Crime and Punishment 12 marks: 'Explain why...' Flashcards
Explain Why the Normans made changes to crime and punishment after the Norman conquest.
You may use the following in your answer:
- Forest Laws
- Murdrum fine
You must also use information of your own.
TO SECURE THE POWER OF THE KING:
-Very harsh punishments for anyone who rebelled against the Williams power, extreme punishments for large groups of people who were not directly involved in the rebellion. Burning of Farmlands + Killing of animals. 100,000 people died of starvation. King’s power was secured.
TO BOOST THE VISIBLE POWER OF THE KING:
- Forest laws, taking and from common people, King strictly controlling it.
- Shows the King’s power, Harsh punishments for anyone who disobeyed, only people who paid hunting fees to the king could hunt. -Had the power to take away fundamental freedoms.
TO CREATE A MORE CENTRALISED PUNISHMENT SYSTEM:
-Murdrum fine introduced 1070, where before fine paid to the victim’s family, the fine was now paid to the king if the murderer was not caught and prosecuted in the hundred where the body was found.
Explain Why, In Ango Saxon England, local communities were mainly responsible for law enforcement.
You may use the following in your answer:
-Hue and Cry
-Oaths
You must also use information of your own.
NO TOWNS OR CITIES’S SO NO CENTRAL PLACES TO HAVE POWERFUL PEOPLE.
-90% of people lived in the countryside, very difficult for high-up authorities to enforce the law in very spread out areas.
BELIEF IN COLLECTIVE RESPONSIBILITY:
- “Taking responsibility for members of your community.” -if a crime was committed it was the job of the whole village to find a prosecute the criminal.
- Hue and Cry - If you saw a crime you sounded hue and cry, the whole village had to hunt the criminal down.
HEAVY RELIANCE ON RELIGION IN DECIDING GUILT OR INNOCENCE.
- Oaths of innocence, public hearings, swearing of innocence in the eyes of God.
- Local churches were in charge, most accused walked free because in tight-knit communities, difficult to get away with repeated offenses.
Explain Why ordinary people hated the forest laws
You may use the following in your answer:
-Social crime
-Farmers eviction
You must also use information of your own.
EVICTION OF VILLIAGE COMMUNITIES AND FARMS
- Forest Laws were introduced in 1072.
- 30% of England became Royal forests, which William 1 and the Norman Nobility used for hunting.
- Communities and Farms were evicted from this area, which caused resentment.
THEY MADE IT ILLEGAL TO GRAZE ANIMALS, KILL WILD ANIMALS OR TAKE WOOD WITHOUT A LICENSE
-Ordinary people who could not afford to pay the hunting fee could no longer graze animals, kill wild animals or take wood. The enforcement of these laws was done by foresters, who were hired by the king to catch poachers. - Resented by the local people.
PUNISHMENTS FOR POACHING WERE HARSH
-Killing wild animals was became illegal, and the punishments were deliberately harsh to deter others from poaching. Punishments were - capital or corporal, even for the smallest crimes. Poaching was viewed as a social crime because everybody thought the laws were so unreasonable.
Explain Why there were further changes in crime and punishment in the late medieval period.
You may use the following in your answer:
-The statute of laborers
- Heresy
You must also use information of your own.
TO FURTHER CENTRALISE LAW ENFORCEMENT
- 1195: Richard 1st appointed knights as keepers of the ‘Kings peace’, in areas seen as unruly, later in 1327 extended to all areas by Edward the 3rd. -Assigned by the king rather than the local commnity, a shift towards a crime and punishment system controlled by a central government power base.
TO STOP THE PEASANT FROM BECOMING WEALTHIER AND MORE POWERFUL IN THE AFTERMATH OF THE BLACK DEATH WHICH HIT ENGLAND IN 1348.
- one-third of the population died of the plague, meaning far fewer workers were available. Statute of Laborers was passed by parliament in 1351, it illegalized:
- Paying workers more than the maximum wage which the law had set.
- Moving area to look for better-paid work.
