Over 37 and a Half Facts About…

By Eden Harbud (partnered with Will Hart)

Roman Times

• Verdicts of trials were determined by a jury• Death penalty widespread – burning, crucifixion,

decapitation, being thrown from the Tarpeian Rock, execution by wild beasts

• Being sent to gladiatorial school was as good as a death sentence as well

• Prison not an alternative – only short-term• People treated unequally – magistrates could be

influenced by bribery and corruption• No proper police force

Getting Medieval• After 400 AD the Roman Empire in the west was overrun by barbarians

and England was invaded by Angles, Saxons & Jutes from north Germany.

• By 700 AD several different kingdoms had emerged in England, all with their own legal systems.

• Most crimes were against property – money, food & personal belongings• Wergeld (blood price) introduced, to prevent the blood-feud, which

involved paying victims compensation (eventually replaced by death penalty)

• Trial by ordeal, trial by combat & forest laws were introduced• 3 levels of courts of law: travelling judges – important cases; quarter

sessions – lesser crimes; manor courts – petty crimes (punishment usually fines & sometimes stocks)

Early Modern C & P• Population soared in late 16th & early 17th centuries. After 1650, bubonic

plague, typhus & smallpox slowed population growth until the mi 18th century.

• In the 16th century the biggest threat to law and order remained the nobles as they could twist the legal system to their own purposes.

• Crime became more professional • Vagabonds were people with no job and no fixed home – an act of 1572

said they were to be whipped and branded on their right ear.• Church & state were fused together – most monarchs believed religion was

essential to keep their subjects honourable and law-abiding• Between 1542 & 1736, 3000 people were tried for witchcraft (of which 90%

were women (mostly over 50)). About a third of these were executed – mostly between 1550 & 1650. Witch trials involved torturing, examining their bodies for strange marks and the dunking stool.

More Early Modern C & P• Bloody code: 1688 – 50 capital crimes; 1800 – 200 capital crimes• However between 1770 & 1830, only 7000 were executed out of 35,000

sentenced – fewer executions in 18th century than in 17th

• Other less usual punishments included prison, stocks & pillory, transportation, pressing to death and flogging

• The late 18th century was perfect for highway robbers because the roads had improved, but not enough to allow coaches to accelerate and escape

• Peasants didn’t care who’s land the game was on. They poached by means of dogs, nets guns & traps. However gamekeepers set man traps and were on the lookout for poachers day & night

• Like poaching, smuggling was a “social crime”, which most people didn’t regard as a proper crime. It was a huge industry as big profits could be got out of it. It was a big business by late 18th century.

Riot & Political Crime

• For much of the 18th century the government was fairly relaxed about popular protest. It was usually against high food prices

• In 1792-3 the French king was first dethroned and then beheaded. The government became nervous about a revolution here and made sure there was no chance of treason

• 1811-16 – The Luddites – An anti-industrial protest with revolutionary overtones – 17 hanged in 1817

• 1819 – The Peterloo Massacre – 50,000-60,000 gathered peacefully & magistrates sent troops to split up the meeting – 11 killed & 400 wounded

Early Policing• The tything-man became the parish constable and the Shire-reeve the

Justice of Peace. Paid men, known as “The Watch”, used to guard the gates and patrolled the streets at night.

• However conditions became intolerable so in 1829 (when Sir Robert Peel was Home Secretary) an Act was passed and the Metropolitan Police Force was established.

• The Act set up a Met force of 3,200 men to cover an area extending 7 miles from the centre of London.

• Their uniform included dark blue long coats and a tall hat (in 1870 the tall hat was replaced by a helmet). They were unarmed except for truncheons.

• The Bow Street Runners, the Police Office constables and the River Police – by 1839 all these had been absorbed by the Met.

• To this day, the City of London Police (set up in 1839) remains as an independent force.

Prisons in the Mid to Late 19th Century

• By 1840 the British government recognised that it had to provide more prisons and several new ones were built or modified including Pentonville in 1842.

• The prisons had: a radial design; separate cells; punishment sheds and exercise yards.

• The new prisons used both the separate system and the silent system which are both pretty self explanatory.

• By 1860 all wardens had to wear uniforms.