Crime and Punishment

Crime and Punishment

1. Middle Ages 1000-1500

   • Law Enforcement
     • Church
       • sanctuary
         • if a wanted criminal got a church they had 40 days to chose whether to face trial or leave England
       • Neck Verse
         • if you were connected with the church you might know the verse form Pslam 51 that entitled you to a church trial and often a lenient punishment
         • 'have mercy upon me,O God, according to thy lovingkindness; according un to the multitude of thy tender mercies blot out my transgressions'
       • Church courts
         • the local bishop tried churchmen and ruled on moral crimes.
     • Hue and Cry
       • if a victim or witness cries out everyone has to chase the criminal
     • Tithings
       • 10 men who made sure each other obeyed the law and would bring each other to justice if not
     • Trial by local jury
     • Later MA
       • Trial by ordeal abolished
         • if the jury couldn't decide then they put their fate in the hands of God; hot iron, hot water, cold water, blessed bread
       • Parish constables
       • Coroners and Sheriffs
         • Only in the later MA
       • Posse
   • Criminal activity
     • Petty theft
     • Treason
     • Ploughing other's land
     • Insulting a neighbour
     • Getting too drunk
     • Later MA
     • Murder
   • Punishment
     • Compensation
       • wergild
     • Retribution and deterrence
       • stocks and pillories set an example, humiliation
     • Executions
     • Corporal punishment
       • Mutilation Whipping Pilgrimage 
     • Later MA
       • Prisons for those awaiting trial
         • 1166 of them Henry II-1154

2. Early Modern 1500-1700

   • Punishment
     • Savage deterence
     • Wergild
       • compensation to the victim and their family
   • Criminal activity
     • Petty theft
     • Treason
     • Witchcraft
     • Vagrancy
   • Law Enforcement
     • Hue and cry
     • Thief takers
       • in London
     • Improved courts
     • Parish constables
     • Touring royal judges
   • Monarchs
     • Henry VIII
     • Edward VI
       • Protestant
     • Mary I
       • Catholic
         • Killed 300 protestants
     • Elizabeth I
       • 250 Catholics executed as traitors
       • Most lenient

3. 1700-1900

   • Law Enforcement
     • Policing (Metropolitan)
   • Criminal Activity
     • Highway robbery
     • Smuggling
   • Punishment
     • Prisons
     • Reform

4. Whitechapel 1870-1900

   • Jack the Ripper

5. 20th century

   • Punishment
   • Criminal Activity
     • Race Crime
     • Drug crime
     • Sumuggling
     • Theft
     • Violence
   • Law Enforcement
     • Fingerprinting and DNA
     • Specialist units
     • Neighbourhood Watch