TO STOP PEOPLE FROM QUESTIONING THE PRACTICES AND BELIEFS OF THE CHURCH
Clergy felt threatened by people questioning the church.
Questioning the church, or going against’s its beliefs was called heresy.
Heresy laws were introduced in:
1382 - Heresy made a crime
1401 - Burning at the stake for heretics introduced
1414 - Gave justices of the peace the power to arrest suspected heretics.
Explain Why there was a disagreement over the role of the church courts in the later medieval period.
You may use the following in your answer:
-Trial by ordeal (Best sanctuary)
-Benefit of the Clergy
You must also use information of your own.
MADE THE CRIME AND PUNISHMENT SYSTEM MORE FLEXIBLE, NOT JUST STRAIGHTFORWARD LIKE HENRY WANTED IT.
-Trial by ordeal ended in 1215, but in the late 12th century, Henry’s 2nd authority was challenged by church courts, Henry wanted a more standardized crime and punishment system, the church was flexible - believed in retribution, gave people a second chance, Henry disagreed.
THE KINGS AUTHORITY COULD NOT BE IMPOSED VERY FAR OVER THE MEMBERS OF THE CLERGY.
-Benefit of the Clergy, - members of the clergy only trialed in church courts, church courts didn’t use capital punishment - criminals could claim they were part of clergy as long as they could read the ‘neck verse’ psalm 51. -Many just learned verse off by heart, muddled with the system.
PEOPLE COULD ESCAPE PUNISHMENT BY CLAIMING SANCTUARY AT A CHURCH.
- Certain churches offered sanctuary (safe hiding), for people who had been accused of crimes.
- if a person claimed sanctuary, they could ask clergy for help. Clergy reported the crime, but if clergy agreed it was fair, they made the accused swear an oath to leave the country within 40 days instead of going to court, if not they were outlawed.
Explain Why Trial by ordeal was used 1000-1200?
You may use the following in your answer:
-Trial by hot iron
-Church courts
You must also use information of your own.
GOD WAS SEEN AS THE FINAL JUDGE OF INNOCENCE OR GUILT
-Trial by cold water, people are thrown into the water, if they floated they were guilty if they sank they were innocent.
USED WHEN THEY DIDNT HAVE ENOUGH EVIDENCE TO CONVICT
-Trial by hot iron, lack of scientific evidence they believed:
wound healing fast = gods way of treating the innocent.
wound getting infected = gods way of treating guilty.
CHURCH WAS VERY POWERFUL, TRIAL BY ORDEAL EXTENDED CHURCH INTO THE LEGAL SYSTEM.
-Church courts then had power over who was guilty and who was innocent, it extended the influence of the church, increase powerful impression of the church.
Explain Why Anglo -Saxons used corporal punishments to deal with criminals.
You may use the following in your answer:
-Detterent
-Retribution
You must also use information of your own.
IT WAS AN EFFECTIVE DETERRENT
- Corporal punishments were an effective deterrent against crimes such as petty theft and theft.
- because they were very harsh (maiming, beating etc), so discouraged others from committing the same crime.
IT WAS SEEN AS RETRIBUTION
- Seen as a suitable punishment
- Matched the severity of the crime. Eg. often used to punish theft, so maiming was seen as suitable punishment because criminals can’t steal without hands.
IT GAVE CRIMINALS A CHANCE TO REFORM AND BECOME BETTER
- Less harsh than capital
- Criminals survived, could become better people.
- Chance to save their souls.
Explain Why the church sometimes hindered justice in the early 13th century.
You may use the following in your answer:
-Trial by ordeal
-Sanctuary
You must also use information of your own.
THEY OFFERED SANCTUARY
- Safe hiding for criminals
- Gave them chance to leave the country in 40 days (Had to swear an oath)
- meant criminals escaped justice
TRIAL BY ORDEAL WAS BASED ON LUCK, NOT GUILT OR INNOCENCE
- No scientific knowledge of bacteria
- Used because they did not have enough evidence to come to a verdict
- unfair on the accused, who may have been innocent, but unlucky.
