In criminal courts an equal reform was effected, and men accused of
burglary and murder are now allowed to have counsel to defend them,
and the right of appeal is secured; whereas, up to the era of
Victoria, they were obliged to plead their own cases as best they
might against skilled public prosecutors, who used every resource
known to the law to convict them.
Great changes for the better have also taken place in the treatment of
the insane. Until near the close of the eighteenth century this
unfortunate class was quite generally regarded as possessed by demons,
and dealt with accordingly. William Tuke, a member of the Society of
Friends, inaugurated a better system (1792); but the old method
continued for many years longer. In fact, we have the highest
authority for saying that down to a pretty late period in the
nineteenth century the inmates of many asylums were worse off than the
most desperate criminals.
They were shut up in dark, and often filthy, cells, where "they were
chained to the wall, flogged, starved, and not infrequently
killed."[2] Since then, mechanical restraints have, as a rule, been
abolished, and the patients are generally treated with the care and
kindness which their condition demands.
[2] Encyclopaedia Britannica (10th and 11th editions) under
"Insanity."