Crime and punishment – timeline
Sort the cards chronologically
Sort them into topic areas, e.g. laws, punishments, policing, justice
Living graph, e.g. evidence of punishments becoming harsher/more lenient, crime rates
rising or falling, pace of change
Finally, give students a copy of this chart and they could mark the events out as change or
continuity
Date
Description
Ancient Rome,
c.500BC400AD
There was no effective police force in Rome, but the Emperor’s guard
protected the Emperor and stopped riots. The army acted as a police force
in the provinces of the Empire.
Laws were made by the Emperor and the Senate. They were written down
in detail, often updated and covered all aspects of crime.
Victims of crime had to collect evidence themselves and bring the accused
to court. They could hire trained lawyers if they could afford them. Juries
decided serious cases, judges less serious ones.
Punishments were harsh and often violent. Executions were common,
although noblemen were allowed to go into exile to escape execution.
Prisons were only used for debtors.
Middle Ages
c.400AD-1500
In the early Saxon period a wergild (blood price) was paid to the victim of
crime. Serious crimes were punished by death and frequent re-offenders
were mutilated or even executed. Under the Normans punishments
became harsher to emphasis the power of the king. Capital punishment
was used for many offences, including theft. The stocks, pillory and
whipping were used for minor crimes.
Trial by ordeal was introduced to establish a person’s guilt. For example
the accused had to plunge their hand into boiling oil to retrieve an object.
If the wound healed he was innocent, if it festered he was guilty!
Saxon Kings made laws on many issues which the Normans kept, but added
new laws such as forest laws
In the absence of a police force, the ‘hue and cry’ was issued, when victims
of crime called for assistance if a crime had been committed and the
criminal had fled the scene.
Early Modern
Period
c.1500-1750
Many towns built Houses of Correction to punish and reform offenders.
For example in the late 1500s Bridewell was set up in London, where
vagrants, unmarried mothers and runaway apprentices were sent. They
were whipped and set to hard work.
Transportation was introduced. From the 1660s criminals were sent to the
American colonies
Laws were still made by the King or Queen, but increasingly they had to do
so with the involvement of parliament. Under the Tudors new laws were
introduced which included heavy fines for not attending church. Catholic
priests were accused of treason for trying to convert people to their faith.
There was still no regular police force in the country, so the Hue and cry
was still used to catch criminals. Thief catchers appear in the 1700s, who
earned their living from the rewards they received for bringing criminals to
justice.
Vagrancy was thought to be a growing problem and punishments grew
more severe. Vagrants were frequently whipped and sent home.
The Bloody Code was gradually introduced over this period, and the
number of offences punishable by execution rose considerably due to a
perception that crime was on the increase. Horse-thieves and
counterfeiters were just as likely to go to the gallows as cold-blooded
murderers.
There were a variety of courts. Royal judges visited countries to hear
serious cases at assizes. Justices of the Peace help sessions every 3 months
and manor courts dealt with local or minor crimes
The Habeas Corpus Act (meaning ‘you have the body’) was passed by
Parliament, stopping authorities from keeping people in prison without
being charged.
Industrial Age
c.1750-1900
There was an increasingly wide range of laws. As governments became
more involved in every aspect of society, they made new criminal offences
which had not existed before, e.g. in 1870 it became compulsory to send
children to school. Parents were fined for not doing so.
The old system of unpaid constables was replaced by professional police
forces. By 1860 forces had been set up throughout the country. Detective
forces followed.
The system of trials was little changed from early modern times
The Bloody Code was abolished. Capital punishment was little used by
1900. The only crimes punished by execution were murder and treason.
The main purpose of punishment was to punish and reform the criminal,
not to warn others away from crime. Therefore, punishments no longer
took place in public. Physical punishments such as whipping were
abolished except in prisons. Fines were a common punishment. Prison
became the main form of punishment with 90% of serious offenders sent
to prison. Transportation was seen as a middle punishment between
execution and fines until prisons took over. Transportation ended in 1868.
Sir Robert Peel set up the first police force in 1929. It served London but by
1856 forces had been set up nationwide
Modern age
20th & 21st
Centuries
Capital punishment was abolished in 1965
Reforms of prisons were introduced. In 1907 probation was introduced.
Offenders had to report to a police officer regularly to avoid a prison
sentence. In 1967 parole was introduced, where prisoners could be let out
early for good behaviour. In the 1990s electronic tagging of offenders was
introduced.
In 1908 an age of criminal responsibility was introduced, when a child
could be held responsible for his/her crime for the first time. It was set at
seven then raised until by 1969 it stood at fourteen
In the 1990s the government introduced a new measure for dealing with
anti-social behaviour called ASBOs. These are now to be replaced with
community-based control measures nicknamed ‘CRIMBOs’ placing more
power into the hands of local residents in dealing with anti-social
behaviour.
In 1901 the existence of blood groups was discovered and the first national
register of finger prints was set up. Methods of crime detection have
improved significantly with the development of forensics and DNA analysis.
Specialist crime squads have been formed to tackle new forms of criminal
activity. In 1919 the Flying Squad was formed to tackle serious armed
crime. 1971 the Anti-Terrorist Squad was formed. In 2008 the Police
National E-Crime Unit was formed with powers to investigate computerbased criminal activity.
Community service introduced for minor offences
Recent statistics show that over 70% of criminals reoffend once they leave
prison. 636 murders committed in 2012, compared with 312 in 1900.