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Crime and Punishment c.1500-c.1700 (policing and trials (hue and cry -…
Crime and Punishment c.1500-c.1700
policing and trials
hue and cry
- still used but parish constable expected to lead it
constable
- part time, no uniform, no patrols, no weapons
town watchmen + sergeants
- poorly paid so got bribed, patrol streets night and day
citizens
- expected to deal with crime themselves - get arrest warrant and deliver criminal to constable
courts
- manor court, church court, royal court
habeas corpus
- passed 1697, couldn't be locked up with charge, time limit till trial
benefit of clergy
- as more people could read the laws changed
justice of peace
- judged manor court cases (minor offences), usually wealthy
rewards offered for more serious crimes,
Jonathan Wild
set up crimes to get money
laws
bloody code
1688
change to law as
50 crimes
could be punished by death
pamphlets e.g. Thomas Harman gave
exaggerated details of crimes
growth in towns
- traditional methods less effective, better roads meant people moved around more
belief punishment was a
deterrent
government who passed it were
MPs
keen to
protect property
heresy
becomes a problem after 1534 when Henry 8th splits from Catholic church
crimes
witchcraft
1645-7
:
250 cases
in East Anglia
why?
money
-
bad attitudes
towards the
poor
, money for catching witches
religion / lack of science
-
eve
took the fruit so women at fault, couldn't explain disasters so
blamed devil
civil
war - society was
divided
, poor widows
pamphlets
- hysteria was caused
individuals
-
Matthew Hopkins
got money and fame
80
% of the accused were
elderly widows
or
unmarried women
(vulnerable)
vagabonds
why?
rising population
so fewer jobs and more people were moving to find work
traditionally the poor were supported by the poor as they
didn't trust
outsiders
for help
bible
- 'the devil makes work for idle hands' so the poor were considered
criminals
pamphlets
government reaction
1531
- vagabonds were
whipped
and returned to old homes
1544
- 1st time was 2 years of slavery, 2nd time was life slavery or execution
1550
- the act was repealed as too harsh
1598
- banished or execution
punishments
gunpowder plot
King James I was protestant and enforced
harsh laws
on the
Catholics
Robert Catesby, Guy Fawkes and 11 other plotter decided to blow him up and
get a Catholic monarch
torture
used to gain confession
punishment
- hung drawn and quartered in public, charged with treason rather than heresy
used to
deter, religion
and
authority
fines
still common for minor offences
pillory and stocks
- used to
humiliate
corporal punishment
- whipping, branding, mutilation
death penalty more common -
bloody code
ducking stool
- used on women who disobeyed husbands / swore in public
transportation
to America