This was one of a pair of Penguin Specials that came out in the early 1960s, during a fierce debate on the abolition of capital punishment in the U.K. The theory behind this book is that there are those that have been, as the title says, "hanged in error." There are two problems with the selected cases: one was that a number of the cases were well over a hundred years old at the time of publication, and one was nearly 150 years old, long predating modern methods of policing and forensics. Of limited use in an argument based on hanged in error. Other cases involve people sentenced to death -- but who were reprieved, by one means or another, which means their cases are of limited relevance. Only one or two cases in the book are of relevance, and at least as presented in the book, the cases are equivocal. Disappointing. ( )