BENEFIT OF THE CLERGY
- Clergy were trialed outside of the kings caught, couldn’t receive capital punishment
- anyone who knew the neck verse could be tried in the church courts.
Explain Why Anglo-Saxons used the wergild to deal with murder.
You may use the following in your answer:
-Man price
-Blood feuds
You must also use information of your own.
USED TO PAY THE FAMILY OF THE VICTIM -family of the victim received a sum of money paid by the murdered, this was seen as an acceptable price to pay for a life or as a 'Man price' - The higher the rank of the victim, the higher the price. prince - 1500 shillings Yeoman farmer - 100 shillings Serf - 40 shillings
USED TO SETTLE BLOOD FUEDS
-Intended to reduce blood feuds (One person kills another, and then to get revenge the victim’s family kills the murder, and so on). If the victim’s family got some money they may be less likely to want revenge.
USED AS A DETERRENT
- No one wants to pay a large price
- puts others off committing the same crimes, especially on high-ranking people.
Explain Why burning at the stake was used for heresy in the 1550-1700 period.
You may use the following in your answer:
-Recant
-Excommunication
You must also use information of your own.
MONARCH BECAME HEAD OF CHURCH OF ENGLAND WHICH MEANT HERESY WAS TREASON ASWELL.
- two most serious crimes were connected, heresy was treason.
- Henry 8th onwards - head of the church (exception of mary)
- Executions for heresy went up when Henry became king.
- 1509-47, 81 heretics executed.
RELIGIOUS INSTABILITY IN THE UK
-Henry - Head of the church of England Catholic, Catholics who would not swear an oath of supremacy to henry were executed for treason. Protestants were executed for Heresy.
Mary - restored the catholic church in England - pope as head of the church. 283 people burned at stake - refused to follow catholic faith - religious instability, a deterrent against others not following, made sure more people would recant rather than die.
BECAUSE IT ENCOURAGED MORE PEOPLE TO RECANT - EFFECTIVE DETTERENT.
- Recant: Make a public statement that you have changed your religious beliefs.
- Harshness of burning at stake = more likely to recant instead of dying.
- Majority of people took this opportunity.
Explain why religious beliefs that were different from the monarchs were treated as a serious crime in the period 1500 - 1700.
You may use the following in your answer:
- Catholic
- Protestant
You must also use information of your own.
NEW CHURCH OF ENGLAND - MONARCH AS HEAD
- 1534 - act of supremacy, Henry argues with the catholic church about divorce and proclaims himself head of the church of England.
- Made having different beliefs from Henry Treason and Heresy - both very serious crimes.
- 81 heretics were executed - a very serious crime.
- Protestants were executed for heresy.
- Catholics were forced to take the oath of supremacy - Henry was head of church.
MARY 1ST RESTORES CATHOLIC CHURCH IN ENGLAND
- Cause religious instability
- prosecuted for not being catholic, rather than for being catholic
- Serious crime as many people were confused - monarchy felt the need to make sure people would not follow Henry’s ways.
- Because of instability it was more likely for people to rebel.
GUN POWDER PLOTS - SHOWED THE DANGER OF DIFFERENT RELIGIOUS BELIEFS TO THE MONARCHY.\
- Introduced strict anti Catholics laws
- Made James fear Catholics more, so despise them.
- Religion properly posed threat to monarch
- 1605 Popish Recusant Act forced Catholics to sear loyalty.
Explain why vagabondage became a crime in the period 1500 - 1700.
You may use the following in your answer:
- The end of monasteries
- Undeserving poor
You must also use information of your own.
INCREASE IN VAGABONDAGE
- Growing population, falling wages, rising food prices, the greater number of people left villages in search of work.
- Many did not find work, wandered unemployed + homeless - vagabonds or vagrants.
- Many turned to crime if they could not find work.
- Vagabondage became a crime due to vagabonds increasing, was before not a problem, became a crime because it became a problem.
