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Stand and deliver. Welcome to the final episode of our season about highway robbery and the outlaws who preyed upon road travelers.

Now, we say it all the time, you've heard this, that we look at the lives and motivations of the accused.

And we consider whether or not any of the historical offenders and offenses might look a little different today, or not, sometimes, guilty is just guilty.

This season, everyone was guilty, and the punishment for highway robbery was a death sentence.

Welcome to criminalia. I'm Maria Tremarky. And I'm Holly Fry. Highwaymen were, quote, as common as

crows in the 17th and 18th centuries,

which coincides with a time in England and Europe when travel was already hazardous due to the lack of decent roads.

And many of these places were still pre-industrial countries without a professional police force.

Populations were still relatively small, at least compared to today, and there were still large, undeveloped swaths of forest

and countryside where highwaymen could lie in wait for their next target.

Although there were well-born and well-mannered highway robbers, those who practiced the criminal

trade with brutality far outnumbered those who didn't.

But people wanted their highway robbers to be heroes and a champion of the people, like

Robin Hood.

And many highwaymen were portrayed like an outlaw hero, deserved or not.

And you can chalk those stories up to legend.

None of them gave their loot to those less fortunate. But the idea still made for a good

underdog story, especially if you were among the economically disadvantaged, hoping to financially

gain at the expense of those economically advantaged. Quote, tales of their cunning and generosity were in the mouths of everybody,

and a noted thief was a kind of hero.

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