Crime and Punishment Early Modern Britain 1450 1750

Crime and Punishment Early Modern Britain 1450 -1750

Medieval ideas about crime and punishment • Crime was dived into groups of seriousness. Stealing was in the same group as murder and rape. • This was mainly because medieval society was hierarchical and the rich wanted to be protected. • Royal courts dealt with serious crimes and all types of people. • Church courts dealt with the clergy • Manor courts dealt with ordinary villagers

Medieval ideas about crime and punishment • Most minor stuff was dealt with at manor courts • People were most likely to be fined and punished. Villeins who were unfree farmers were often punished for breaking the rules and the manor courts were there to protect the rights of the villeins.

Medieval ideas about crime and punishment • Murder, robbery, treason, rape, arson and theft of goods worth more than 12 p were all punishable by death • Selling goods for the wrong price, breaking legal agreements and assault were all punishable by fines.

Preventing crime and punishment • Prevention • Making groups of people responsible for each others actions • Deterring people by the threat of punishment • Church teachings about right and wrong • Detecting • Catching a person as they committed the crime • Local people deciding if their neighbour was the kind to commit a crime based on pass behaviour

Vagabonds victims of poverty or criminal beggars • In Elizabethan England there was a great concern over the amount of beggars. This lead to beggars being though of as criminals and punished as a result.

Reasons for increase in vagabonds • Problems in the cloth industry increased the numbers of unemployed • Inflation caused prices to go up faster than wages • Landowners kept sheep instead of crops and so needed less workers. • Closure of monasteries took away support for the poor • End of the war in England led soldiers to be out of work • Population increase put pressure on jobs • No national system to help the unemployed • Large number of travelling beggars threaten a hierarchical society • Cost of supporting beggars was resented by society • Acts of charity was not enough • Poor people were more likely to turn to crimes like theft

Dealing with the vagabonds • Some places issued badges to sick or injured beggars who were thought to deserve help. This separated them for the ‘sturdy’ – lazy beggars. • In 1531 an act was passed where al beggars were classed with a deserving licence or they were punished. JPs enforced this. • In 1547 the vagrancy act forced all beggars to work. It orders that they should be whipped and branded. This was difficult to enforce but it shows how worried the rich were • In some places houses of correction were built to deal with them

Impact of treason • Before 1485 charges of treason were used for those who rebelled against the king. It only became frequent during the Tudor reign as it saw the end of the war of the roses. • Guy Fawkes and gunpowder plot • Punishment was hanging drawing and quartering • It was deliberately designed to show terrible a crime this was thought to be. Since it was believed that god had given power to the king, treason was thought to be a crime against god • Some nobles got away with just a beheading.

Changing attitudes to crime and punishment • Divine right: god gave power to the king therefore people would be challenging god • Hierarchy: society should have a strict order in terms of power, wealth and rights. Men were also considered higher than women • Property: the richest people owned the most property, they were represented in parliament. As a result laws were made to benefit them.

Challenging the system • Increasing population: in 1450 population was 2 million by 1750 it had risen to 7 million • Increased urban growth and unemployment: in growing towns people were more difficult to control • Crimes against property: increase in highway robbery with better roads, poaching increased and the introduction of early smugglers

How did the rulers deal with the challenges • Criminalising beggars: begging was a crime and harshly punished • Different experiences of the law: fate was based on social status – commoners were hanged, drawn and quartered for treason while nobles were beheaded. • Some first time offenders were usually acquitted • Use of fear – with no prison system punishment depended on removing them from society, fining them or humiliating them through stocks and pillory

The bloody code • Historians used the phrase ‘bloody code’ to describe the number of crimes carrying the death penalty from the late 17 th century to the 19 th century. Crimes like sheep stealing, damaging trees and stealing rabbits were all punishable by death. The severe punishments were meant to deter people from committing crimes. In fact the bloody code failed. Many juries refused to find a person guilty if they knew the death penalty followed. So fewer people ended up being hung. Eventually Robert peel reduced the number of crimes punishable by death by over 100.

Transportation • Early in the 17 th century some convicts were transported to the Caribbean and north America. Usually for political crimes.

Highway robbery increased • due to better roads and transport • There was no police force to monitor them • Many people travelled alone • Horses were cheap to buy Highway robbery decreased • People stopped carrying money when travelling • Mounted police were set up in London • The population expanded so more open space was used for housing • Coaches became more frequent so a highway robber was unable to hold a coach for long

Poaching • Laws that banned poaching were very unpopular • Only landowners who had land worth £ 100 or more were allowed to hunt anywhere. This meant some people were not allowed to hunt on their own land! • Poaching became an offence punishable by death • Poor people used to hunt for fun and some poor people needed to hunt for food • It was unfair that only rich could do it • Wealth people wanted to protect their land their authority • They didn’t want anyone to make money out of poaching

Smuggling • During the seventieth century the government increased taxes on goods • This led people to smuggling in goods like tea, brandy, spices • Smugglers usually worked in gangs so were hard to fight against • There was no police force so it was easier to get away with • The people supported it as it allowed them luxuries at small prices • It was a good way for people to make money

Local law enforcement • Hue and cry was the main way of dealing with this. • Although highway robbery and smuggling did take place the most common crime still remained theft and violence. • No professional police force – people were opposed to the cost and harsh punishment was a cheaper option and people were afraid that the government might use force to stamp out the opposition. • The army was sometimes used to crack down on petty criminals but usually there work was to find and deal with smugglers.

Justices of the peace (JPs) • First introduced in the middle ages • JPs were usually unpaid local landowners who dealt with less important crimes for instance drunkenness and fighting • JPs enforced some laws such as dealing with wages, prices, road building and enforce the vagrancy and poor laws

constables • Each village or hundred was meant to have its own constable • Usually two people of a more wealthier background were chosen • They were unpaid, part time officials. • They did not have weapons or a uniform and generally acted as JPs assistants making arrests and escorting prisoners to gaol.

Courts • Two or three JPs met regularly in their district to deal with more serious cases • JPs also met in quarter sessions to deal with serious crimes with a jury. • The most serious crimes were heard by the royal judges. • JPs often gave a out lenient punishments like stocks and pillory and fines but could pass the death sentence in quarter sessions