THE COMMON VIEW WAS THAT VAGABONDS WERE LAZY, OR HAD BROUGHT THEIR TROUBLES UPON THEMSELVES.
- Undeserving poor
- The vagrancy act of 1547, had very harsh terms, able-bodied vagrants without work for more than 3 days, would be branded with the letter v and sold as a slave for two years. not always carried out.
- the 1597 Act for the Relief of the poor included harsh punishments to act as deterrents for vagrants.
THE END OF MONASTERIES
- In the 1500s monasteries were the main source of help for the poor (and sick) - found all over England.
- Henry 8th closed monasteries in the 1530s nowhere for poor travelers to turn.
Vagabondage was seen as more of a problem - the poor became needy without the help of monasteries - became associated with crime.
Explain why witchcraft was considered a crime.
You may use the following in your answer:
- Ordinary courts
- Religious belief
You must also use information of your own.
Religion (religious instability)
- Henry 8th, head of the church of england, was seen as a crime against the king and state, and religion.
- Breakaway from the catholic church, and protestant thinking leads to fear of ‘old religion’
- In 1542, Henry makes it a serious crime, punishable by death.
- Fear of old religion led to people attempting to cleanse society by seeking out witches.
- Religious instability caused distrust between people, and more tension, which led to witchcraft becoming more serious and more people getting accused.
Economic problems
- Falling wages, rising unemployment. Increased tensions between people in small communities.
- Death of livestock/crops is often blamed on witchcraft and evil spirits, rather than bad luck or weather.
- Economic problems increased vagabondage, and rising fear of vagabonds made the rich people fearful and suspicious of the poor - many witchcraft accusations were made by the rich against the poor.
Attitudes towards women
- witchcraft was partly a crime due to the fear of women being respected in society, it was a way of making clever or respected women look bad.
- In law woman was the property of her father and after marriage her husband. they were expected to focus on practical domestic duties.
- Women that did not meet expectations - were (seen as suspicious.
- 90% of witchcraft accusations made against women
- Most women accused were ‘cunning’ or ‘wise women’ local authorities on health, well being, pregnancy, and childbirth.
- Healed poor people - believed to have healing powers.
- Authorities disliked women being respected - respected women attracted witch hunters.
Explain why the Puritan rule changed Moral crimes in the 1650s.
You may use the following in your answer:
-Puritanism
-English civil war
You must also use information of your own.
Puritanism
- They believed people should stay focused on a godly life, rather than a worldly one. Activities that were too enjoyable were seen as taking focus away from God and were therefore sinful.
- The Puritans wanted a society that made people fit for Heaven. They, therefore, viewed sinful behavior as criminal.
- Puritans believed sports after the church was wrong as it was a holy day and should be kept that way.
During the civil war
- The growing power of the Puritans meant they were in a position to define crimes under the law for some of the 1600s.
- From the beginning of the 17th century there were increasing numbers of Puritans, which gave their ideas more influence.
- Many members of Parliament were Puritans, which meant they had the power to make laws.
- The actual war between factions rendered more evident/highlighted the difference between different Protestant factions and made the case for a Puritan society more urgent…the tragedy of the war and the victory of the Puritan leader in Parliament ended up translating that into legislation once in power…
UNDER THE RULE OF OLIVER CROMWELL
- during the Protectorate, the Puritan government had the power to impose their beliefs through law. such as:
- Christmas was for reading the bible and thinking about the birth of Jesus, celebrating it with festivities was banned. Drinking and feating became illegal as drinking leads to bad behavior, and people needed to learn to control their appetites.
Explain why it is difficult for the authorities to tackle crimes such as poaching and smuggling.
You may use the following in your answer:
-Social crimes
-import duties
You must also use information of your own.
SOCIAL CRIMES
- Laws such as the 1671 game act made it illegal to poach on enclosed land.
- seen as very harsh, poor people needed fish and rabbits to improve their meager and monotonous diet.
- Most poor people felt sympathy for the poachers and trespassers, and though it was illegal, many people did not think the law was fair and didn’t care if it was upheld.
