Crime and Punishment
Through Time
EMR 2011
Paper 1 - what will the exam look like?
The exam lasts for 2 hours.
It is divided into two sections:
Section A – Crime and Punishment Through Time (1 hour)
Section B – Germany, 1919 – 1945(1 hour)
In Section A you will have to answer:
 A compulsory question (1a, b and c) based on three sources.
 One other question (parts a, b and c) from a choice of three.
The questions could be on any aspect of crime and punishment
through time so you must revise all C & P topics.
In Section B you will have to answer:
 A compulsory question (5 a, b and c) based on three/four
sources.
 One other question (parts a, b and c) from a choice of two.
There will be a question on Weimar Germany, the rise of Hitler and life
in Nazi Germany so you must revise all Germany topics.
Revision
This revision guide covers all aspects of Crime & Punishment Through
Time. You can revise the Germany depth study using BBC GCSE
Bitesize.
There is a list of useful revision websites at the back of this guide.
1
Ancient Rome
Roman law
Laws were made by the Emperor. They dealt with all crimes from the
assassination of the Emperor to theft. Roman laws tried to make Rome
a better place to live e.g. laws against selling under-weight bread.
Law enforcement
The Roman authorities thought a proper police force would be too
expensive. Increasing taxes to pay for police could lead to riots.
 Urban cohorts (army) – based in the city, they stopped riots.
 Vigiles – patrolled the streets at night and put out fires.
 Praetorian Guard – protected the Emperor.
Trials and Juries
Victims of crime had to collect evidence and bring the accused to
court. Juries decided serious crimes and judges decided less serious
crimes.
Roman punishments were harsh and unfair – they were meant to act
as a deterrent.
Nobles – could escape execution
with a fine or by going into exile.
Ordinary citizens were executed for
serious crimes e.g. murder or arson.
For less serious crimes they could be
whipped or made to pay back
goods they had stolen.
Slaves received the harshest punishment. All slaves in a household
were crucified if one tried to murder their master.
Prisons were only used for debtors.
2
The Early Middle Ages - Anglo-Saxons (400-1000)
The main change from Roman to Anglo-Saxon law was that justice
became the responsibility of the local community and of the victim’s
family.
The Roman Empire collapsed in the C5th, along with its system of law
and law enforcement.
Loyalty to the family was important. Victims or the victim’s family had
the right to get revenge against an accused person or a member of
the accused’s family. This led to blood feuds and increased violence.
By c.700 there were seven main kingdoms in England – each had their
own laws - there was not a single legal code for the whole kingdom.
From 500-1066 the role of the king in law-making and law
enforcement grew.
The king made the laws after consulting nobles and bishops. His main
aim was to ensure the kings-peace was kept.
Saxon kings tried to reduce violence.
They replaced the blood-feud with
payments made by the accused to
the wronged person or his family - the
wergeld as compensation for death
and the botgeld for injury. The system
was unfair and depended on social
class – you could murder a peasant
for a sixth of the price of a noble.
The most common punishments were fines or flogging. Serious crimes
like treason and arson carried the death penalty (usually hanging).
Punishments for reoffenders were harsh e.g. mutilation.
Alfred the Great drew up a detailed set of laws called the Wessex
Code in the C9th.
3
Law enforcement
The local community played an important role in law enforcement.
By 1000 all freemen belonged to a ‘tithing’ (a group of ten men over
the age of twelve) and were responsible for any crime committed by
another member. The tithing was responsible for raising the ‘hue and
cry’ and arresting criminals (although victims had to find the criminals
themselves first).
Guilt was decided by trial by jury.
The victim and the accused
presented their case to the jury. The
jury was usually made up of local
villagers who would know both
people. Jurors took an oath.
By 1000 there was a system of courts
in England. The Royal Courts and
Shire Courts dealt with serious crimes
& the Hundred Courts met monthly
to deal with less serious cases
The church was growing in influence so when a jury failed to reach a
verdict the accused had to face trial by ordeal. Trial by ordeal was
based on superstition – God would reveal the innocence or guilt of
those accused. Trial by ordeal was also introduced to try priests
accused of a crime. Priests took trial by consecrated (holy) bread.
