Fatal Confession: A Girl’s Murder, a Man’s Execution, and the "Fitton" Case: Landmark Cases in Canadian Law
Autor Carolyn Strangeen Limba Engleză Paperback – 31 oct 2025
A gripping exploration of a 1956 Toronto murder case that challenged legal notions of consent, confession, and capital punishment in a deeply gendered justice system.
When the body of thirteen-year-old Linda Lampkin was found, raped and strangled, on Toronto’s industrial waterfront in 1956, locals feared a sex maniac was on the loose. Within a day, detectives announced the arrest of Robert Fitton. He was charged with murder, although Fitton claimed the sex was consensual and the strangulation accidental.
Fatal Confession is a compelling analysis of that violent encounter and the ensuing legal and political entanglements, which ended in the hanging of Fitton despite the jury’s and judge’s recommendation of mercy. The case exposed judicial ambivalence about the criminal definition of constructive murder in connection with rape, disagreements over the voluntariness of confessions to police, and widespread doubt over the culpability of males “tempted” by precocious females.
Weaving together politics, culture, legal history, and biography, Fatal Confession unravels a case that ultimately called into question both capital punishment and masculinist legal interpretations of sexual consent.
When the body of thirteen-year-old Linda Lampkin was found, raped and strangled, on Toronto’s industrial waterfront in 1956, locals feared a sex maniac was on the loose. Within a day, detectives announced the arrest of Robert Fitton. He was charged with murder, although Fitton claimed the sex was consensual and the strangulation accidental.
Fatal Confession is a compelling analysis of that violent encounter and the ensuing legal and political entanglements, which ended in the hanging of Fitton despite the jury’s and judge’s recommendation of mercy. The case exposed judicial ambivalence about the criminal definition of constructive murder in connection with rape, disagreements over the voluntariness of confessions to police, and widespread doubt over the culpability of males “tempted” by precocious females.
Weaving together politics, culture, legal history, and biography, Fatal Confession unravels a case that ultimately called into question both capital punishment and masculinist legal interpretations of sexual consent.
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Specificații
ISBN-13: 9780774872768
ISBN-10: 0774872764
Pagini: 306
Ilustrații: 26 halftones, 16 line drawings, 1 map, 1 table
Dimensiuni: 140 x 216 x 23 mm
Greutate: 0.37 kg
Editura: University of British Columbia Press
Colecția University of British Columbia Press
Seria Landmark Cases in Canadian Law
ISBN-10: 0774872764
Pagini: 306
Ilustrații: 26 halftones, 16 line drawings, 1 map, 1 table
Dimensiuni: 140 x 216 x 23 mm
Greutate: 0.37 kg
Editura: University of British Columbia Press
Colecția University of British Columbia Press
Seria Landmark Cases in Canadian Law
Notă biografică
Carolyn Strange is a professor and former head of the School of History at the Australian National University in Canberra. She is a fellow of both the Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia and the Australian Academy of the Humanities.
Cuprins
Of Graves and Gallows
1 The Problem of Sex Crime and Criminals
2 Pickup on Jane Street
3 Let Justice Take Its Course
4 Condemned to Death
5 Contesting the Confession
6 An Uncommon Appeal
7 Reversal of Fortune
8 The Closed Cabinet
9 A Second Fatality
Unfinished Business
Notes; Index of Cases; Index
1 The Problem of Sex Crime and Criminals
2 Pickup on Jane Street
3 Let Justice Take Its Course
4 Condemned to Death
5 Contesting the Confession
6 An Uncommon Appeal
7 Reversal of Fortune
8 The Closed Cabinet
9 A Second Fatality
Unfinished Business
Notes; Index of Cases; Index
Recenzii
"Carolyn Strange is unquestionably the leading historian of capital punishment in Canada, and Fatal Confession displays all the virtues of this very fine scholar. This is exemplary research, and a story very well told."
"No hanging is inevitable. Carolyn Strange’s riveting tale of a west-end Toronto teenager's rape and murder offers a fascinating glimpse into the gendered assumptions of 1950s Canadians. Some decried 'lust-maddened fiends' who ravaged innocent young girls; others defended men with 'normal sex impulses' lured to their demise by precocious sexpot pickups. This tenacious tug-of-war between prosecution and defense will leave readers astonished at the 'arbitrariness of capital justice.'”
"Fatal Confession is a gripping and insightful book by one of the masters of Canadian criminal justice history. As she unravels the tragic and disturbing Fitton case, Strange illuminates the intricate ties between criminal law, sexuality, psychology, and the media. A compelling and thought-provoking read – I learned something on every page and couldn’t put it down."