- Smuggling social crime, many benefited from it, no one was eager to stop it, people were willing to buy goods for lower prices.
IMPORT DUTIES
- introduced by gov in the 17th century, imported goods such as alcohol and tea were taxed.
- Profit available for smugglers, - could smuggle goods into the country without import duty, more people willing to buy these as they could be sold for a lower price than the taxed items.
DESPERATION
-often people didn’t
have a choice with things like poaching.
-needed to eat, and did not have enough money to buy food.
- needed fish and rabbits to improve their meager and monotonous diet.
-Because they were starving they were not deterred by the consequences.
- the enclosure of land in this period c1500-c1700 led to many people needing to poach as land that had previously been public became private. It was either poaching or vagrancy in search of jobs elsewhere.
-Punishments against vagrancy were so harsh, that many preferred poaching.
Explain why rural crimes increased in the period 1500-1700.
You may use the following in your answer:
- Enclosure
- Game Act
ENCLOSURE OF PREVIOUSLY PUBLIC LAND
- enclosure of previously public land meant that it was very difficult for poor people to legally get food.
- Many were forced to poach out of desperation and needed fish and rabbits to improve their meager and monotonous diet.
- If they could not poach, then many turned to other crimes such as theft, as they were desperate and needed to get money or food in some way, therefore increasing crimes like theft.
NEW LAWS CREATING NEW CRIMES
- New laws such as the 1671 games act were introduced, making poaching on enclosed land illegal.
- People had been doing this before when it wasn’t illegal.
- Introduction of this law criminalized and previously legal act, so in that sense criminal activity went up.
- people were still poached as they were desperate and it was mainly a social crime.
HIGHWAY ROBBERY
- More people moved to the cities/towns
- rural areas were more empty
- were many isolated roads in the countryside for gangs to rob people transporting goods.
Explain why law enforcement in towns changed during the 1500- 1700 period.
You may use the following in your answer:
-Theft and Fraud
-Town constables and night watch
You must also use information of your own.
NECESSARY DUE TO THE DRAMATIC INCREASE IN THEFT AND FRAUD.
- Dramatic increase in population between 1500- 1700, London went from 50,000 in 1500, to 600,000 in 1700.
- Theft and fraud were more common in towns and cities. life was more anonymous than in villages. easier to pass unnoticed and get away when committing a crime.
- Increased wealth meant more valuable goods in homes and businesses.
- Growing number of businesses meant more opportunities for fraud.
- many people moved from the countryside to get work, had no way of supporting themselves so turned to crime.
- authorities found it harder to prevent crime and catch criminals so had to introduce new methods.
ROLES OF TOWN CONSTABLES AND OF THE NIGHT WATCH EXPANDED.
- grew to deal with increasing crime rates.
- law enforcement is mainly left to local initiatives, not nationally organized.
- Law enforcement varied across towns and regions.
- Night watchmen roles grew:
- all the male town citizens were expected to serve as nightwatchmen.
- Night watchmen take turns to patrol the local area between 10 pm and dawn.
- Unpaid volunteers, normal job in the day.
- rings the bell at night to warn people to go home or risk being viewed as potential criminals.
- Town constables:
- Appointed by local people with good standing in the community, eg. merchants whose businesses benefited from good law enforcement.
- Has some power to arrest suspects without the need of a warrant from a justice of the peace.
- expected to stop suspected criminals, break up fights, and round up sturdy beggars.
- expected to turn in serious criminals to court.
- employed by town authorities.
EMERGENCE OF THEIF TAKERS.
- Constables and Nightwatchmen not very effective at hunting down criminals.
- victims of crime resorted to using thief-takers, paid when they caught criminals, and deliver them to the law.
- method was corrupt, as some criminals worked as thief-takers and informed on rival criminal gangs to make money.
- Example infamous thief-taker Jonathan Wilder, led a gang of thieves, and claimed rewards when they handed in their stolen goods. 1718 - took the title ‘Theif taker General’ and became a well-known figure.
- His criminal activities were discovered in 1725 - executed.
