The Yakuza

If the obscene material you're distributing is so avant-garde that most readers can't tell it's actually obscene, did you commit a crime or not? This week, we're getting into the trial of the scandalous literary magazine editors who brought the work of James Joyce to America. Sources and show notes at this link Support the show on Patreon

Not all scam artists prey on suckers’ desire to get rich quick or cheat the system. Some of them prey on their marks’ better impulses, like their love for their pet dogs or their willingness to help a stranger in an emergency. Content note: This episode contains discussion of animal cruelty and inhumane and misguided medical practices. It contains some outdated language about epilepsy. Sources and show notes at this link Support the show on Patreon

With options for getting rid of its convicts drying up, Britain started thinking about reforming both its prisons and the prisoners inside them. The intention behind these prison reforms was great. But attempts to create a better prison system involved wild philosophy experiments in real life, a lot of Bibles, a lot of time to think in silence, and... treadmills? Sources and show notes at this link Support the show on Patreon

Is abortion legal in Japan? No, but also yes. Join us on a journey through history to learn about how modern abortion law developed in a legal system that didn't treat fetuses as legal persons but did want to count them as future taxpayers.   Content note: This episode is about abortion. It contains discussions of miscarriages, the complications of improper administration of abortifacients, forced sterilization, sexually transmitted diseases, and sex work.   Sources and show notes at this link   Support the show on Patreon

We're out of the country for a family memorial service and didn't have time to record a Criminal Records episode for the week. But that doesn't mean we're out of crime content! This week, we've cleaned up and cut together some of Isaac's very, very old History of Japan audio to bring you the history of Japanese organized crime.

Under Britain's most notorious era of criminal law, you could be sentenced to death for everything from destroying a fishpond to being a particularly malicious 7-year-old. But how many criminals actually died thanks to this wave of harsh legislation? Getting the answer requires a deep dive into the very weird world of crime and punishment in the industrializing United Kingdom. Content note: This episode is about capital punishment in British law and will include a lot of information about the state executing convicted criminals. The show notes contain images of hangings. I'm sticking with our general policy of choosing illustrations for our show notes instead of photographs of dead bodies. Sources and show notes Support the show on Patreon

The law was out to take Emma Goldman down on a range of charges from distributing obscene material to assassination to sedition. But did the woman the papers called the Queen of Anarchy deserve her lengthy rap sheet? Sources and show notes (with some excellent political cartoons) at this link Support the show on Patreon

Something seemed a little less than ideal about governments and economies around the world in the late 1880s. One woman's solution? Anarchy. Sources and show notes at this link Support the show on Patreon

Thanks to Demetria's brilliant decision to get as many vaccines as possible on the same day, there's no new episode this week. Instead, we're releasing a bonus episode from our Patreon archives about one of our all-time favorite works of historical fiction. We'll be back on our regular posting schedule in 2024! Content warning: Babylon Berlin is set in the Weimar Republic and contains some admirably frank depictions of the rise of fascism, so there's a lot of discussion of antisemitism and Nazis in this episode and on the show.

On one side, a crooked saloon owner with a side business running brothels and opium dens. On the other side, a moralistic tycoon with rail car full of beautiful vegetables. Which one of them did more damage to a frontier town in Montana? Sources and show notes at this link Support the show on Patreon