Crime and Punishment 1700-1900s

Increased crimes
1. Highway robbery
  1. Robbing people who passed by on the road
  2. Done because there were not enough jobs for everyone so it was either starvation or robbing people
  3. Increased because
    1. Better roads meant more people were travelling
    2. Increased trade between towns meant more goods were being transported by road
    3. Many roads were isolated making it easier to get away with highway robbery
2. Smuggling
  1. Selling goods to people without paying tax
  2. Done to make more money as they didn't lose money from taxes
  3. Increased because
    1. Tax on imported goods was very high
    2. Smugglers made large profits as goods were in high demand
    3. Large gangs of smugglers formed like the Hawkhurst gang
    4. Was hard to prosecute smugglers because they could be anywhere along the large coasts
3. Poaching
  1. Illegally hunting animals on someone else's land
  2. Done by the poor so that they and their families wouldn't starve
  3. Increased because many people were desperate and needed food to survive
4. However, witchcraft stopped being a crime because
  1. Economic and social changes led to more prosperity and political stability
  2. Although people still believed in withches and the Devil, they became less superstitious
  3. The Royal Society - set up by Charles II - led to increased scientific experiments, which explained things previously though to be witchcraft
Causes of the increase in crime
1. Travel and urbanisation
  1. People were travelling more and moving into towns so fewer people knew eachother and communities were less close
  2. Larger towns made it easier for people to hide and escape being caught
2. Key individuals
  1. Some criminals became 'professional' and formed gangs of thieves
3. Wealth and poverty
  1. Extreme poverty led to a rise in 'survival'crimes such as stealing food
Purpose of punishment
1. Deterrence
  1. People believed that the aim of punishment was to prevent others from committing crime for fear of the consequences
  2. 1000 - 1700s
2. Reforming criminals
  1. People believed that the aim of punishment was to prevent criminals from re-offending by teaching them how to function in society
  2. 1700s - present
Pentonville prison
1. Built in 1842 and was a model for a new idea about how prisons should be run and prisoners treated
2. The Separate System
  1. The prisoners in Pentonville PrIsondid not interact at all but were kept in isolation
  2. Resons for the Separate System
    1. Rehabilitation
      1. Solitude was thought to be the best way to provide prisoners with the opportunity to reflect on their crimes. It also meant that prisoners were not influenced by other criminals
    2. Retribution
      1. The isolation and boredom made the criminal pay for their crime
    3. Deterrent
      1. It was a serious punishment and therefore acted as a deterrent to committing crimes
    4. Picture of Pentonville Prison 1844 →
      1. Picture of a cell at Pentonville Prison 1862 →
        Each cell was 4m x 2m, had a small barred window, a bed, toilet and sink and something for the prisoner to work on
      2. The wings had dozens of individual cells and a staff base. The walls between the cells were very thick so the prisoners couldn't talk to each other
      3. When the prisoners were outside to exercise, they were masked to prevent communication
  3. Strengths of the separate system
    1. compared to previous prisons is was clean and there was far less disease
    2. Many people thought that it provided the right level of punishment - was seen as harsh but not overly so
  4. Weaknesses of the separate system
    1. The continuous isolation led to mental illness and a high suicide rate
    2. There was no education or instruction to provide new skills for prisoners to use when they were released
Introduction of the Police force
1. The Bow Street Runners
  1. Established in London in 1749 by Henry Fielding, Chief Magistrate at Bow Street Court
    1. Done to try to tackle the huge crime wave of 18th century London
  2. Introduced new methods of finding evident to bring criminals to justice - the first modern detectives
  3. Branched out to patrolling major roads both on foot and horse (mounted patrols). Patrols were less successful than the detecting as there were not enough people to deal with the increasing crime rate
  4. Shared information on crimes and suspects with others - the beginning of the crime intelligence network
2. Watchmen continued to patrol cities on foot at night and parish constables dealt with petty crime
3. Development of the police force 1829-1900
  1. 1835 - Municipal Corporations Act
    1. Borough councils could set up police forces in their area - but only around half did so
  2. 1845 - Detective Department set up
    1. Set up at the Metropolitan Police Force headquarters in London
  3. 1878 - Criminal investigation Department (CID) set up
    1. Set up for the Metropolitan Police Force
  4. 1829 - Metropolitan Police Act
    1. Began Britain's first professional police force in London
  5. 1839 - Rural Constabulary Act
    1. Counties could set up police forces - two thirds of the counties did so
  6. 1856 - Police Act
    1. Forced all towns and counties to set up a professional police force
4. Robert Peel
  1. Had a huge influence on both punishment and law enforcement during the 1820s
