Crime and Punishment 1750-1900

how did life change during the industrial revolution, a period of greater social change than ever before?
1. these changes were gradual but completely altered the way most people lived and the revolution also had an effect on punishment and policing
2. TOWNS=in 1750 there were 9.5 million people in england and wales and most people lived in villages throughout the countryside. by 1900, the population had risen to 41.5 million and many people lived in towns, crowded together in small houses
3. VOTING=in 1750 only one in eight men could vote in general elections but by 1885 nearly all men could vote. governments started to make reforms to win them votes from ordinary people eg improvements to health and housing
4. WORK=in 1750, farming was the main way of earning a living but in 1900 the main places of work were factories/workshops
5. WEALTH AND TAXES=britain was made wealthy by two centuries of industrial growth. in 1790's, income tax was introduced for the first time to help pay for the war against france and during 1800's the government increased taxes to pay for reforms that would improve people's lives
6. EDUCATION=in 1750 only a minority of children attended school but by 1880 the law stated that children had to attend school up until age 13. by 1900 95% of the population could read or write as opposed to only 70% in 1850
7. HARVESTS=food prices had always depended on the quality of the harvest. a bad harvest meant food prices rose and people could starve. by the 1800's how good the harvest was wasn't as important as food could be cheaply imported from abroad and quickly too due to changes in transport
8. PROTESTS AND REVOLUTION=at the end of the 18th century the french revolution occurred and the british MPs were warned. every protest/demonstration was veiwed by them as the start of the british revolution and in the years after 1815, there was alot of protest.
9. ACCEPTANCE OF GOVERNMENT INTERVENTION=for centuries, british people had resisted the government becoming involved in local affairs or telling local or rural taxes what to do. they also resisted attempts to raise money. in the early 19th century governments became more involved in changing and reforming life partly due to the french war which forced them into raising money. they raised more money in taxes and allowed local authorities to raise taxes eg to pay for local police force.
10. IDEAS AND ATTITUDES=there was a period called enlightenment during the 1700's when philosophers and thinkers argued the human race could improve living and working conditions and become better educated. they thought everyone could behave with though and logic, not wildly and instinctively. in the mid 1800s charles darwin developed his theory of evolution which said humans descended frim primates such as apes. people then began believing criminals came from a criminal class who had not evelved as fully as the rest of the population.
11. these changes affected society in terms of the amount of crime that occurred, the types of crime that occurred, the development of the professional police force, more lenient types of government and the kinds of punishment. each one was caused partly by every change (see book for more information)
Protests
1. riots before the 18th century
  1. the 1715 Riot Act made it a capital offence for 12 or more people to meet together and then not disperse if a magistrate read the riot act. if they did not disperse, the magistrate could call in soldiers to break up the crowd, and the rioter could be hunf or transported.
    1. this was introduced because the new king Geogre I was threatened by rebellion. the cat was used against many protesters including those protesting against food shortages, wages cuts or toll gates. even if a meeting was peaceful, it could still be broken up if it was more than twelve people. any meeting the authorities wanted to prevent was called a riot. soldiers was used to keep peace so soldiers were used for this purpose
  2. in 1769 an America called benjamin franklin listed all the 'riots' he had seen within a year and sounded amazed at the numbers. they included ones about elections, corn, weavers, coalheavers, theater prices, cider taxes and RC
  3. there was so many riots in this time as many peopel saw it as the only way to ake their views known as they had little influence over governemnt action as few could vote. the riots however, were not violent like today's considerations of a riot, but instead historical studies have shown this about riots in the 1700s; -riots was the name given to many peaceful and legal protests eg petitions to parliament. -riots were mostly oraganised with clear aims and were not violent outburts. -deaths and injuries were rare and avoided at all costs. -riots were seen as a normal way to work together to defend rights
2. the government was so worried about protests in early 1800s because in 1789 there was a french revolution. landowners and politicians were terrified and saw every protest as the beginning of the british revolution. this fear was rife throught the first half of the 1800s and the french war of 1795-1825 added to the governments fears due the possibilty of an invasion by Napoleans army. revolutions in 1830 and 1848 in france kept the fear of revolution allive.
