Changes In Crime And Punishment - Nature Of Crime Flashcards
After the Norman Conquest, what was a criminal defined as?
Someone who had ‘disturbed the King’s Peace’. Norman Laws highlighted offences against authority such as treason, revolt, sheltering criminals, blasphemy and heresy. The most common crime was theft
What happened in 1275?
King Edward I passed a law saying that anyone who stole more than 12d worth of goods could be hanged for their crimes
What were crimes specific to the medieval era?
The Forest Laws - trees could no longer be cut down for fuel or for building and deer could not be hunted
Scolding - offensive and abusive speech in public
Treason - defying authority
Outlaw gangs - ambushed travellers
Heresy
What were the 3 serious rebellions of the medieval era?
The Peasants’ Revolt 1381
Jack Cade’s Revolt 1450
Cornish Rebellion 1497
How did the nature of crime change to the eighteenth century?
Vagrancy
Heresy/ Treason
Who was an angler?
Used a hooked stick to reach through windows and steal goods
Who was a counterfeit crank?
dressed in tatty clothes and pretended to suffer from falling sickness
Who was a clapper dudgeon?
Tied arsenic to their skin in order to make it bleed and tract sympathy while begging
What was an Abraham man?
Pretend to be mad to attract donations through pity
How did Tudor governments deal with vagrancy?
Flooding or branding
Making towns tackle the problem
Making it the duty of each local parish to provide air for its poor but also punish vagabonds
When did Religious disputes become more important?
After the Protestant Reformation
What did Henry VIII do?
Split with the Catholic Church and made himself Head of the Church of England
Those refusing to accept were executed
What did Edward VI do?
Widened the split with the Catholic Church
Made laws requiring the people to worship in a more Protestant way
What did Mary do?
Wanted to make England Catholic
Burned Protestants for heresy
What did Elizabeth I do?
Made compromises towards Catholics but remained firmly Protestant
Catholics fined for not attending Church
Those plotting to kill her were executed for treason
What did those who disagreed with the religion of the country do?
Went into exile abroad
Willing to die for what they believed in
Learned to keep quiet and pretended to conform
What was the Treason Law in 1534 issued by Henry VIII?
Anyone who displayed support for the Pope, said or wrote things against him, his wife or his heirs, said the beliefs of the King went against the teachings of the Church, said that he asking was using his power unjustly, kept silent when questioned, was guilty of treason
What were some of the plots between 1536 and 1685?
Pilgrimage of Grace 1536 Robert Aske
Gunpowder Plot 1605 Robert Catesby
Popish Plot 1678 Titus Oates
Monmouth Rebellion 1685 Duke of Monmouth
What was the Gunpowder Plot?
Religiously motivated attempt by Catholic men to assassinate King James I by blowing up Parliament
The plan failed when Guy Fawkes was caught with the gunpowder beneath Parliament
What was a venturer?
The investor
What was a spotsman?
Responsible for directing the ship to shore
What was a lander?
Arranging the unload of the smuggled cargo
What was the tubsman?
Carried the smuggled goods
What was the batsman?
Protected the tubsman
What was smuggling?
Smuggling goods illegally into the country and selling them unofficially on the black market
Gangs employed 50 to 100 individuals each with specific tasks
It declined after reduced duties made smuggling unprofitable
What was highway robbery?
Robbers who attacked pedestrians were known as footpads
Mounted highwaymen on horseback
Armed and worked in pairs
Dick Turpin glamorised by the papers
Why did the amount of highway robbery decline?
Roads became much busier
Banknotes had to be cashed in and could be traced
A horse patrol was set up in London in 1805 to guard main roads
How did the Industrial Revolution affect the nature of crime?
Thimble screwers stole pocket watches
Prop nailers stole pins and brooches
Drag sneaks stole goods or luggage from carts and coaches
Why was there a real threat of revolution?
Between 1790 and 1840 poor living and low wages combined with demands for political reform
What is car crime?
Speed limits
Breathalyser
Banning of mobile phones while driving
What are common car crimes?
Dangerous and careless driving
Parking violations
Speeding
Car theft
Driving without a license
No car insurance
No tax
No MOT
Drunk driving
Not wearing a seatbelt
What is cyber bullying?
Repeated threatening and hostile behaviour through internet and smartphone use to intimidate and hurt another person
What is hacking?
Gaining unauthorised access to the private records of individuals, organisations and governments
What are phishing scams?
Using spoof emails to trick people into revealing important information, for instance an email that looks like it is from your bank and asks for bank details
What is identity theft?
Stealing a person’s identity and pretending to be somebody else, stealing money from bank accounts via the internet
What is copyright infringement?
Illegally downloading music and film and other forms of criminal piracy
What are sexual crimes?
