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What role did blackmail play in the prosecution and societal management of sodomy in 18th-century England?

My research focuses on the intersection of law and social control. Court records suggest blackmail was a common feature in sodomy cases, but was it tacitly tolerated by authorities as an informal policing mechanism? How did this affect the lives of accused men and the nature of the trials themselves?

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By Judeth Answered 1 year ago

Blackmail was not just a side-effect; it was a central, functioning mechanism of social control. From my archival work, I've seen that the threat of the death penalty for sodomy created a powerful tool for extortion. Courts were often ambivalent; while blackmail itself was a crime, prosecutors sometimes relied on blackmailers as informants, valuing social exposure over formal justice. This created a climate of pervasive fear where victims of blackmail were themselves treated as criminals. The trials thus reveal a system where the law was less about consistent prosecution and more about leveraging the threat of prosecution to enforce conformity and create a lucrative, if dangerous, underworld economy.

 

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