Lecture 2 - History of Crime & Punishment

Question 1

What were the 2 major periods of rising prosecutions?

Answer 1

1) 1560-1630

2) 1780-1850

Question 2

Outline the reasons behind rising prosecution from 1560-1630

Answer 2

Population growth and pressure at the social base

• Heavily relates to progress in medicine as more babies and women were surviving childbirth
• Lack of contraception meant growth in the working class

Question 3

Outline the reasons behind rising prosecution from 11780-1850

Answer 3

Population growth due to industrialisation and urbanisation

• Large movement from country to cities n
• New opportunities for crime as new crime existed

Question 4

Outline what is meant by a Class Based Justice

Answer 4

Magistrates were drawn from the upper classes, and therefore the law represented the interest of property owners so there were lots of crimes relevant to resistance against the upper classes

Question 5

Describe the Traditionalist View of why there was a decline of the Bloody Code

Answer 5

Traditionalist view: Execution was not working to prevent crime

Execution days were not a deterrent but were more of a holiday
Crime thrived at street level
Execution occurred so often that people were numb to it
People began to feel more sympathy for offenders

Question 6

Describe the Revisionist View of why there was a decline of the Bloody Code

Answer 6

Revisionist view: interest of the middle class business owners

Business owners became increasingly concerned about disruption to trade
Property value at Tyburn reduced
Hanging ineffective
The imagination should be more effective anyway

Question 7

Outline the impact of the Transportation Act 1718

Answer 7

Allowed judges to sentence offenders to transportation:

• Initially sent to USA
• 1787 - began sending to Australia
• 7/8 were male
• Political prisoners & irish nationalists

Question 8

Describe the profit from transportation

Answer 8

State related profit as companies would profit from limited-term labour with barely any cost to the state
They began to replace slaves as they were cheaper

Question 9

Outline the operation of transportation

Answer 9

• Poor conditions
• People stored in cages
• No plan to return convicts
• 23 hours a day of hard labour
• Operated in chain gangs
• Offenders settled in australia