An accused person who did not come to court became an outlaw.
Outlaws did not have the protection of the law and could be killed.
Prisons were only used to hold accused people before trial. They were
not used for imprisonment because they were too expensive.
4
Law and order after the Norman Conquest.
Although the Norman Conquest led to some important changes to
Anglo-Saxon law there was some continuity.
William kept many old Anglo-Saxon laws. Why?
 He wanted to show the English that, as the true heir, he would
respect their laws and customs.
 William was a foreign invader. He thought it would not be sensible
to change everything.
Norman law enforcement was based on the idea of the ‘king’s mund’
which was similar to the A-S ‘king’s peace’.
The Normans continued to use the Anglo-Saxon system of law
enforcement based on juries: shire courts and hundred courts.
Trial by ordeal continued, though they
added trial by combat.
The Church continued to play an important
role in law e.g. priests took oaths from jurors in
trials and conducted trial by ordeal.
The Normans had no real police force, so the
Anglo-Saxon system of tithings and the hue
and cry continued.
The Normans used harsher physical punishments than the Anglo-Saxons:
 The Normans faced many serious rebellions in 1069-70. Rebels were
executed without mercy. In the Harrying of the North the Normans
burned villages and crops (scorched earth) and killed locals.
 William introduced the hated forest laws. He loved hunting so the
punishment for killing a stag was blinding.
 Mutilation, amputation and hanging were used for theft, arson and
murder. This was carried out in public to act as a deterrent.
The church did protect some people with sanctuary or benefit of
clergy (by reading the neck verse).
5
The Later Middle Ages (1100-1500)
In the later middle ages attempts were made to re-impose royal
authority and reform the legal system.
Henry II and ‘Royal Justice’
In the early 1100s there was a civil war in England which led to a
breakdown in law and order. Henry II main aim was to restore the
authority of the king and to re-impose law and order.
Henry issued the Constitution of Clarendon - it was an update of
Anglo-Saxon and Norman laws. It meant that, for the first time since
the Romans, England had a unified legal system common throughout
the country. It was the basis of English Common Law.
To restore the authority of the king:
 The Kings Peace was extended to the whole country. Any crime
was an insult to the king’s peace.
 Fines were no longer paid to the victim but the king.
 Wergild was replaced with death or mutilation.
Changes after Henry II
 The creation of the Coroner – investigated serious crime.
 Trial by ordeal ended but trial by combat continued.
 The extension of the tithing and hue and cry by law which said men
had to form a posse comitatus to help the sheriff catch criminals.
 Justices of the Peace to try less serious crimes.
Despite these reforms ‘over mighty subjects’ continued to cause
problems at times e.g. during the War of the Roses in the late C15 th.
6
Robin Hood
There are official court records which mention Robin Hood in the
Middle Ages. The term ‘Robin Hood’ probably means ‘robbing hood’
and is more likely to be a nickname for an outlaw.
The story of Robin Hood was popular in the
Middle Ages. Why?
 His daring deeds including stealing from
the rich and giving to the poor.
 He stood up to corrupt tax collectors
and cruel sheriffs – people enjoyed this!
 By living and hunting in Sherwood Forest
Robin Hood was breaking the forest
laws. People liked hearing these stories
because they hated the laws.
The Folville Gang were outlawed after murdering a government
official. They gained a reputation for righting wrongs by kidnapping
and murdering corrupt officials. However they also committed rape
and theft and there is no evidence they gave to the poor.
Women
Women were treated as inferior by law.
The ducking stool was used as a
punishment specifically for women. It
was used to punish scolds (a gossip),
prostitutes or to determine if she was a
witch.
Women who committed murder were
strangled.
Married women were worse off: They did not own property, her
belongings belonged to her husband, and she could not get
divorced.
7
Early Modern Britain 1500-1750
Between 1500 - 650 the population rose from 2 – 6 million. Most people
lived in rural areas or small towns and worked in agriculture.
