Topic 5 Methods Of Punishment Flashcards
What happened if someone was accused of a crime in the medieval era?
Faced trial by local jury (men in village), if no decision faced trial by ordeal
What were 4 trial by ordeals?
Trial by hot iron
Trial by hot water
Trial by cold water
Trial by blessed bread
What was trial by blessed bread?
If accused choked on bread given by priest = guilty
What was wergild in medieval times?
Compensation paid to victims of crime or families
What was corporal punishment?
Physical punishment
What were 3 types of corporal punishment used in medieval era and continued into early modern era?
Flogging
Stocks and pillory
Mutilation
What were 2 ways beggars were punished in medieval times?
Publicly flogged
Branded with hot iron
What crimes were stocks and pillory used to punish in medieval times?
Minor- drunkenness, swearing, dishonest trading
What punishment was continued from the medieval era to the nineteenth century?
Public executions
What were 4 crimes that could receive the death penalty in the early modern era?
Murder
Treason
Persistent theft
Begging
What is an example of someone who was hung, drawn and quartered for treason in the early modern era?
Guy Fawkes
What was an example of 2 heretics being burned at the stake by Mary Tudor?
Protestant bishops, Ridley and Latimer
What were capital crimes?
Crime punishable by death penalty
What was the bloody code?
By 1815, 225 crimes punishable by death
What was an example of a place where public executions took place?
Tyburn London
When did North America no longer become an option for transportation?
From 1770s
What were Hulks?
Ships used as emergency prisons
What were the conditions on overcrowded hulks?
25% prisoners died from unclean environment or violent outbreaks
What was the first fleet of convicts to arrive in Australia (3 things)?
11 ships at Sydney Cove 1788
How many convicts were transported to Australia each year on average?
2000
What happened to convicts who did not conform in the penal colony?
Sent to work in chain gangs or whipped with cat ‘o’ nine tails
How could transported convicts be released early?
Conditional release granted after 5 years of sentence, could not return to Britain
Why did transportation end by the mid 19th century?
Growing resentment from Australia being used as dumping ground
What were 3 features of the separate system?
Kept in individual cells to work, pray, visits by clergymen
Only left cells for exercise or religious services
Put to work- made boots, mats, prison clothes
By the 1850s, how many prisons used the separate system?
Over 50
What was a famous prison that used the separate system?
Pentonville prison in London - built with five wings radiating from central point, aim to give prisoners time to reflect on mistakes
What were 3 features of the silent system?
Prisoners could eat and exercise together
Prison life as unpleasant as possible
Pointless work- crank, shot drill, treadmill
What was the aim of the silent system?
Make prisoners hate prison life so much they would not reoffend
What were 3 reasons both the separate and silent system failed?
High reoffending rates
High suicide and insanity rates
Expensive
What resulted in changes to imprisonment in the modern era?
Abolition of corporal and capital punishment
When were Borstals set up and who were they used to punish?
1908, 15-21 year olds
What was the purpose of Borstals?
Strict rules, designed to educate
When were Borstals abolished?
1982
When were young offenders institutes set up and who were they used to punish?
1988, reform violent young offenders 18-21
What did young offenders institutes have for those up to age of 17?
Secure training centres focus on education and rehabilitation
When were open prisons set up and who were they used to punish?
After WW2, non violent prisoners with low risk of escaping
What was the aim of open prisons?
Resettle prisoners into community
Why were alternatives to prisons introduced in the modern era?
Prisons expensive and overcrowded, difficult to reform or rehabilitate
What were 4 alternatives to prisons in the modern era?
Probation
Parole
Community service
Electronic tagging
When was community service introduced?
1972
When was parole introduced?
1967
What is parole?
Allow prisoners early release for good behaviour, follow set of orders
When was probation introduced?
1907
What is probation?
Offenders keep in touch with probation officer, report regularly to police, from 1980s attend courses to discuss issues + get help
What were bridewells?
Houses of correction in early modern era
What was jail fever?
Typhus, spread in jails in 18th century
Who were 3 individuals who called for prison reform in the industrial era?
John Howard
G.O. Paul
Elizabeth Fry
What were 3 findings of John Howard when he carried out a survey of prisons?
Prisoners forced to stay in prison as could not pay fees
Not separated by types of crime
Died from jail fever
What 3 reforms did John Howard propose for prisons?
Reform criminals
Clergymen regularly visit
Solitary confinement
What 3 things was Paul’s new jail designed for?
Security- polygonal, high wall around
Health- checked new prisoners for disease, exercise yard, good ventilation
Separation
What did Elizabeth Fry form in 1817?
Association for the improvement of women’s prisons in Newgate
What did Elizabeth Fry introduce (3 things) in Newgate Prison?
Female warders, schools for women and their children, needlework
What did the 1823 jails act do (3 things)?
JPs inspect prison conditions on regular basis, jailers salaried, prisoners follow reform programme