  1. landowners who made up the governemnt were afraid of protests for a number of reasons including selfishly wanting to protect wealth, power and land, but some, including Lord Liverpool (PM from 1812-1827) had been in france during the early stages of revolution, had seen its chaos and so genuinely thought it would harm everyone by disrupting work and trade.
3. hundreds of participants of protests were severely punished eg hanged or transported to australia.
  1. possible thoughts of the authorities are; if we give in to one we'll lose everything, if we don't stop them they'll turn into and revolution and we must restore law and order before violence begins imminently
SIX KEY PROTESTS
1. LUDDITES=1811-1813 (April 1812)
  1. they were weavers and textile workers who were protesting against new machinery that was putting them out of work. they protested by destroying machinery, attacking mills and murdering people. the authorities sent 10000 soldiers to stop them and made purposeful destruction of machinery a capital offence. they did this because they feared a british revolution which would have made victory against france in the war impossible. 17 protesters were executed, 3 for murder, 3 for attacking mills, 9 for seizing weapons.
2. PETERLOO=10th August 1812
  1. it was a mass meeting where 60,000 people were packed into st peters field in lancaster to demand right to vote for ordinary men, reforms for government and lower food prices. men, women and children marched in their sunday best. the army was set upon people and the Manchester Yeomarry rode. 21 people were killed and 40 injured. the leader Henry Hunt was sentenced to 2 1/2 yrs in prison, 3 others got 1 year and people were trampled and killed. the authorities did this because they were fearful of rebellion and had no intention of introducing reform
3. SWING RIOTS=late 1830 (november)
  1. agricultural workers who were getting low wages and were angry at high food prices carried out 1500 machine breaking incidents, arson and many riots in 4 months. the government arrested thousands of the protesters because they were anxious about riots. the protesters said they had not used violence on people but were still severely punished eg 19 were executed, 505 were transported to australia, 644 were put in prison, 7 were fined, 1 was whipped and 800 quit. the government were fearful of a british revolution so reacted severely.
4. TOLPUDDLE MARTYRS=1833
  1. group of farm labourers in dorset who were worried about the growth of unions which they felt would interfere with their freedom. they met in secret to discuss better working conditions for workers/labourers and di a ceremony and swore by a oath to stick to the union. was led by George Loveless the local methodist preacher. the men in the authorities were arrested by the authorities, charged and punished with 10years transportation to Australia. the authorities did this as they had memories about the swing riots that had happened before.
5. CHARTISTS=late 1830's (1839-Newport rising 1848-last petition)
  1. People who campaigned for right to vote for working men and women which was largely peaceful though some were punished for their actions. they were against the 1832 Reform Act as it only gave men owning property of £10 the vote (excluding all women and most men). they were also against the 184 poor law which had no funding. most of them favoured peaceful methods eg pamphlets, meetings and persuasion. in 1839 armed coal miners and iron workers marched and in 1848 a petition was taken to parliament. in 1839, soldiers opened fire and killed 20 chartists, arrested 500 leaders and punished them with prison and transportation. in 1848 london's defence tried to stop them and arrested/imprisoned them. some were killed in protest, others were arrested and imprisoned for over a year, some sentenced to death but transported instead (100 from 1839-48) this reaction was due to revolutions in europe and weapons. the government was threatened by violence and felt anxious about poss of rebellion
    1. ADDITIONAL INFO-called themselves chartists because wanted government to agree to their people's charter. were against 1834 poor law as it removed payments to the poor unless they went to workhouses where families were split up and workhouse uniform made poverty look like a crime. lsupport spread in late 1830's, but what made it a mass movement was hunger and unemployment. when food prices fell or in more prosperous years support for chartism fell but most of its aims were eventually achieved. leaders of chartism could not agree on bets way to influence government. majority favored peaceful methods but man thought they would not work. the newport rising of 1839 involved 3000 armed coalminers and ironworkers marched probably to have a meeting in support of the charter but soldiers opened fire after the government became concerned at reports of men buying weapons and practicing military drills. in 1848 they planned to march to parliament with a petition with 5 million signatures.
