C&P EXHIBITION: TEACHERS GUIDE
Who is this Exhibition for?
At the heart of this exhibition is a huge collection of documents from the
Public Records Office archives. They provide fascinating evidence of real
people involved with crime, crime prevention and punishment in England over
the last 800 years. It is therefore firstly for anyone, of any age, interested in
this intriguing aspect of History.
Within the National Curriculum for History it would support:

At Key Stage 2: Tudor times, Victorian Britain, Britain since 1930;

At Key Stage 3: Britain 1066 – 1500, Britain 1500-1750, Britain 17501900

At AS, A2 history there is plenty of material here for teacher-designed
modules;
The Exhibition supports the National Curriculum for Citizenship at KS2, KS3
and KS4, which requires knowledge and understanding of crime, the law and
crime prevention.
Degree students of crime, punishment or the law will find many relevant items
in the Exhibition. Students of social history, at GCSE, A Level, or on degree
courses will also find it useful.
However, the Exhibition is structured particularly to support the Schools
History Project GCSE Development Study: “Crime and Punishment Through
Time” One of the explicit aims of the Schools History Project course has
always been “to understand the process of change and continuity in human
affairs.” (‘A New Look at History’, 1976). This has been achieved through
Development Studies. These encourage understanding of such important
concepts as change and continuity, turning-points, factors affecting change,
over long periods of time. These are therefore the main concepts developed
by the tasks, activities and games of the Exhibition. The topics covered have
also been selected with the needs of the SHP GCSE course in mind.
How is this Exhibition organised?
The Main Page of the Exhibition shows that it is made up of three “Strands”
and four “periods.”
The three Strands are: CRIME, CRIME PREVENTION and PUNISHMENT.
The four time periods are: BEFORE 1450, 1450-1750, 1750-1900 and THE
20th CENTURY.
A sustained enquiry can therefore be carried out either by following one of the
Strands over time, comparing how similar situations have been dealt with in
different periods, or by looking several aspects of this whole subject at a
particular time.
A Gallery is represented on the Main Page by one of the boxes and is a
collection of documents and support materials from one Strand in one time
period. There are therefore twelve Galleries.
In each Gallery there is:

A Big Question. This is the same across all Galleries in a Strand and is
supported by an Activity designed to help students respond to the Big
Question. This Big Question is particularly important for Schools History
Project GCSE students to address, as it focuses on the issues of change
and continuity, turning-points and factors causing or inhibiting change
which are central to the course.

A Key Question. This is specific to a Gallery and is intended to provide a
guiding enquiry for students to use as they work through the CaseStudies.

A Worksheet. This supports the Key Question. It is set in WORD, allowing
students to fill in and save their responses. It also includes assistance to
students on how to write up their response to the Key Question once they
have tackled the documents.

An introductory text for students. This describes the historical context for
this particular Strand and time period. It ends with instructions to students
on how to work through the Gallery.

An online Game. These are intended to be fun, but all arise out of one or
more of the documents in the Gallery and develop knowledge and
understanding of the topic.

A simple four-point compass in each Gallery so that you can move
vertically across Strands within the time period or horizontally across time
within the Strand you are in.

A list of the Case-Studies in the Gallery. These are the specific topics in
the story of Crime, Crime Prevention or Punishment which are dealt with
in that Gallery and contain the Documents.
(A list of all the Case-Studies in the Exhibition, Gallery by Gallery, is given
below).
In each Case-Study there is:

An enquiry question to focus the student on the issues in this Case-Study.

A short introduction for students. This provides a context for the CaseStudy and specific knowledge to help them understand the Documents.

A task to help students make use of the evidence from the documents.

A Glossary

Thumbnail versions of the actual Documents from the Public Record
Office.
For Each Document there is:

A brief note to explain what it is.

A transcript if the document is in unfamiliar or unclear writing.

Hints on how to extract meaning from it.

