Crime Flashcards
Norman England: Murdrum Fine
N. murdered by A.-S. & not captured by tithing
paid by hundred where body found
Norman England: Forest Laws
~40% ‘royal forest’
evicted ~40 villages to create ‘Nova Foresta’ (New Forest) in Hampshire
‘Foresters’
hanging/castration
‘hunting license’
Norman England: outlaws
‘Feudal System’
man aged 14 or over
‘outside protection of law’
Later medieval: Statute of Labourers
1348 Black Death
~1/3 pop. died
1351
Later medieval: heresy
13th & 14th centuries
‘Lollards’ led by John Wycliffe
1382
1401 burning at stake
1414 ‘Justices of the Peace’ could arrest & take to Church courts
Early Modern: heresy (set-up)
1534 Henry VIII broke away from Catholic Church
Early Modern: heresy (Mary I)
Catholic
‘Bloody Mary’
almost 300 ‘heretics’ burned
Early Modern: heresy (Elizabeth I)
Protestant
Act of Uniformity (1559) = church or fine
Act of Supremacy (1559) = oath to CofE or punished
Early Modern: heresy (James I)
Protestant
Gunpowder Plot (1605)
Popish Recusants Act (1605) = oath to King or fines
Early Modern: moral laws
Civili War (1642-49) -> Charles I executed
Oliver Cromwell (Puritan) = ‘Lord Protector’ 1653-58
sport banned on Sunday
feasting & drinking banned
celebrations at Christmas banned
Early Modern: vagabondage
printing press -> pamphlet literature
Thomas Harman’s 1657 book
poor rates (already paid)
bad harvests 1570s & 1590s
London & Oxford
Vagrancy Act (1547) = no work 3 days branded with ‘V’ & sold as slave 2 years
Act for the Relief of the Poor (1597) = whipped & ear burned, 2nd offence execution
Poor Laws (1601) = ‘poor relief’ to ‘deserving poor’ or whipping or imprisonment
Ealy Modern: poaching
‘enclosure’
Game Act (1671) = poaching illegal
Early Modern: smuggling
17th cent. import duties on some alcohol & tea
hanged
Industrial: smuggling
17th & 18th centuries import taxes increased
extended to cloth, wine & spirits
Hawkhurst Gang on south coast
1748 35 smugglers including leaders of H. Gang hanged
earn several times daily wage
3 million pounds’ weight tea into Britain each year
20,000 smugglers gangs up to 100 men
PM William Pitt lowered import duties 1780s, 19th cent. reduced again
Industrial: highway robbery
18th cent.
trade, increased, few banks
18th cent. Turnpike trusts -> road surfaces
stagecoach services
no rural police orce
horses & guns
Jack Shepherd & Dick Turpin
declined by 19th cent.
‘King’s Highway’
postal service
1772 = death pen. armed & in disguise
1800s onwards mounted patrols
19th cent. developments in banking
Industrial: poaching
viewed as more serious 18th cent.
rise in violent gangs & poaching raids
deer parks & game reserves
Black Act (1723) = punishable by death
fines up to £5
imprisonment up to 3 months
blacken face/snares/dogs
land worth over £100 a year
alibis/lied in court
1823 Black Act repealed by Robert Peel
Industrial: witchcraft
18th & 17th centuries
Reformation (1500-1700)
last execution for heresy 1612
18th cent. Enlightenment
1736 under George II Witchcraft Act decrim. witchcraft
frauds & tricksters
Modern: homophobic crime
1960s ‘sexual revolution’
Sexual Offences Act (1967) = decrim. homosexuality for men over 21
Criminal Justice Act (2005) = more severe sentences for hate crimes
Modern: race crime
1950s Commonwealth countries
Race Relations Act (1968) = illegal to refuse jobs, housing or services on basis of race, ethnic background or country of origin
2006 law= extended - spreading racial or religious hatred = crime
Modern: domestic violence
19th cent. common view = men dominant partners
20th cent. campaign for women’s votes, contribution in WWs & 1960s campaign for equal rights
Domestic Violence Act (1976) = right to ask for injunction against violent partner
1991 prosecute husband for raping wife
2014 controlling & coercive behaviour
2 women England & Wales killed by current/former partner a week
Modern: abortion
‘backstreet abortion’
alcohol, wire coat hangers or poisons
1960s liberal attitudes
Abortion Act (1967)
Modern: growth of social crimes
tax evasion, copyright theft, minor driving offences, drug-taking
Modern: driving offences
1925 = illegal drive car while drunk
1967 = limit for alcohol in bloodstream
since 1970s gov. awareness campaigns
speeding - gov. advertising campaigns late 20th cent.
Modern: drug-taking
Misuse of Drugs Act (1971)
1960s & 70s social crime
illegal prostitution, sex trafficking & gang-related violence
Modern: terrorism
Guy Fawkes & Gunpowder Plotters
1970s & 80s Irish Republican Army (IRA)
car-bombs, ‘soft civilian targets’
Al-Qaeda & ISIS 2010s
Europe & Middle East
internet - communicate, gather, ‘train’
Modern: people-trafficking
poorer & vulnerable to UK low/no wage
prostitution
19th cent. ‘white slave trade’ poor girls
powerful international gangs
Modern: cybercrime
fraud - tricking
‘phishing’ emails
copyright theft
extortion or backmail