      1. march was banned and soldiers and special constables readied to combat any violence. the march never went ahead and the leaders took the petition to london in a cab instead. it only had 2 million signatures and many were forged. any who were violent were punished and the governments policy of arresting anyone who was violent and imprisoning or transporting them was effective though an over reaction and the government had shown that they would make reforms to improve people's qualities of life eg robert peels government in 1846 got rid of the poo laws. there was support for the charter but it was mainly peaceful and never united enough to cause a successful rebllion
6. REBECCA RIOTS=1840 (&1839)
  1. in west wales farmers and agricultural workers (men dressed up as women) protested for a year as they were annoyed at growing poverty. they were poor and having to pay for toll gates, taxes, rents and other thing. rebecca and her daughters (farmers angry at poverty growth) destroyed the tailgate on Efailwen road and buildings were damaged. government sent 1800 soldiers to calm the area and 70 locals were sent for £500 reward. as leaders appeared they were arrested and five were sentenced to transportation to australia. the authorities did this to deter others as the 1840's violence attracted other criminals.
Protests summary 1800-1850
1. REASONS=only way to influence government and many were caused by hunger and poverty
2. METHODS=varied as some destroyed property but others were peaceful eg petitions and meetings
3. AUTHORITIES REACTIONS=main concerns were to keep la and order and not give in. old methods relied on local support eg constable who was helpless if others didn't cooperate. from 1700-1830's the authorities relied on riot act more and also the army. from 1829 the metropolitan police were sometimes used and use of local police forces in 1840s was sometimes more successful.
4. PUNISHMENT OF PROTESTERS=leaders punished severely eg imprisonment/transportation (<- esp). government believed best way to stop people causing trouble was to send them far away for as long as possible.
5. REASONS FOR AUTHORITIES REACTIONS=they did not respond to protests by giving people what they wanted until 1840s because they feared reforms would be seen as a sign of weakness and so would encourage revolution. they feared losing control and did not believe they should interfere with economic situation to improve people's lives. but revolution was never likely and the failure of chartist march in 1848 suggest chances of rebellion were low
6. why did the government treat protests, riots and revolts harshly between 1800 and 1850? 1=fear of revolution 2=prevent re-offending 3=to protect wealth and maintain their superior position 4=they felt threatened
how did transportation to Australia begin begin?
1. transportation had already existed as a punishment for 100 years but in 1780's the british government faced a problem as they could no longer transport to america as the colonies had won their independence. prisons and hulks (ships used as prisons) were becoming overcrowded and another colony was needed to take convicts from britain.
  1. colonies including west indian islands were considered and so was australia, a scarcely known island discovered in 1770 by James Cook. the possibility of sending people to see whether it would be suitable were small as a round trip would take 18 months.
2. the first fleet set sail in may 1787 as 11 ships carrying 1020 people (736 convicts) set sail from potrsmouth. the convicts were sentenced to transportation for 7 years, 14 years or life. youngest = 9 year old John Hudson oldest = 82 year old Dorothy Handland. most had committed minor offences eg Thomas Chaddick had stolen twelve cucumber plants. 8 months later they arrived in australia with 48 people having died whihc was surprisingly low considering it was new and poorly planned. only a few people had useful skills eg 2 brick makers 2 brick layers 6 carpenters and a stone mason and to build shelter for 100 people. they were lucky to survive until the arrival of the next fleet two years later.
why did the government introduce transportation to austarlia
1. ALTERNATIVE form of punishment. hanging was seen as too harsh for minor crimes and people were unwilling to convict others and imprisonment was too expensive so transportation provided a middle ground between the extremes of execution and milder whipping or pillory which were used less by this time.
2. as a DETERRENT to scare people out of breaking the law. it was hoped an unknown place on the other side of the world would terrify people
3. to REDUCE CRIME in britain like hanging did, this time by removing them from the country
4. to claim australia as part of the british EMPIRE and build up control over the region to stop france and other rivals gaining resources from australia
5. to REFORM the criminals by forcing them to work and learn skills that would be useful when they're freed
who was transported to Australia?
1. typical convict = young man of 26 who had been convicted several times of theft of property of small value and had grown up in a normal family but had no skills or steady job
2. 80% were thieves and most had more than one offence. only 3% had been comitted of violent crime
3. more men than women were sent to australia; 25,000 women were transported = 1/6 of total
4. participants of political protests were small minority of those transported, but rebels and protesters were regularly punished by transportation. chartist demanding political reform were transported, as were tolpuddle martyrs who joined workers union and irish rebels who refued to accept bible rule.
what happened to those who were sentenced to transportation?