Child grooming through the use of chat rooms and social networks, sharing of illegal images of children, harassment through sharing images with consent
What is terrorism?
Range of methods to push political demands
Hijackings, assassinations, hostages, suicide attacks, arson attacks, bombings
IRA
2 examples of terrorist attacks?
IRA bombing of the Arndale shopping centre 1996
al-Qaeda 7/7 suicide bomb attacks on London transport
What are hate crimes?
Criminal damage and vandalism to harassment or physical assault. Victims targeted for race, sexual orientation, religion, or disability. Most commonly motivated by racism.
Hooliganism
Members of gangs in which violence is accepted or the norm. In the 1970s football hooliganism became a big problem
1985 wall fell at Heysel Stadium in Belgium after after fighting between British and Italian fans which killed 38 people
What is drug related crime?
Drug trafficking became prominent in the late twentieth century. Planes, boats, trucks and mules are used to carry illegal drugs into the UK. Drug gangs operate on their own turf and use violence to protect it
What is gun and knife crime?
Associated with drug gangs, often linked to juvenile gangs.
Hunting
The Forest Laws said that a tree could no longer be cut down for fuel or for building and anyone caught hunting deer would be punished
Scolding
The use of offensive and abusive speech in public
Vagrancy
More common after Black Death destroyed many villages and towns and left people wandering
Treason
Defying authority
1351 Treason Act
Outlaw gangs
Ambushed travellers and robbed houses
Already on the run
Folville Gang 1326
Heresy
Spreading false Christian beliefs
Lollards 1400s
What were the percentages of crime in medieval England?
73% theft
18% murder
6% receiving stolen goods
3% arson, treason, other
Who was a doxy?
A devious female begged who carried a large bag on her back, pretending she was knitting but actually stealing
How did the number of heretics executed change?
Henry VII 24
Henry VIII 81
Edward VI 2
Mary I 283
Elizabeth I 4
How many people were murderers in the 14th Century?
50-100 people in every 100,000
2020 - 1 in every 100,000
How many people were wandering the countryside?
10,000 out of 2.5-4 million population - 23 different types of beggar
Examples of treason
1605 Gunpowder Plot
Treason replaces heresy as most serious crime
1612 Edward Wightman last person to be burned at stake
What was the Hovering Act 1718?
Illegal for vessels smaller than 50 tons to wait within 6 miles of shore
What other act is important relating to smuggling?
Act of indemnity
What two taxes did the rich not like?
Excise duty
Customs duty which increased the price of tea by 70%
Hawkhurst Gang
Social crime which most people agreed with
Why was there increased opportunity for highway robbery?
Deserted roads, availability of hand guns, money carried, urbanisation
Turnpike roads, demobbed soldiers, inns
Footpads
Thieves without horses and specialised in robbing pedestrian travellers
Highwaymen
Horseback, socially superior to footpads
Death penalty
Mounted horse patrols and banking system decreased highway robbery after 1815
When was the last case of highway robbery?
1831
Who are two famous highway robbers?
Dick Turpin
Black Harry
How many children were sleeping rough in 1876?
30,000
What became more common following urbanisation?
Pickpocketing, especially at hangings
Prop nailers
Stole pins and brooches from ladies
Till friskers
Emptied tills of their cash while shopkeeper was distracted
In the 19th century what were the percentages of crime?
90% against property
100 different types of criminal
The Luddites
Weavers who destroyed machinery they thought was putting them out of work
1812 destroyed stocking frames
Hand loom was a very skilled job so paid highly
Ned Ludd was a fictional character
Punishable by death
Chartists
Demand vote to all men over 21
20,000 men marched
Swing riots
1830-31 attacked rich farmer property and set fire to hayricks
Bad harvests in 1828 and 1829 increased food prices
316 cases of arson and 390 attacks on threshing machines
Islamist Terrorist Attacks
Tavistock Square - suicide attacks killed 52 civilians and injured 700 people on 7 July 2005
Since 11 September 2001
Examples of terrorism
Violence and intimidation
Hostages
Murder
Hijacking
Arson
Weapons
Cyber attacks
Bombing
NI Troubles 1969-1998
3500 killed
Far right
April 1999
David Copeland
Nail bombs targeted black, gay and Bangladeshi people
Killed 3 and injured 100
IRA
Nov 1974
Bombs in 2 pubs in Birmingham
Kills 19 people
Motor car crime
Vehicles need to be taxed with MOT
Joyriding
Under influence of drugs
Car arrived in Britain in 1894
Theft from cars and of cars
Speeding offences
Computers and technology
Fraud
Hacking
Internet 1990s
Phishing scams
Cost cybercrime victims £174 million in 2015
Copyright
Harassment
Intimidation
Viruses
Spam
