Crime And Punishment 1700-1900 Flashcards
Robert Peel
Home secretary then Prime Minister
Influenced by Elizabeth Fry after speaking at Parliament
1825 - reduced capital crimes to 100
Helped persuade parliament for Gaolers Act in 1823
Hard labour, Hard fare, hard board
Said by Sir Edmund Du Cane - Assistant director of prisons Reference to 186 Prisons Act (focused on harsher conditions = deterrence/retribution > rehab) Hard labour (12 hours work a day + difficult and arduous) Hard Board ( slept on hard wooden board = not humane) Hard fare (same bland food each day each week)
Gaolers Act
1823
prisoners receive regular visits from chaplains
Pay gaolers = no money taken from prisoners
Female prisoners = female warden
Prisoners not held in chains or irons
Problems with separate system
solitary conditions led to mental illness (psychosis, depression + suicide)
Prisoners worked in cells doing repetitive tasks (taught no new skills)
When out of cells had to wear caps so still isolated (deterrence/ retribution)
Pentonville - case study (separate systems)
Built in 1842 - prototype
Seperate conditions =
opportunity for individual improvement
solitude = encourage reform through religious faith and self reflection
Prisoners not influenced by other criminals
Deter people committing crimes (serious natur of punishment)
Retribution
Can argue prisons still retribution/deterrence
Features:
windows, individual cells, heating, ventillation, food and water
More humane = better 4 rehabilitation
Crime - Smuggling (1700-1900)
Change
More organised (Hawkhurst gang, controlled smuggling around stretches of England 1735 - 1749)
Increase of smuggling due to more goods getting taxed (i.e., cloth/ wine)
Smuggling becomes less popular at the end of the 1700s due to decrease in taxes on items
Same
Smuggling as a crime due to trying to avoid payments
Still difficult to tackle as it was seen as a social crime (aristocracy and poor both supported)
Crime - Poaching (1700-1900)
Change
More widespread and organised (gangs/poaching raids)
Can be punished for owning equipment (suitable dogs) not just evidence of poaching
Same
Poaching is still a crime punishable by death (originally in Forest Laws and now in 1723 Black Act)
Poor people still mostly penalised
Black Act repealed in 1823 by Robert Peel
Death penalty
reduced capital crimes as seen as inhumane
Juries often found people not guilty as punishment too severe (undermined deterrent)
Ideas on rehabilitation more popular
Tolpuddle Martyrs
Late 1700s governments are frightened as people develop new ideas and demand more (enlightenment) (i.e., French Revolution)
Crime against authority
Feb 1834 - Village in Dorset, Loveless and 5 others go to employers and ask more wages. Would all leave if denied.
Didnt work as so little jobs availlable, he could hire new people for less.
7 years transportation to Australia
100,000 people demonstration, petition with 200,000 signatures and financial support given to families
Brought back 2 years later and crime removed
Government listened to people as more more started having right to vote
Metropolitan police
First officers appointed in September 1829 4 inspectors + 144 constables Fit able men Better pay compared to manual labour Deterrent Work with public Discouraged physical violence Collect evidence for judgement Efficiency determined by crime rates
Elizabeth Fry
Inhumane prison conditions = no rehab
Did not like men + women mixing, and punishment of innocent children (brought w/ mothers)
Sewed clothes and brought bread to Newcastle Prison
education for women and children (taught them)
Campaigned with people with power (i.e., mayor of London)
1817 - set up Assocaition for reformation of female prisoners at Newgate
Women only have female gaolers
Public executions
1868 - public execution ended 9done in pirsons) Bcos: Crowd usually drunk/disorderly Pickpockets Prostitutes Entertainment instead of deterrent Crowd mocked authorities Entertainment instead of detrerrent Seen as inhumane (some)
Criticisms of police force
Poorly trained - 2800 recruited only 600 stayed after a year
Fear for opression/squash opposition
Increased costs to taxes
Transportation (1700-1900)
Cost effective > prisons
Presence in colonies
1868 - Australians said ex-convicts increase crime rate
free convicts - took all jobs
Crime - Highway Robbery
Change
Increased bcos:
isolated country roads as more people moved into towns
Industrial revolution Britain is richer
Few banks and no cheques/credit cards = people carry cash
Better quality roads = more travel
Continuity
Crime went back to middle ages
Crime against authority and property (disrupted travel between towns/king’s highway)
1772 it was a capital crime (due to the Bloody Code)
Became less common in 1815 due to more patrols