1. 1)WAITING - they were transferred to hulks or gaols until enough villagers were gathered for voyage and had to work in chains whilst this happened
2. 2)THE VOYAGE - conditions were cramped and unpleasant. by 1830's only 1% died on voyage which now only took 4 months
3. 3)ARRIVAL - were assigned to settlers who provided food, clothes and shelters. they did whatever work their masters gave them as their sentence
4. 4)EARLY RELEASE FOR GOOD BEHAVIOUR - prisoners could win a 'ticket of leave' for good conduct. this allowed early release as they regarded it as their rights and masters who refused them were hated. it gave prisoners a motive to behave well and a sense of opportunity never had in england because they could see chances to build a new life all around them. reform had been the least important reason for transportation but it worked. transported convicts were much more likely to lead law-abiding lives after release in australia than convicts sent to british prisons in the same period
5. 5)PUNISHMENT FOR BAD BEHAVIOUR - if they committed more crime, prisoners were flogged or sent to distant settlements with harsh treatments.
FOR and AGAINST transportation
1. FOR= 1)courts were prepared to use it and it was successful 2)no other country was likely to gain control of australia as it was clearly established as part of the british empire 3)it was very successful in reforming convicts as many took the opportunity to live peacefully and find work in australia. only a minority came back to england after their sentence finished.
2. AGAINST= 1)by 1830's it was costing £0.5million per year. prisons were more widely used than in the 1780s and were cheaper to run 2)crime had not fallen since transportation began and had in fact increased 3)in 1851 gold was discovered in Australia and a gold rush began with many people trying to find the money to buy a ticket to Australia. 4)transportation was seen as more of an opportunity than a punishment. wages were higher in britain once a ticket of leave was won. 5)settlers in australia had set up societies to protest against 'dumping' convicts in their country as they wanted to end the idea that everyone in australia had been transported as a criminal. 6)was 'no more than a summer's excursion to a happier and better climate' Lord Ellenborough in 1810 7)convicts wrote of how conditions were pleasant and they were well looked after 8)the interest of the master contradicted the onject of transportation, to punish, as many masters made conditions comfy for convicts
why did the authorities stop using transportation>
1. it was expensive and showed no benefits
2. people no longer saw it as a punishment, but as an opportunity for a more comfortable life.
3. australia was now established as part of the british empire
why did the prisons have to reform in the 1800s?
1. OVERCROWDING
  1. 20 people kept in a 31x3m room which contributed to other problems such as spread of disease and crime and the lack of basic human rights. in 1840 70% were held in prison on hull of boats - 1/3 died
2. SPREADING CRIME INSIDE THE GAOL
  1. not enough people to look after the prisoners and so children, adults, debtors and criminal s of major crimes were kept together. innocent children learnt crimes from adults
3. VERY CRUEL TREATMENTS
  1. eg James Hillier was caught gambling in prison and was put in cold, damp cell for 9 days and nights with chains that stopped him lying or standing and were only removed for an hour a day to go to the toilet and eat. he was in pain and his arms were swollen when taken off but was laughed at by gaolers
4. NO PLUMBING
  1. no water, sewerage or plumbing in 1800's and so it smelt and diseases spread. visitors soaked handkechiefs in vinegar to mask smell of prison and prisoners.
5. NO RULES
  1. no rules or regulations in prisons in 1800s and both prisoners and gaolers could do as they pleased and so they lived in anarchy. it allowed gaolers to give inhumane treatments
6. DISEASE
  1. diseases spread due to unsanitary conditions. 25% of prisoners were dying of diseases and each year 1000 died through disease.
7. ECONOMIC PROBLEMS
  1. if in prison you had to pay to be there and if you couldn't pay your family had to and if they couldn't they were punished too. if you couldn't pay fee you would die in prison and children would join you too
8. LACK OF BASIC NECESSITIES
  1. no food or water unless you could pay for it. no sunlight. you had to pay gaolers for food, bedding and water to the rich who could afford it but the poor depended on charity. the rich and poor were kept together
why were criminals and debtors treated so badly by the authorities?
