Crime and Punishment in eighteenth and nineteenth century
Social crime
A social crime is a crime that does not hurt anybody or their work but was still against the law, highway robbery, poaching and smuggling were all regarded as social crimes in the eighteenth and nineteenth century.
Highwaymen
Highway robbery became more of a problem in the eighteenth century with highway robbery disrupting trade and threatened landlords and richer people.
The image of highwaymen was that they were very scary and dressed up like pirates, they were often thought of as very romantic individuals who had many female admirers but this was untrue.
Reasons for growth
Road surfaces began to improve and coaches became more frequent.
More people were traveling in their own coaches.
Handguns had become easier to obtain and quicker to load and fire.
After wars ended, some demobilized soldiers struggle to find an honest way to make a living.
There was no police force and local constables did not track criminals across the country.
There were many lonely areas outside of towns and rough roads where coaches had to slow down.
Horses became cheaper to buy.
Highwaymen could hide and sell their stolen loot in taverns.
Stagecoaches were introduced with regular staging posts where tired horses could be changed and travellers could rest for the night.
Reasons for decline
Road surfaces improved so coach speeds increased.
The banking system became more advanced over time so travelers stopped carrying large amounts of money.
Open land around london was built on as population expanded.
Mounted patrols were set up around London and high rewards encouraged informers to report on the activities of highwaymen.
JP’s refused to licence taverns that were frequented by highwaymen.
Highway robbery was seen as a social crime as there was a stereotype of romantic highwaymen(This was untrue as the highwaymen were normally always very violent). This crime was also seen as a social crime by the poor as they did not own horses and carriages so were not targets.
Smugglers
The government could not stop the smuggling of goods into britain. There were many large gangs operating in areas with almost no soldiers to keep and obtain the law so in some parts of britain the country was run by these gangs these gangs were very violent. This was seen as a social crime by many as people poor and rich could make money.
Poaching
Only landowners that had land that was worth over $100 could hunt legally. The 1723 black act stated that hunting deer, hare or rabbits became a capital crime. Anyone found armed, disguised or with blackened faces in a hunting area could be executed. This was as animals on somebody's land was regarded as property of the landowner so poaching was like stealing. It was seen as a social crime by the poor as it did not hurt anybody as all the animals were wild and did not take work to look after.
How did the police get better?
The bow street runners were the first police, there was a big need for a police force and so the Fielding brothers set up the bow street runners. The need for police was caused by the increasing pickpocketing rates and high number of pickpocketing organisations, police were also needed for a number of other affairs which included theft, assault, murder, begging, fraud, poaching, cruelty to children and indecent exposure,police were also needed as the period before 1829 had a very high crime rate all over britain and the old system of constables were not working.
The bow street runners made and end to the highwaymen. Sir robert Peel(The foreign secretary during 1829) setup the metropolitan police who merged with the bow street runners to create a bigger and better police force.
Dates in policing
1842
The Metropolitan Police set up the first detective force to gather evidence,investigate and solve crimes once they were committed.
1856
Compulsory for all towns to have a police force.
1835
Towns were able to set up their own police force to help tackle with crime.
1870
Police helmets were introduced.
1829
A police force was set up.
1878
Criminal investigation department (CID) was set up.
1884
There were 39,000 police in Britain and over 200 separate forces.
Transportation
Transportation was created by the British government to have an alternative to being hanged, it was where criminals were sent on a voyage across thousands of miles to Australia which the British were colonizing so sentenced criminals to seven years of hard labour.
The transportation was good for criminals as after their sentence they could chose to come home or were given a patch of aboriginals land to set up a farm and live, this would be a nice new life and avoid a capital punishment. Transportation was very good for the government as it got rid of many criminals and durys who felt that death was too harsh for petty crime had an alternative way to sentence criminals found guilty.
It also gave Britain a way to colonise Australia and mean that no other country's would like to colonise Australia as it was a population of British criminals and aboriginal people. The Australian aboriginal people did not like the british colonising their land and stealing their resources so were not happy with transportation.
The end to transportation was because of many reasons including…
90 new prisons built between 1842 and 1877
More efforts were made to improve the prison system introducing education and opportunities to work.
The descendants of transportees were not criminals and didn't want any more to come
Australia was an increasingly desirable place to go compared to the industrial Britain in the 19th century
By 1865, a parliament in Australia had the right to make laws, Britain played only a small role in running the country
The aboriginals did also want criminals transported to their home