The Crowd, the Press and the Mediated Public

Intramural Executions in Sweden, 1879‒1910

Bibliographic Data

ID22910323
AuthorsMartin Ericsson (0000-0001-6897-0677, Lund University, corresponding author)
Year2025
Pages1-26
Publication date2025-05-11
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueScandinavian Journal of History (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0346-8755 • E-ISSN: 1502-7716
PublisherInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/03468755.2025.2500956
OpenAlexW4410280755
LanguageEN
References cited10

This essay is the first systematic study of intramural executions in Sweden. It examines how intramural executions were introduced, and what effects it had on the publicity of executions. All intramural executions 1879‒1910 are studied. The essay presents three notable findings. First, that the aim of the introduction of intramural executions was not to exclude spectators per se, but to exclude women, children and working-class men. Second, that the number of people (middle class men) present at executions could be quite high even after the introduction of intramural executions, especially in 1879‒1893. Third, that newspapers reported extensively on intramural executions, especially on flawed ones, where the condemned person was terrified or where the killing was bloodier than planned. Such details threatened the legitimacy of the death penalty, and authorities gradually became more restrictive about allowing journalists to attend. Considering these findings, the essay argues that we should not take for granted that extramural executions were public while intramural executions were not. We should rather think of publicity as consisting of different spheres, and of journalists, as well as official witnesses, as ‘mediators’ between the scaffold and the public.

Economic history · Political science · Crime, Deviance, and Social Control · History

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