1. 1)government and educated people had not realised that crime is often committed by people who are in need and live in terrible circumstance. they thought people turned to crime or got into debt because they were deliberately bad.
2. debt was considered to be as bad and shameful as stealing
3. the government and authorities did not want to spend their money on people who were deliberately bad as they saw it as a waste
4. there was no understanding at this point that a person could be helped or re-habilitated with kindness, a clean and safe environment or by the provision of new skills to help them stay out of crime and debt in the future
5. CHANGE was recognised to be need at the end of the 1800s when academics and learned men began to express their opinions on how people became criminals.
  1. GORDON RYLANDS argued criminals inherited behaviour from their parents and so had learned to become criminals but CHARLES DARWIN argued that people were affected by poor living conditions or events in their lives and turned to crime as a result
    1. both were respected and so their ideas began to seep into society and influence the treatment of criminals and debtors by authorities
the end of the BLOODY CODE
1. a campaign to abolish the death penalty for minor and trivial crimes eg theft was begun by James Mackintosh and Sir Samuel Romilly in Parliament. in 1808, Romilly cot a law passed that abolished the death penalty for pickpocketng. by the 1820's, Sir Robert Peel, the governments home secretary who was responsible for law and order, began to argue successfully in Parliament that harsh punishment was not the answer to crime and that it was better to catch more criminals and punish them with decent criminals than to catch a small proportion and execute them all.
2. from 1822-1840 Peel reduced the number of crimes punished by hanging from around 200 to 5. this change was opposed by some men in Parliament who said the softer treatments of criminals would cause an increase in crime. the cato street conspirators (who tried ti assassinate the entire government) were beheaded in 1820 and became the last people in the UK to face this punishment. after 1841, murder, treason, piracy with violence and burning down weapon store or dockyard (weapons and boast were needed for war) were the only crime for which you could still be hung. despite lots of opposition to these changes, which was predicted by Peel, crime rate did not increase. public hanging ended in 1868 and the BLOODY CODE was dead
3. the bloody code was introduced when crime rates appeared to be falling because the government responded to increased fear of crime by making punishments more savage and using them as a deterrent.
4. why was the bloody code gradually abolished in the 1820s and 1830s?
  1. it was ended because it was disproportionately harsh. each year, only a small % of those sentenced to death would actually be executed. between 1750 and the 1850s the number of crimes committed, especially those carrying the death penalty, reduced. from 1805-1854, the number of death sentences per year initially rose slightly, but then decreased by quite a substantial amount. the number of actual executions followed the same pattern and the difference between the number of death penalties and ones actually resulting in an execution decreased. as well as this, the % of executions that were for murder increased from 20% in 1805 to 100% in 1854. this shows the punishment began to suit the crime more and execution was only used for serious crimes.
why did prisons change so much in the 1800s?
1. i the 1750's, they were only a minor part of the punishment system and john howards survey showed there were only 4000 people in prison across the country, 60% for debt. over the next 100 year the following major changes took place;
  1. 1) imprisonment became the normal method of punishing criminals 2) Reforming prisoners became and aim of puishment 3) the huge increase in prisoners led to the government taking over and reforming all prison systems
    1. in 1700s prisons were run by towns and counties with no rules about their organisation. by the 1870s, governmemt inspectors checked prisoners work, health, diet and every other aspect of prison life.
2. KEY DATES
  1. 1777-John Howard's book 'the state of prisons in england and wales' was published 1815-gaolers were paid out of taxes, ending the charging of fees to criminals 1835-the first prison inspectors were appointed 1839-general rules for all prisons were provided by the government 1842-Pentonville prison was built intended to be a model prison for others to copy, keeping prisoners in almost permanent isolation from each other. 1857-the government ended the use of hulks as prisons in britain 1864-Penal Servitude Act ensured prisoners faced the harshest conditions and corporal punihsment was re-introduced to prisons 1878-the government took over all control of prisons
    1. Howard's book showed how dangerous prisons were and how they often acted as schools for crime and turned young prisoners into hardened criminals. the poor conditions were so bad that many prisoners died from disease. this meant that reformers wanted to change prisons significantly including 1)running water 2)hygienic and clean conditions 3)a doctor for each prison 4)prisons to make equal provision of food to all prisoners instead of allowing prisoners to buy it 5) ending of fees paid to gaolers 6) regular visits from churchmen to the prisoners 7)prisoners should work hard 8) prisoners should spend considerable time alone and in silence so their attitude to crime changed.
