Overview
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.
Full Product Details
Author: Carolyn Strange
Publisher: University of British Columbia Press
Imprint: University of British Columbia Press
ISBN: 9780774872768
ISBN 10: 0774872764
Pages: 306
Publication Date: 15 October 2025
Audience:
General/trade
,
Professional and scholarly
,
General
,
Professional & Vocational
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active
Availability: In Print
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Reviews
""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.'""-- ""Constance Backhouse, professor of law, University of Ottawa"" ""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.""-- ""Bradley Miller, Department of History, University of British Columbia"" ""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.""-- ""Jim Phillips, Faculty of Law and Department of History, University of Toronto""
Author Information
Carolyn Strange is a professor in and past head of the School of History at the Australian National University, Canberra. She is a fellow of both the Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia and the Australian Academy of the Humanities. Among her publications are The Death Penalty and Sex Murder in Canadian History; Discretionary Justice: Pardon and Parole in New York from the Revolution to the Depression; and Qualities of Mercy: Justice, Punishment, and Discretion. In addition to writing and teaching, she has curated several museum exhibitions and organized public symposia on a range of social, legal, and cultural issues. She lives in Australia.