Advice on how to use the evidence from each document to build up an
answer to the Key Question for the Gallery by using the Gallery
Worksheet.
What topics does this Exhibition cover?
Gallery 1:
Crime before 1450
1. Violent Crime
2. Non-violent
offences
Gallery 4:
Crime 1450-1750
1. Vagabonds
2. Heresy &
Treason
3. Witchcraft
4. Highwaymen
5. Smugglers
6. Poachers
Gallery 7:
Crime 1750-1900
1. New crimes
2. Crime statistics
3. Causes of crime
Gallery 10:
Crime in the 20th
Century
1. Car crime
2. Smuggling
3. Juvenile crime
4. Crime figures
Gallery 2:
Crime prevention
before 1450
1. Crime
prevention in
the
community
2. J.P.s
Gallery 5:
Crime prevention 14501750
1. Constables and
watchmen
Gallery 11:
Crime prevention in the
20th century
1. Modernising the
police
2. Public attitudes
to the police
Gallery 3:
Punishment before
1450
1. Medieval
punishments
2. Capital
punishment
Gallery 6:
Punishment 1450-1750
1. The Bloody Code
2. Houses of
Correction and
other
punishments
Gallery 8:
Crime prevention 17501900
1. Sir John Fielding
2. The new police
forces
3. Provincial police
forces
4. The growth of the
police
5. Complaints and
criticisms
Gallery 9:
Punishment 1750-1900
1. Transportation
2. Prison reform
3. Victorian prisons
4. Treatment of
young people
Gallery 12;
Punishment in the 20th
Century
1. Punishment of
young offenders
2. Prisons in the
20th century
3. The abolition of
capital
punishment
Methodology
This Exhibition is not a course in Crime and Punishment through Time – there
are several textbooks which do that quite adequately. However, it does
supplement, illuminate and support the textbook courses in a number of ways:
1. Starting a new time period within a Strand. Pupils examine the CaseStudies, individually or in groups, to see what has changed and what is
the same as the previous time.
2. Starting a new Strand within a time period. Pupils use the Case-studies
to find links and differences between the new aspect of Crime,
Prevention or Punishment and what has been studied.
3. Filling out the textbook version. Textbooks operate by making
generalisations and the Exhibition supplies the real, specific evidence
against which generalisations can be tested.
4. Revision. The Exhibition provides the opportunity to take rapid
overviews of the whole course. Students use the Case-Studies to test
their knowledge and understanding of historical context, motive etc.
Following one of the “Big Questions” in a Strand would strengthen this
kind of work.
5. The “Key Questions” provide structure for an enquiry into a particular
Gallery. The authentic examples from the documents provide plenty of
examples for discussion. The Tasks pull the Case-Studies together to
provide the patterns pupils need to learn.
Notes on each Gallery
Gallery 1: Crime Before 1450.
Key Question: Were the Middle Ages lawless and violent?
This Gallery provides evidence which works against the common view in
the Key Question. In fact, as the documents make clear, medieval courts
took great care to administer justice fairly and thoroughly. This could be
breached if someone was powerful enough: see Case-Study 1 Source 6.
The strength of communal systems comes through very strongly, and this
theme can be followed through Galleries 2 and 3 as well.
Gallery 2: Prevention before 1450
Key Question: Who was responsible to crime prevention in Medieval
England?
This sets up a comparison between the communal tithing system and
Justices of the Peace. Whatever their current position as representatives
of the local community, J.Ps were initially appointed by the crown to
oversee local justice and were deliberately chosen as socially superior to
tithingmen. Pupils who know something about attitudes towards the
setting up of police forces in the 1830s will be able to comment on the fact
that the document in Case-Study 2 is from that period.
Gallery 3: Punishment before 1450
Key Question: What were the purposes of punishments given by courts in
the Middle Ages?
This Gallery provides a good example of the pressures of a punishment
system to fit the expectations and resources of a society: Medieval
England was not prepared to put lots of money into punishment and
expected punishment to be seen to be carried out. These are the factors
which produced the system exemplified in this Gallery.
Gallery 4: Crime 1450-1750
Key Question: Did governments in the period 1450-1750 decide what
kinds of people were to be regarded as criminals?
This large Gallery opens up two important questions. The first is how far
governments define crime. Several of the Case-Studies provide evidence
that they do, creating crimes for actions which were not criminal before –
or, in several cases, since. Governments in this period also criminalise
certain groups of people they consider undesirable, such as vagabonds,
see Case-Study 1.
The second big issue in this Gallery concerns social crime: activities which
the government considers to be criminal, but which sections of society do
not. This gives a strong flavour to one of the most interesting Galleries in
the Exhibition.
Gallery 5: Crime prevention 1450-1750
Key Question: Did methods of crime prevention change in the period
1450-1750?
As the answer to this question is “not much”, there is only one Case-Study
in this Gallery. However, it should not be ignored: periods of dramatic
change may seem more interesting, but periods of continuity also need
explaining. Pupils should look for explanations of why, with population and
crime increasing, prevention methods did not change.
Gallery 6: Punishment 1450-1750
Key Question: What was the purpose of punishment in the period 14501750?
In comparison with Gallery 3, punishments shown in the Case-Studies
seem to suggest times had changed quite a lot. However, if pupils look at
motives and purposes of punishment, they will see that these changes
were not so great: shaming, public satisfaction, cheapness are all as
important as ever.
It is important to use Case-Study 1 on ‘the Bloody Code’ to understand
exactly what was going on: a fierce capital legal code, tempered by
popular feeling, mercy and judicial whim.
Gallery 7: Crime 1750-1900
Key Question: Did the Industrial Revolution lead to more crime?