      1. John Howard was born in east london in 1726.in 1773 he became high sheriff of bedfordshire and so took on the role of supervising the conditions in the county jail which he was shocked by. he visited others around the country and found them to be bad too. his concerns led to two parliamentary acts in 1774, one to abolish jailers fees and the other to enforce improvements for better prisoner health. he did not feel they were fully obeyed and so travelled around europe and published a second book. he contracted typhus and died in Kherson, Ukraine on 20 January 1790. he wanted the eight changes too
3. DEBATES
  1. SEPARATE OR SILENT. in the 1700's, prisoners had mixed freely with each other which had contributed to the problem of criminal education. it was agreed that this should be limited, but people debated how far. reformers wanted prisoners to spend time alone working, praying and getting religious teaching, leaving cells only to exercise or go to religious service but still not seeing other prisoners. pentonville was the model of a separate prison and by the 1850's, 50 prisons were usign the separate system.this was expensive as the prisons had to be rebuilt with individual cells and so solitary confinement became an extra rather than normal punishment. critics argued that this was too hard as evidence of reform was absent and there were high suicide and insanity rates due to loneliness. they thought prisoners should be allowed to work together but in silence. this was cheaper but needed alot of discipline to be effective
  2. USEFUL OR POINTLESS WORK. these were the two different form of work that prisoners could do and by the 1860's pointless was preferred as it was seen to be more of a punishment. reformers favoured useful work as they saw it as making it more likely the prisoners would work once leaving prison. it included making boots, mats, prison clothes and sewing mailbags and coal sacks. critics thought pointless work was better as criminals hated it so they were less likely to recommit a crime. examples included oakum picking-pulling apart and cleaning 1m of tarred rope per day from a ship and the prison then sold strands to make string/fill matresses. treadwheel-walking nowhere to make the wheel turn (was abolished in 1902) the crank-a prisoner turned the crank handle 20 times a minutes, 10,000 times a day for 8 hours and if the wardens tightened the screws it was harder. abolished in 1902.
  3. from the 1850s the crime rate was falling as the new more lenient prison system was suited to a less crime ridden society. but as this happened, the prison system became much tougher because of some highly published crimes such as the garotting crisis of the early 1860s. the press blamed this on the newly reformed prisons and the critics said prisons were nor reforming but allowing them out to commit more crimes. the reaction against reform was that prisons were made as terrifying as possible and prisoners faced hard labour and minimum 5 year sentences for second offence. punishments became harsher and including whipping and shocking those not working hard enough, bread and water diets and more time on solitary confinement. the harshers system continued from 1860s for the next 30 years.
4. reforms to prisons for women and children
  1. KEY DATES
    1. 1817, Elizabeth Fry formed the Association for the Improvement of Female Prisoners in Newgate and visited other prisoners and set up ladies prison associations at each. the following changes were introduced at Newgate and then at others; 1) rules for women to obey in prison 2) female wardens 3) clothing and furniture provided 4) schools for women and children focusing on RE 5) regular work for women in prison
      1. 1823, became compulsory to have women wardens at women's prisons 1835,inspectors were appointed to supervise gaol conditions and conditions on convict ships were improved (ending shackling of women) 1838, pankhurst prison was opened just for the young with 4 months solitary confinement and then 2 years eg in irons 1853, Brixton prison opened just for women 1870, Education Act made education compulsory for children aged 10 and under and was later extended to older children. 1899, children weren't sent to prisons with adults and instead went to borstals after the first was opened in a kent village
        by 1900 there were separate borstals for men, women and children were they were sent to be reformed. the amount of juvenille crime had decreased with the introduction of compulsory schooling
  2. Elizabeth Fry began working with women in Newgate prison in 1813 and was shocked by what she saw and so began a campaign to improve prison conditions for women and provided a chance for reform.

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Crime and Punishment 1750-1900

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