Crime and punishment – web quest
 Click on the hyperlinks to take you to the appropriate website. Record your findings on
this word document in a different colour.
1. Some of the earliest written laws date from the Roman period. Visit this website on
early criminal justice systems and note down a) how Roman law different from
previous ancient legal systems b) what were the ‘Laws of the Twelve Tables’
The Romans had different forms of punishments according to the severity of the
crime.
2. Visit this site on Roman punishments and find out a) what these punishments
entailed:
Dejectio e rupe Tarpeia
Strangulatio
Projectio in profluentem
Percussion secure
In crucem actio
b) why punishments for slaves were sometimes less severe
3. Find out about medieval justice and the system of ordeals at the History Learning
Site. There were 3 types of ordeals. Note them down with a brief description below.
4. Visit the National Archives website and a) note down the differences between these
methods of crime prevention: tithing, hue & cry and posse comitatus. Note down b)
the reasons why these systems were abandoned.
5. Find out about one of the first ‘Houses of Correction’ at this excellent social history
website on London Lives. Note down a) the purposes of the institution. Note down
b) what was different about this institution compared with previous approaches to
crime and punishment.
6. Who was the ‘Witchfinder General’? Watch this film clip on YouTube and this section
of the BBC website and note down at least 3 reasons why there was an upsurge into
witchcraft in the seventeenth century.
7. Prison hulks and transportation became increasingly popular punishments in the
seventeenth century. Note down a) definitions of these terms and then study these
documents on the National Archives website and b) note the reasons why the
authorities thought this was a suitable punishment.
8. What was so bloody about the Bloody Code? Visit this useful site put together by
Durham University on Crime and Punishment and note down a) the numbers of
crimes carrying capital punishment in 1688 compared with 1815 b) the types of
crimes for which people could be executed c) the reasons why it was thought
necessary to use capital punishment at this time
9. What were prisons like in the early nineteenth century? Investigate the work of John
Howard, a notable prisoner reformer. Read an extract from his report into conditions
at Durham gaol and list 3 of the major problems he found.
10. Explore the Metropolitan Police website. Choose one of the famous cases described
on the site (avoid the Ripper case) and summarise the events you read about in 100
words.
The Old Bailey is London’s central criminal court. The proceedings of the Court from
1680 until the early Twentieth Century have recently gone on line. Visit the website’s search
page. Choose a punishment and type in your surname. Record what you find below.
Test your knowledge of Crime and Punishment with this quiz from the School History
website.