Through the early twentieth century, ‘liberal’ Britain locked away thousands of innocent people. By 1950, an estimated 50,000 people had been deemed ‘defective’ by the government and detained for life under the 1913 Mental Deficiency Act. Their ‘crimes’ were various: women with children born outside of wedlock; rebellious teenagers caught shoplifting; those with learning disorders, … Continue reading The Undesirables: The Law that Locked Away a Generation