Abolition Of The Bloody Code

Question 1

How did (government and) lawmakers lead to the abolition of the bloody code?

Answer 1

Juries would not convict and in the early 1700s only 40% of those convicted of capital crimes were actually hung and by the 1800s it had fallen to 10%. Juries were unwilling to find people guilty if they thought the punishment was too harsh for the crime. With courts unwilling to convict, criminals would feel more confident to commit and escape the punishment. Therefore the bloody code was undermining the law and no longer protected the property of landowners.

Question 2

How did attitudes in society lead to the abolition of the bloody code?

Answer 2

Public executions were meant to frighten people but during the 1700s the crowds at executions grew larger. The audience laughed and drank and in 1776, 30,000 people attended an execution at Newgate Prison. Some factories even closed so that workers could go watch and was felt as a form of cheap entertainment! As crowds grew the government felt it was harder to keep order and danger of a criminal escaping if the crowd felt sympathy for them. Also there was a chance of an increase in protest riots if there was an execution for a minor crime

Question 3

How has beliefs and values caused the abolition of the bloody code?

Answer 3

Ideas about punishment was changing. Throughout the eighteenth century there was a growing sense among philosophers that punishments were far too brutal and argued that lawmakers should make transportation the punishment for the crime. By the 1780s transportation had emerged as the main alternative to capital punishment

Question 4

In which decade included the abolition of nearly all capital crimes and the Bloody Code?

Answer 4

1820-1830