Crimes That Made History

S01E02 Albert Soleilland: A Case for the Death Penalty

In January 1907, Paris is rocked by the shocking case of Albert Soleilland, who stands accused of the brutal rape and murder of a young girl named Marthe. The media sensationalizes every aspect of the trial, treating it like a public spectacle. At a time when France was close to abolishing the death penalty, this horrific crime shifted the momentum, pushing the abolitionist movement back by years as the press fervently clamored for Soleilland's execution.