Drunks, Whores and Idle Apprentices notes

In early crime narratives a tension exists between the intended disciplinary function and the entertainment value demanded by their status as commodities. The Ordinary Accounts and the criminal broadsides, for example, acted as an indirect form of state-controlled surveillance. This ideological policing, however, is balanced against the commercial obligation to appeal to a wide readership. Indeed, the sensational nature of early crime narratives arguably undermines their disciplinary purpose of ...