Population growth = higher food prices and unemployment. This led to
an increase in crime. The problem was worse in towns were there
were more opportunities for crime and it was harder to control
(people knew one another less well than in the country).
Vagrants people with no job or no fixed abode (home).
Vagrancy increased in the C16th. Why?
 Prices were rising faster than wages = poverty.
 Rising population = higher unemployment.
 Enclosure = people lost their land.
 The closure of the monasteries = loss of help for the poor.
Everyone assumed vagrants were lazy, drunk and criminals – thieves
who descended on villages to steal. Landowners feared vagrants the
most. Many vagrants had just left home to look for work.
In the early C16th vagrants were treated harshly; they were whipped in
public, branded through the right ear or with a ‘V’ on the forehead
and repeat offenders were hung.
By the late C16th the authorities accepted that some people were
poor through no fault of their own. From 1653 Poor Laws were passed
to give help to the ‘deserving poor’.
Heretics
The C16th was a period of great religious change. Heretics were
people who disagreed with the government over their religious ideas.
The monarch was head of the church so anyone who challenged
religious ideas was seen as a threat to the monarch and was punished
harshly e.g. Mary I or ‘Bloody Mary’ had 300 protestants burned.
8
Witches
People believed witches were in league with the devil and blamed
them for trivial things like the milk going sour or more serious events
e.g. bad harvests and unexplained deaths.
Most witches were accused by their neighbours and the most
vulnerable women were often childless, old-widows living in poverty.
Matthew Hopkins, Witchfinder General,
was paid for every witch he found.
Detecting witches – Hopkins looked for
familiars (pets given by the devil to
perform evil acts) or a distinguishing
mark e.g. a wart or hairy chin (the
mark of the devil.
A swimming test was used to prove a
woman was a witch. A priest would
bless a river or pond, the accused was then thrown in. If she floated
she was guilty – the water had rejected her.
After 1650 the number of witch-trials declined. This was partly the result
of more rational and scientific approaches to the natural world.
Women
Women received unequal treatment: if a woman was convicted of
murdering her husband it was termed ‘petty treason’ (almost as
serious as treason against the monarch) and she was burned at the
stake rather than hanged.
Women accused of ‘scolding’ (nagging) were sentenced to the
ducking stool – sometimes they were accidentally drowned!
Women were often the victims of crime but found it hard to get justice;
all legal officials were men, and courts considered women to be less
reliable witnesses.
9
Highway robbery
Highway robbery, smuggling and poaching caused particular
concern in the C18th.
Highway robbery = Stopping a coach and robbing the passengers.
Why did highway robbery increased during the C18th?
There was increased
wealth in the C18th. There
were no banks so people
carried large amounts of
cash around.
Roads had improved but
not enough to allow
coaches to accelerate
and escape. Better roads
meant increased travel.
There was no police force
in the C18th and local
constables did not try to
track highwaymen across
counties.
Some demobbed soldiers
became highwaymen
because they could not
find work.
Why was highway robbery a problem for the authorities?
They disrupted communication and trade between towns.
They committed their crime in broad daylight on the Kings highway
Guns and horses were cheap to obtain.
Areas around London became very dangerous e.g. Hounslow
Heath was ideal for highway robbers, with woods to disappear into.
 The authorities saw it as a serious problem and offered large fines
were offered for information.
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Why did highway robbery decline in the late C18th?
 The Bloody Code discouraged highway robbery.
 Banks opened so travellers no longer carried large amounts of
money.
 High rewards encouraged informers.
 Mounted patrols were set up around London so highwaymen were
more likely to be caught.
10
Smuggling
Smuggling = bringing goods into the
country without paying import tax on
them. Tobacco and tea were the most
common smuggled items because tax was
so high.
Why was smuggling a problem for the authorities?
 It meant less tax for the government.
 Many people saw it as a ‘victimless’ crime – it helped to keep
down prices. They did not regard it as a crime.
 Local communities often protected smugglers and hid smuggled
items.