It is impossible to make sense of the documents in this Exhibition without
some knowledge of the broader historical context. Indeed, one purpose of
the SHP GCSE Development Study course is to provide an overview of
History through the medium of the Crime and Punishment course. The
Case-Studies in this Gallery give a wide range of crimes which would not
have been possible in previous periods and their contextual knowledge will
help students understand why.
There was also a huge interest in crime in this period, and widespread
discussion of its causes. People were aware that they were living in a new
era and all kinds of ideas were circulated about the causes of crime. There
are important links to be made here with Galleries 8 and 9.
Gallery 8: Prevention 1750-1900
Key Question: What new crime prevention methods were set up to deal
with changes in crime in the years 1750-1900 and what problems did they
have to face?
Galleries 7, 8 and 9 all reveal extraordinary changes and in Gallery 8
students will encounter the setting up of the first police forces and how
controversial they were. There is a wide range of documents in the CaseStudies and some effort should be put into explaining why police were not
welcomed: the concern about putting legal power into the hands of
uniformed officials, the concern about cost, the fear of arbitrary
government.
Gallery 9: Punishment 1750-1900
Key Question: What was the purpose of punishments used in the period
1750-1900?
This Gallery contains some of the most startling material in the Exhibition,
reflecting the efforts made by 19th century Britain to deal with crime and
criminals. There were fierce arguments between protagonists of different
views of punishment and this too is reflected in the Case-Studies.
Students need to clarify the motives for the use of, and the abandonment
of: transportation, the Silent system and the Separate system. The close
similarities and stark differences between the 19th century and our own
time will provide plenty of topics for discussion. The Case-Studies also
carry out one of history’s important roles in demonstrating that there are
alternatives to the way things are now.
Case-Study 4, on Juvenile Offenders, shows changing views within the
period.
Gallery 10: Crime in the 20th Century
Key Question: What was the most important factor affecting crime in the
20th century?
Crime in the 20th century went through two very different phases: first, a
long period of relatively low crime levels, up to the 1960s; then a massive
increase in crimes of nearly all kinds, which we are still enduring. Pupils
need to be clear about this pattern at the outset.
Case-Study 1, ‘Car Crime’, is an obvious choice for inclusion as it is a
completely new element in crime. Case-study 2, ‘Smuggling’, on the other
hand, has been included for comparison with earlier periods –See gallery
7. Case-Study 3 is there because it is a topic many students will have
experience of, although the historical context may be unknown to them.
And Case-study 4, ‘Crime Figures’, needs to be taken into account in any
review of the current crime situation.
Gallery 11: Crime Prevention in the 20th Century
Key Question: Did police work change dramatically in the 20th century?
The role of the police in our society was controversial from the start (see
Gallery 8) and is still controversial today. Pupils will have views on this
topic, as on the others in this time period, and the two Case-Studies will
help to provide some historical context to them.
Gallery 12: Punishment in the 20th century
Key Question: What was the purpose of 20th century punishments?
One of the educational benefits of the course which this Exhibition
supports, is that it puts controversial contemporary issues in a context.
Nowhere is this more clear than in examining punishment policies today.
Following punishment back through the other Galleries in this Strand (3, 6
and 9), will improve pupils understanding of current arguments.
Related Resources
You may find these links to related resources helpful.
Topics
 Power, Politics and Protest http://www.learningcurve.gov.uk/politics/default.htm
 Prisoner 4099 http://www.learningcurve.gov.uk/prisoner4099/default.htm
Lessons
 Captain Blood http://www.learningcurve.gov.uk/snapshots/snapshot51/snapshot51.ht
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 The Gunpowder Plot http://www.learningcurve.gov.uk/snapshots/snapshot07/snapshot7.htm
 Victorian Children in trouble with the Law http://www.learningcurve.gov.uk/snapshots/snapshot25/snapshot25.ht
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 Victorian Prison http://www.learningcurve.gov.uk/snapshots/snapshot24/snapshot24.ht
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Workshops
 Year 7 – Crime and Punishment http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/educationservice/ks3.htm#crimepunishment
 Year 10/11 – Jack the Ripper http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/educationservice/ks3.htm#a5
 AS and A2 Level – Chartism http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/educationservice/as.htm#a3
 AS and A2 Level – Suffragettes http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/educationservice/as.htm#a5
 Special Event : A Level Study Days – Suffragettes http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/educationservice/as.htm#special
Video Conferences
 Key Stage 4 : Jack the Ripper http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/educationservice/video.htm#a8
More evidence on crime
Judges' reports on criminals from 1783 to 1830 have been catalogued by
The National Archives.
The HO 47 series consists of two sets of records: the 'memorials' or lists of
pardons written by judges at the end of the assizes or local courts; and
reports by judges and magistrates on individual criminal trials recommending
or denying pardons.
These records are now searchable by name. Pupils could perhaps
research their own family history. Again, teachers could develop their own
teaching materials around this historical evidence.

http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/catalogue/.

Choose 'search the catalogue'

Enter the surname in the first field

Enter HO 47 in the third field

Press search!