    1. Prison Reform
      1. Partly due to the influence of reformers like Elizabeth Fry, Peel tried to improve conditions in prisons. He did this by persuading parliament to pass the 1823 Gaols Act.
        1823 Gaols Act stated:
        Chaplains should regularly visit prisons
        Gaolers should be paid
        Prisoners should not be put in chains
  2. Persuaded parliament to pass the Metropolitan Police Act in 1829
    1. In 1922, Peel set up a parliamentary committee to look into the issue of policing London, which helped him come up with the idea of a centralized police force across the whole city. The crime wave resulting from the economic downturn in 1826 helped Peel get the act through parliament
  3. Ended the Bloody Code by reducing the number of death penalty offences and tried to reform the prison system
    1. After 1810 there were an unprecedented number of capital crimes. However, in practice the death penalty was rarely used for most crimes as judges thought it was unfair and ruled transportation or prison instead
      1. In 1825, Peel reduced the number of capital crimes by 100 because he wanted
        Less harsh punishments for petty crimes
        To try and reform petty criminals rather than kill them
  4. Introduced the Metropolitan Police Officers (Peelers)
    1. Their central aim was to prevent crime and disorder and be totally impartial and objective
    2. Recruits were carefully selected and well trained. It was a full-time and fairly well-paid job
    3. Members had a uniform so they could be identified
    4. They were not popular at first but were soon recognized by the public as being honest and trustworthy
    5. Members were usually unarmed and were trained to use as little force as possible and only as a last resort
    6. Focused on patrolling areas that had high crime. This successfully reduced the crime rate
Tolpuddle Martyrs
1. 1. In 1834 in Tolpuddle, Dorset, a group of farm workers formed a 'friendly society' (an early form of trade union) to protest about their low wages compared to other farmers' wages
  1. 2. The farm owners and the government feared they were losing control of their workers. The six men were arrested for taking secret oaths - an old law intended to stop Naval mutinies
    1. 3. The six men were found guilty at their trial. They all received the maximum sentence of seven year's transportation to Australia in an attempt to deter others from forming trade unions
      1. 4. News of the Tolpuddle Martyrs' sentences spread quickly due to the press. There were mass protests and a petition of 200,000 signatures was collected in opposition of the harsh punishment
        5. The Home Security decided to continue their sentence and the six were sent to Austalia
        6. Protests continued and in 1836 the martyrs were pardoned and returned home
2. Incident highlights how authorities used laws to criminalize people they saw a threat
3. Pardoning of the men shows the impact of public opinion
New punishments
1. Transportation to Australia
  1. The increase in crime rate led to an increase in transportation to Australia. Once there, the criminals worked for 7 years, providing free labour to build infrastructure
    1. Most stayed in Australia after their sentence ended as they couldn't afford the fare home
  2. Transportation to Australia ended in 1868 because
    1. Austalia no longer needed forced labourers (the discovery of gold made it a popular place to go)
    2. People thought it was too expensive and not a strong enough deterrent to crime whereas other thought it was too harsh a punishment
    3. More prisons had been built and was increasingly used instead
2. Imprisonment
  1. Instead of being punished quickly or killed, criminals were locked up in prisons
  2. Conditions of 18th-century prisons were very poor
  3. John Howard
    1. John Howard's work led to the 1774 Gaol Act, which suggested how health and sanitation in prisons could be improved
3. Punishment Reformers
  1. Elizabeth Fry
    1. Visited women in Newgate Prison in 1813 set up education classes to reform female prisoners so that they could support themselves when they were freed
    2. Also got them better food and clothes and treated them with kindness and respect
    3. Set up education classes to reform female prisoners so that they could support themselves when they were freed
  2. Samuel Romilly
    1. Criticized the Bloody Code becuase it was cruel and illogical
    2. Was a successful lawyer
    3. Succeeded in removing the death penalty for begging or pick-pocketing
      1. By 1850 only 9 executions happened per year
4. However, the Bloody Code became less effective and was eventually abolished because
  1. Executions actually increased the amount of crime as people committed many crimes at an execution such as getting drunk, fighting and stealing
  2. As well as this, people saw the executions as entertainment and enjoyed going to watch them
  3. Judges and juries were reluctant to convict people and end their lives and so they let people off or gave them less harsh sentences which made criminals more confident as they knew they could get away with committing crimes

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Crime and Punishment 1700-1900s

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	Created by Liora Silas over 5 years ago