 Some smugglers formed large, violent gangs like the Hawkhurst
Gang. Witnesses and magistrates were often too afraid to give
evidence or convict.
Poaching
Poaching = illegally catching birds, animals and fish on another
person’s land.
Laws against poaching were very unpopular. Many people living in
the C18th were poor – especially when bad harvests increased food
prices or a fall in trade meant they lost their job. Poorly paid farmlabourers relied on pheasant or rabbit to feed their families.
Why was poaching a problem for the authorities?
 Poaching was a ‘social’ crime, which most people did not regard
as a crime e.g. like music downloads today.
 Only landowners with land worth £100 or more were allowed to
hunt. Poaching was seen as an attack on their property.
11
The Bloody Code
Because there was no professional
police force or prison system, the
authorities relied more and more on
harsh physical punishments to maintain
law and order, and to protect property
rights – known as the ‘Bloody Code’
Highway robbery, smuggling and
poaching all became ‘capital offences’
under the Bloody Code.
Medieval punishments continued to be used in the E-M period:
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Physical - whipping and mutilation.
Humiliation – stocks and pillory.
Hanging, drawing and quartering for treason (not nobles).
Fines
BUT
 The use of the death penalty increased after the 1723 Black Act.
Bloody Code – Success or failure?
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Public executions were no longer
effective. They were supposed to
deter people from crime but
often became a day out for
families.
Judges and juries were unwilling
to convict people for minor
offences because the
punishment was harsh and unfair.
Transportation was used as an
alternative.
Some criminals showed no
remorse – or ‘died game’.
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It acted as a deterrent e.g.
highway robbery declined by the
end of the C18th.
The media increased the fear of
crime and the introduction of the
Bloody Code reduced this fear.
It helped protect property.
It removed the criminal.
12
Industrial Britain
Between 1750 – 1900 Britain changed from
an agricultural to an industrial society.
Huge numbers of people moved from rural
areas to seek work in industrial towns – there
was overcrowding, poor housing and
sanitation, poverty a constantly changing
population.
Poor living and working conditions led to
increased crime, drunkenness, family
breakdown and violence.
Old methods of law enforcement were no longer effective:
 The Bloody Code was becoming less of a deterrent and was
gradually abolished in the 1820s and 1830s.
 Community knowledge and co-operation broke down.
 The chance of being caught in a large industrial town became
more unlikely.
How and why did attitudes to crime and punishment change?
The wealthier classes looked for explanations for the increase in crime.
They saw a link between economic difficulties (depression and
recession) and the rise in unemployment, poverty and crime. Studies
in poverty in the mid C19th revealed that most of it was not the fault of
the poor.
Middle-class people could not accept that poverty caused crime.
They blamed idleness and bad habits. They saw the industrial towns as
home to a ‘criminal class’ especially in narrow streets in towns such as
London and Liverpool and demanded harsher punishments.
The attitude of the authorities began to change. In the past a
professional police force and prison system was too expensive. But as
crime increased and government revenue from tax grew attitudes to
policing and prisons began to change.
13
Crime
The crowded industrial towns were ideal for pickpockets, garrotting
became more common. Petty theft was the most common crime but
there was a lot of interest in murder. Newspapers like the ‘Penny
Dreadfuls’ printed lurid descriptions of murders e.g. Black the Ripper.
Punishments
The early C 19th was also a time of important reforms in law
enforcement, crime prevention and the treatment of criminals.
Whipping & the stocks continued to be used for less serious crimes until
the mid C19th when the emphasis shifted from humiliation to reform.
Transportation
Was transportation effective?
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Australia was unknown, the ‘other side
of the world’ - a terrifying punishment.
Prisons were overcrowded so it was a
useful alternative.
They were often treated like slaves and
had to do hard labour
It removed criminals from Britain.
Better alternative to hanging.

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Tickets to leave made it a soft
punishment.
Crime did not decrease.
For some there were now
opportunities and they made
money out of the gold rush.
Transportation was ended in 1870.
Prisons
C18th Prisons were dreadful places: Men, women, children, lunatics,
murderers and debtors were held in the same cells. Prisons were
unhygienic, damp, overcrowded and disease spread quickly.
