 <unk> like this had once passed with little to no comment in the press . Historically , while fewer women than men were subjected to capital punishment , <unk> more were acquitted , found guilty of lesser charges , or <unk> if condemned . In centuries past , these women were judged by publications such as The Newgate Calendar to have succumbed to their own <unk> , or to have been led astray . But while 18th and 19th @-@ century women guilty of treasonable crimes were still seen as villains , increasingly , the cause of their descent was ascribed to villainous men . Those people concerned about the brutality inflicted on condemned women were , in Gatrell 's opinion , " activated by the sense that even at their worst women were creatures to be <unk> and protected from themselves , and perhaps revered , like all women from whom men were born . " Commenting on Harris 's execution , The Daily Universal Register claimed that the act reflected " a scandal upon the law " , " a disgrace to the police " and " was not only <unk> , but <unk> <unk> and shocking " . The newspaper asked " why should the law in this species of offence inflict a <unk> punishment upon a woman , than upon a man " ? 
