Arbitrary Justice? A Comparative Analysis of Canadian Death Sentences Passed and Commuted during the First World War

摘要

The topic of military executions has dominated the study of discipline and punishment during the First World War. Considering the relatively small numbers of men who were executed, 361 in British and Dominion forces combined, it is startling how much attention the subject has garnered. The morality of the practice been widely discussed and debated and it has spawned recent pardons campaigns in the United Kingdom, New Zealand and Canada. Yet, virtually ignored in these debates have been the stories of the 3,080 men of the British and Dominion forces who were also sentenced to death, but saw their sentences commuted. What was the fate of these men and what accounts for their salvation when the luck of others had run out?