Western democracies have seen social improvement, including the end of slavery, torture, blood feuds, despotism and the ownership of women.

Judged as of 2002. True: historical evidence shows that by 2002 Western democracies had legally abolished, or largely ended, all five practices named: slavery, judicial and state-sanctioned torture, blood feuds, despotism and the legal ownership of women (coverture and similar laws). Mostly true: all five largely ended, but with minor exceptions (for example, isolated state torture cases or lingering legal remnants). Mixed: about half of these clearly ended and the rest persisted in a significant form. Mostly false: only one or two clearly ended. False: these practices largely continued in Western democracies in 2002.

Set before the research began.

1. E1 Coverture - Wikipedia Wikipedia · 6 October 2004

   “Coverture was first substantially modified by late-19th-century Married Women's Property Acts passed in various common-law jurisdictions, and was weakened and eventually eliminated by later reforms.”

2. E2 Coverture - Wikipedia Wikipedia · 6 October 2004

   “The 1974 Georgia Legislature passed a statute defining the husband as the "head of the family", his wife "subject to him", and her legal rights "merged in the husband".”

3. E3 The Prohibition of Torture International Review of the Red Cross (ICRC)

   “From this time onwards torture may be taken to have definitely ceased in France.”

4. E4 The Prohibition of Torture International Review of the Red Cross (ICRC)

   “The present age has seen the revival of torture, and in a form even more horrible than in past centuries.”

5. E5 Coverture - Wikipedia Wikipedia

   “Coverture was first substantially modified by late-19th-century Married Women's Property Acts passed in various common-law jurisdictions, and was weakened and eventually eliminated by later reforms.”

6. E6 Coverture - Wikipedia Wikipedia

   “Certain aspects of coverture (mainly concerned with preventing a wife from unilaterally incurring major financial obligations for which her husband would be liable) survived as late as the 1960s in some states of the United States.”

7. E7 The Prohibition of Torture (International Review of the Red Cross) International Committee of the Red Cross

   “From this time onwards torture may be taken to have definitely ceased in France.”

8. E8 Amnesty International Report 2002 - Annual Report Summaries Amnesty International · 28 May 2002

   “Torture and ill-treatment by state agents, often against members of ethnic minorities or foreigners,”

9. E9 Abolitionism | Timeline | Britannica Encyclopaedia Britannica

   “1865 The Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution officially prohibits slavery in the United States.”

10. E10 Abolitionism | Timeline | Britannica Encyclopaedia Britannica

    “1807 Britain abolishes the slave trade in its colonies. The importation of enslaved persons is also officially prohibited in the United States. The practice of slavery continues in the South, however.”

11. E11 Abolitionism | Timeline | Britannica Encyclopaedia Britannica

    “1848 Slavery is banned in all French colonies.”

12. E12 Abolitionism | Timeline | Britannica Encyclopaedia Britannica

    “1888 Slavery is finally ended in South America when Brazil passes an antislavery law.”

The evidence covers the abolition of slavery (E9–E12), torture ending in France with a later revival (E3, E4, E8), and coverture being eliminated at an undated point, with remnants recorded into the 1960s and a 1974 Georgia statute (E1, E2, E6). No evidence item addresses blood feuds or despotism, so the material does not show whether all five practices had largely ended by 2002, as the criteria require.