Ideas of what ‘crime’ is have changed over time.
Causes of crime have been different in different time periods.
Ideas of punishment have changed over time.
Policing has changed over time.
Different people have different experiences of the law.
Different people have different ideas about crime and punishment.
Change sometimes happens because of important people. Change sometimes happens because of the way society is changing. These causes are linked.
1450-1750
Rich people were in power. They wanted to protect money and property.
Stealing was seen as just as bad as murder and rape.
Most people could not vote so they could not change things.
Royal Courts dealt with serious crimes.
 The punishment for murder, rape and stealing was death by hanging.
 Anyone aged over 10 could be hanged.
 The punishment for cheating, breaking agreements or assault was a fine of money.
 Another punishment was being forced to leave the country (outlawed).
Manor Courts dealt with less serious crimes.
The main punishment was fines.
Prisons were not used as a punishment.
They were just places to hold people waiting for trial.
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Reasons for the crime rate going up:
 Rising prices
 Rising unemployment
 War
 Weak government
 Corrupt judges
Reasons for the crime rate going down:
 Cheap food
 Plenty of jobs
 Peace
 Strong government
 Honest judges
How did the authorities try to prevent crime?
 Making groups of people responsible for each other’s actions
 Tithing – every freeman belonged to a group of 10 men
 Hue and cry – everyone had to hunt for the criminal
 Scaring (deterring) people by the threat of punishment
 Church teaching about right and wrong
How did they try to catch criminals?
 It was up to ordinary people to catch criminals
 Getting local people to decide if the person they knew was likely to commit a crime
How did they decide if someone was guilty or innocent?
 Witness of neighbours
 Trial by jury
It was therefore very difficult to find out who had committed a crime.
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In the late 14 th and 15 th century many people wandered from town to town looking for work.
Why?
 Problems in the cloth industry
 Large numbers of people with no jobs
 Prices going up faster than wages
 Monasteries closed down (they had supported poor people)
 End of wars in England so lots of soldiers with no work
 Growing population – more people wanting jobs and food
 No system to help the poor and sick
Begging was treated as a crime and harshly punished. Why?
 People felt threatened by the large numbers of beggars on the streets
 Communities did not like having to pay for the beggars that turned up in their areas
 Acts of charity were not enough to help all the poor people
 Poor people were more likely to turn to stealing
How were they treated?
 Some places gave special badges to sick or disabled beggars (‘the deserving poor’) and allowed them to beg.
 Others (‘study beggars’) were seen as lazy and punished.
 Some sturdy beggars made themselves disabled to get the badges.
- vagabonds and beggars could be put in the stocks and forced to leave the town.
- beggars were forced to work. They had to be whipped and branded.
This law was later changed because it was too strict.
prisons (houses of correction’) were built to keep beggars
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Treason = rebelling against the king.
Between 1485 and 1745 there were many rebellions against the kings and queens.
The idea was that kings got their power from God (divine right), so treason was against God as well as the king.
On 5 th November 1605 a group of Catholics tried to blow up King James I in Parliament.
Their punishment was to be hanged, drawn and quartered.
 Hanged by the neck, cut down when still alive and then cut open.
 Body divided into 4 quarters.
This punishment of mutilation lasted until 1870, for anyone who tried to overthrow the king or queen.
Punishment was so harsh because the people in power were afraid of rebellion.
Early 16 th century: many changes led to crimes.
 Growing towns led to street robbers (footpads) in dark alleys.
 Changes in religious belief led to people refusing to follow official religion.
 Increased unemployment led to beggars wandering from town to town.
 Better roads led to highwaymen robbing travellers.
 Rich people made the laws to protect their property from the poor.
 Rich people had power over poor people.
 Men had power over women.
 Adults had power over children.
But the population was growing fast. Big towns were harder to control.
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Before, land had been common and shared.
Now rich people were buying and enclosing common land.
In the past ordinary people had the right to hunt animals like rabbits.
Now there was a law against poaching.
Poachers sometimes worked in gangs.
 Humiliation – stocks or pillory
 Fines – paying money
 Execution – hanging (for ordinary people) or beheading (for rich people)
If a woman killed her husband she was strangled and burnt.
The idea? Retribution (punishment) and Deterrence (preventing crime)
This was the system of punishment that had death as the punishment even for small crimes.
In 1688 50 crimes were punished by death; by 1815 death was the punishment for 225 crimes.
Stealing sheep, damaging trees and stealing rabbits all had the death penalty.
One famous criminal was Jack Shepherd, a thief who made very clever escapes from prison.
When he was hanged, 250,000 people were in the streets to cheer him as a hero.
Hangings were at Tyburn just outside London.
No police force
Constables and watchmen.
Thieftakers.
The most famous thieftaker was Jonathan Wild.
He pretended to catch thieves. In fact he was a criminal in charge of a gang of thieves.
He was hanged in 1725.
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