control of receivers of stolen goods, discouraging public recovery notices, separating prisoners by age and severity, minimizing pardons, swift sober execution, and making punishment more dissuasive by using executed bodies for dissection or removing condemned persons from society to increase deterrent effect. Vivid scenes and moral reflection illustrate these claims.