14
By early C19th imprisonment became the most common form of
punishment as judges became reluctant to give a death sentence.
Religious groups and reformers began to campaign for improved
conditions and for the emphasis to be on reforming criminals so they
did not re-offend.
The work of reformers such as John Howard, Sir George Paul and
Elizabeth Fry led to the building of new prisons and Sir Robert Peel to
pass the Gaols Act in 1823. The Gaols Act separated prisoners by
category and gender, and ensured that gaolers were paid by the
state BUT it only covered the larger main prisons.
As a result of overcrowding prisoners were sent to prison ships ‘hulks’ conditions were very poor and the mortality (death) rate was 25%!
Elizabeth Fry improved the women’s section of Newgate prison,
female warders (1823) and the first women’s prison – Brixton (1853)
‘Separate’ and ‘silent’
Reform of prisoners was more expensive than simple punishment.
Many middle-class taxpayers wanted harsher punishments based on
two ideas from USA: ‘Separate system’ (almost solitary confinement)
and ‘Silent system’ (hard labour, hard fare and hard board = pointless
work, boring food and a hard bed). The separate system led to high
suicide rates.
Turning the crank
15
Women
The % of women committing crime declined in this period.
Abortion or even seeking an abortion was a crime. Prostitution was not
a crime but soliciting (offering sex) and running a brothel were. A
woman’s place was in the home in Victorian Britain so these offences
were treated harshly.
Children
Large numbers of orphaned & abandoned children turned to crime.
When caught they were treated the same as adults; children as
young as seven could be sent to prison and 90% of those hanged
were under 21, some were as young as 10.
Youth crime declined following the 1870 Education Act. This made
education compulsory for children under 10 - took them off the streets.
Policing
Policing before the 1820s continued to be based on the old system of
local ‘policing’. Henry and John Fielding replaced constables with the
Bow Street Runners. In 1792 the government applied their ideas to
London and set up seven districts with paid constables and
watchmen.
The first major reform of law enforcement in the C19th was Robert Peel’s
Metropolitan Police Act of 1829.
Why did Peel introduce the Metropolitan Police Force in 1829?
 The old system of part-time constables and watchmen was
ineffective.
 The old system could not keep up with the rapid growth of towns
and increase in crime.
 The upper-classes feared growing disorder and revolution. There
had been a revolution in France.
16
‘Peelers’ or ‘Bobbies’
 The government used tax revenue from income tax to
pay for the police force
 They had to be aged under 35, 5’ 5” tall and in good
health.
 Their uniform was designed to look civilian; they wore
tall hats and only carried truncheons to make them
unlike a military force.
 They walked the beat – approx. 20 miles a day
There was much opposition to Peel’s Metropolitan Police Force.
 Fear that a police force could be used by the government to limit
freedom or stop protest.
 Fear of higher taxation.
 One police man was stabbed to death during a protest. The jury
returned a verdict of ‘justifiable homicide’
 Many recruits were unsuitable – approx. 80% were sacked or left.
Attitudes slowly changed in the second half of the C19th when the
crime rate dropped. Peelers were also better than the army at
dealing with protests/riots (remember than massacre at Peterloo!)
17
Protest and rebellion
Early Modern Britain
Catholics in England hoped King James would be tolerant of them but
James was not and ordered catholic priests out of England. The
Gunpowder Plotters planned to kill James at the opening of
parliament and put his daughter on the throne ensuring she was
brought up a catholic. The plotters were treated harshly; Guy Fawkes
was tortured and the plotters were hung drawn and quartered.
Industrial Britain
In the 1800s only a few wealthy men could vote. In 1819 a huge
meeting was held in St. Peter’s Field in Manchester. 60 000 men,
women and children came to listen to Henry Hunt speak about the
right to vote.
When armed soldiers failed to arrest
Hunt the magistrate sent in the cavalry
armed with swords. 11 people were
killed (including a baby trampled by a
horse) and 400 injured. It became
known as the ‘Peterloo massacre’.
