Exam style questions - Crime and Punishment Flashcards
Give 2 examples of crime against the person (medieval england)
Murder
Public disorder
Give 2 examples of crime against property (medieval england)
Arson
Theft
Give 2 examples of crime against authority (medieval england)
Treason
Rebellion
Give 2 reasons why ordinary people hated Forest Laws
Many communities and farms were evicted from the land protected under Forest Laws
Many ordinary people relied on the forest for both food and wood, and were not longer to do this without a licence
Explain the murdrum fine
If a Norman was murdered by an Anglo-Saxon, and a culprit was not found, the surrounding area where the body was found had to pay a large fee.
This was a way to prevent anti-Norman killing, and to establish nationwide Norman control without rebellion
Why was Anglo-Saxon law enforcement mainly the local communities role?
Many of the law enforcement methods, such as the hue and cry, were performed on a local scale, with little nationwide law enforcement, like the police
Give 2 ways in which law enforcement differed from Anglo-Saxon to later medieval England
- Trial by ordeal and combat were abolished
- The role of the sheriff expanded
Give 2 changes to punishment from Norman to Anglo-Saxon England
- Use of corporal and capital punishment rose greatly
- Poaching and chopping down trees from area protected under Forest Laws were punished sevely
Give 2 changes to punishment from Anglo-Saxon to later medieval England
- Use of capital punishment dropped hugely
- Use of fines rose
Give 2 examples of trial by ordeal
- Burnt hands; if the hands healed well, they were innocent
- Dunked into water; if they sank they were innocent
Give 2 features of church courts
- More lenient sentencing
- Chance to be given sanctuary, in which they were allowed to leave the country without sentencing
Give 2 reasons why their was an increase in treason and heresy charges during early modern England
- Religious change
- Many rebellions and plots against the monarchy
Explain what vagrancy is and why there was an increase in it during the late 1400s - 1500s
A vagrant is an unemployed, homeless person, and the level of these increased largely as a result of falling wages, increased goods prices and lack of aid for the poor
Explain what smuggling is and why there was an increase in it from the 1600s onwards
Smuggling is bring goods into a country secretly and illegally, and it rose dramatically as a result of an introduction of import tax
Explain the change in attitude and dealing with witchcraft over time
During the medieval period, witchcraft was seen as a minor crime, dealt with my church courts, however during the early modern period the belief in witchcraft rose hugely, leading to nationwide fear and new laws being passed against it, making witchcraft a very serious crime
Give 2 features of the watchmen in early modern England
- Rang a bell to alert people
- Unpaid role
- Patrolled the streets at night
- Overseen by town constable
Give 2 features of the town constable in early modern England
- Respected members of the community
- Could arrest people
- In charge of watchmen in their area
- Helped with administration
Explain 2 changes to the Church during early modern England
- Church courts could now only try moral crimes for everyone, no longer criminal acts
- Sanctuary exile to other countries was abolished, and then eventually sanctuary was abolished completely
Explain the Bloody Code
During the 1600s, the number of crimes punishable by death rose hugely- the aim was to frighten people into not committing crime of any kind
Explain why transportation to North America became a punishment
Around 80000 people were transported to America because:
- It was a serious punishment, yet gave chance for reformation
- It provided a milder punishment option than execution
- It provided workers in America, whilst ridding of criminals from England
Give 2 ways in which the civil war lead to increased witch hunting
- The civil war left many women widowed
- The civil war made it so there were more strangers around, as they searched for work or for the army
- The civil war weakened authority, and sometimes law and order collapsed entirely
- The civil war caused social and economic problems; witches acted as a scapegoat
Give 2 reasons why crime increased during the 1700s-1850
- More people travelling; less tightly knit communities
- Larger towns made it easier to escape
- Extreme poverty led to increase in survival crimes (e.g. stealing food)
- Increase in gangs
Give 2 reasons why highway robbery increased during the 1700s
- Improved roads meant more people travelling
- Increased trade meant more goods, people and money traveled
- More roads were built, increasing the number of travelers and making it harder to monitor all of them
Give 2 reasons why witchcraft prosecution decreased
`- The country became more socially and economically stable
- Scientific experiments explained some of the things that previously was a sign of being a witch
- General superstition decreased
Give 2 new attitudes towards punishment during the 1800s
- Punishments should be equal to the crime
- Corporal and capital punishment were inhumane except for very serious crimes
- Punishment should also be about reformation