Abstract
This study examines the case of Jacob S. Harden, a young Methodist preacher who in 1860 was tried, convicted, and executed in a rural town in the state of New Jersey, United States, for the murder of his wife. The study focuses on the controversies raised in the North American press regarding the case, and how these controversies reflected some evolving ideas in the United Sates at the time: ideas regarding criminal psychology, the causes of criminality, the possibility of prison rehabilitation, the relationship between the clergy and radical movements of reform and social experimentation, and the relative value of public executions as a form of moral admonition for the masses.
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