There was public anger about the
event but the government reacted
harshly; six Acts were passed which
banned public meetings of 50+, Henry Hunt was imprisoned and
soldiers were sent around the country to stop rebellion. The
government’s main aim in the early 1800s was to stop rebellion.
In the Rebecca Riots, 1839-43, Welsh tenant farmers were protesting
against the payments of tolls (fees) on roads. Men disguised as
women attacked the tollgates and called themselves ‘Rebecca and
her daughters’. The government used the full force of the law to stop
the rebellion; the leaders were arrested and five were transported.
18
Twentieth century
In 1900 women did not have the vote.
Campaigners for the vote:
The Suffragists (NUWSS), led by Millicent Fawcett used peaceful
methods to campaign for the vote e.g. marches and petitions.
The Suffragettes (WSPU) were set up by the Pankhursts. They were
frustrated by the lack of success of the peaceful Suffragists and used
militant (violent) methods e.g. smashing windows, chaining themselves
to railings outside the Houses of Parliament and setting fire to letter
boxes and churches to get maximum publicity. Their motto was
‘DEEDS NOT WORDS’.
Many Suffragettes were imprisoned and went on hunger strike. At first
the government force-fed these women, but WSPU publicity forced
the government to pass the Cat and Mouse Act in 1913. This act
allowed the authorities to release women before they became too ill
then re-arrest them once they were better to complete their
sentence.
The police often dealt violently with the
Suffragettes e.g. ‘Black Friday’ 1910 –
Suffragettes were violently attacked by
the police when they attempted to
march on parliament.
Emily Davison attracted the most
publicity for the Suffragettes. She was
killed at the Derby in 1913 when she tried
to stop the king’s horse. She became a
martyr for the cause of votes for women.
When war broke out in 1914 the Suffragists and Suffragettes stopped all
action and supported the war effort. In 1918, women householders
over 30 were given the vote. In 1928 women got equal voting rights
with men.
Using the revision guide
Index cards
What was a tithing?
Create question and answer quiz cards.
Ask your family or friends to test your
knowledge.
What was separate and
silent?
Explain
three reasons why
highway robbery increased
in the 18th century.
Copy/summarise key points from the
revision guide onto revision cards.
Learning Posters
Create learning posters – use colour, symbols and drawings. Cover key
points and topics. Pin them up where you will see them often.
Keywords
Write keywords on post-it notes. Stick them where you will see them.
Tables/summaries
Summarise your notes in a large table like this. This will help you
identify change and continuity.
What did
they do?
Crime
Laws
Policing
Trials
Punishment
Ancient
Rome
Middle
Ages
Early
Modern
Industrial
Britain
Teach someone else (but make sure they do the same for you!)
Practice past papers
Familiarise yourself with the paper – there is one
attached!
Practice answering questions.
Fill any gaps in your knowledge.
Twentieth
Century
Useful websites:
CRIME AND PUNISHMENT THROUGH TIME
www.learnhistory.org.uk/cpp/
www.schoolhistory.co.uk/gcselinks/crimepunishment/crimeandpunish
ment.html
C19th protestors:
http://www.schoolshistory.org.uk/gcse/crime/protestmovements/prot
estmovements.htm
www.tolpuddlemartyrs.org.uk/index.php?page=martyr-s-story
Suffragettes (Votes for Women)
http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/gcsebitesize/history/mwh/britain/
GERMANY
http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/gcsebitesize/history/mwh/germany/
www.schoolhistory.co.uk
http://www.johndclare.net
Revision Guides:
GCSE Bitesize History Schools History Project Complete Revision and
Practice - £5.89 (Free delivery) at Amazon. Covers Crime and
Punishment and Germany.
Download GCSE C & P revision podcasts on your iPod or phone. The
full set costs £11.95 or you can download individual units for £2.95 at:
www.gcsepod.co.uk/subjects/history/#/history/
http://www.gcsepod.co.uk/subjects/history/#/history/germany-1918to-1991/ - (only no. 6, 8, 9 and 10 are relevant).