Beyond Banditry: The Significance of Everyday Larceny in New Mexican Social History, 1837-1865

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

4-8-2019

Publication Title

The Western Historical Quarterly

Volume

50

Issue

2

First page number:

113

Last page number:

136

Abstract

This article focuses on larceny in New Mexico and argues that petty larceny is a long-overlooked crime that has the potential to provide insight into the everyday lives of people often absent from our historical narratives. Methodologically, the author has transcribed the New Mexican territorial court records into spreadsheets, analyzed larceny trends over time, and synthesized these findings with the preexisting narratives concerning territorial New Mexico. The article introduces new actors into the fabric of New Mexican history and provides greater texture to our understanding of civil disobedience in territorial New Mexico and the Southwest more broadly.

Disciplines

Criminology and Criminal Justice | United States History

Language

English

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