industrial period

• Harvest failure

  • Poor harvests had less of an impact on people as food could easily be imported from other countries.
  • People in some areas were still afraid of vagabonds and witches, though.
• Attitudes to crime and punishment

  • Ideas about crime and punishment also began to change during this period.
  • Prisons became the most common punishment. 
  • Punishment began to focus more on reform and less on deterrence
• • This period also witnessed the creation of the first formal Police Force in 1829.
• Highway robbery

  • This type of crime was a huge threat to the authorities as it was a cause of disruption to trade. 
  • Demobilised soldiers were returning from foreign wars and being jobless in many cases resorted to highway robbery to steal goods for resale.
  • Horses and weapons had become much cheaper to obtain and increasing numbers of businessmen were travelling around the country.
• Impact of toll roads

  • The creation of toll roads, better roads which you paid to travel on, had the effect of making travel much easier.
  • Businessmen travelling around to complete transactions also carried large amounts of cash and expensive items making them an easy target.
• • The 1723 Black Act made hunting deer, hare or rabbits a capital crime.
  • Therefore, if you were found out at night armed, disguised or with a blackened face then you would have been prosecuted for poaching.
  • This was not a new crime but it was widely tolerated.
  • This meant that it was having an impact on rich landowners who did not wish people to be accessing their land and hunting their animals.
• • This crime took place in the coastal areas of England where smugglers brought tea, wine, cloth and spirits into the country, avoiding the payment of tax on the goods.
  • Tax and duties were an important source of income for the government. As a result, smuggling was a crime that had a great impact on the income of the authorities.
  • Often smugglers were ruthless and would happily resort to violence to ensure goods could enter the country.
• Smugglers

  • Smuggling attracted all sorts of people as it was a good source of additional income and also resulted in you having access to a number of luxury items.
  • Many towns and villages turned a blind eye to smuggling as they often gained benefit from it and most did not agree with the payment of taxes and duties on goods.
  • Often smuggling gangs would be 50 - 100 strong and as a result, would drastically outnumber any customs officials sent to try and stop them.
• Aftermath of the French Revolution

  • Following the French Revolution, there was a genuine fear of revolt and uprising in England.
  • The Government worried that the same thing would happen here and as a result were extra vigilant looking for signs of conspiracy and plotting.
• The Tolpuddle martyrs

  • The Tolpuddle martyrs were a group of farm labourers led by George Loveless.
  • Unhappy with their wages they were trying to improve them and their working conditions.
• • This was a period prior to the formal existence of unions, this movement was in its infancy.
  • The group established a secret union and swore an oath to keep it secret and to support one another.
• Exposing the Tolpuddle martyrs

  • They were caught as news of their secret oath leaked to the rich landowners.
  • This not being a crime made it difficult to punish the men, so they were tried under old naval laws designed to prevent mutiny at sea.
• • Employers celebrated a victory as the union had been destroyed and the Tolpuddle martyrs were sentenced to 7 years transportation for their crime.
• Changing attitudes to punishment

  • Juries were increasingly unwilling to find people guilty and sentence them to death.
  • Many felt that often the punishment was unfair in proportion to the crime committed.
  • As a result, criminals were more confident about avoiding the death penalty altogether.
• Changing attitudes to the death penalty

  • In the 1700s, 40% of those sentenced to death were actually hanged.
  • By the 1800s this figure had dropped to 10% being executed, despite there being a rise in crime.
• The problem of public executions

  • Public executions taking place at Tyburn in London were a hotbed of criminal activity. 
  • Rather than being a deterrent, you would find opportunists at executions picking pockets, selling stolen goods or enjoying a good afternoon out drinking.
• Transportation to the colonies

  • The transportation of convicts to American Colonies ended in 1775 when America secured their independence, meaning that an alternative location needed to be found. 
  • Australia had been discovered by Captain James Cook and this looked like a viable alternative.
• The journey for convicts

  • Convicts were kept on prison Hulks awaiting transportation. Here they would have been chained together doing hard labour. 
  • Once convicts had undergone the 9-month journey to Australia they would have been settled with a master.
  • The experience they had whilst in Australia would be hugely dependent on who they lived with and worked for. 
  • Good behaviour could lead to the award of a ‘ticket of leave’ entitling you to return to England.
• Crime rates in England

  • Crime actually increased in England which suggests that this punishment was not really the deterrent it was designed to be.
• Convicts in Australia

  • The majority of convicts chose to remain in Australia once they had completed their sentences and in some cases became well-respected members of the community, suggesting life was more appealing there than back in England.
• The cost of transportation

  • The process of transporting criminals cost the government millions of pounds.
  • When gold was discovered in 1851 people actually wanted to go to Australia which again challenged the view that it was a place to suffer a punishment.
• The prison system

  • The prison system at the beginning of the Industrial Period was basic.
  • Everyone was housed together; men, women, children, debtors and lunatics - regardless of the crime committed.
  • Prison wardens were unpaid and earned money by charging the inmates fees for their cell, food, clothing and their release.
• Conditions in prisons

  • The poor relied on charities to pay their prison fees whilst the richer inmates could afford a single cell.
  • Prison was damp, dirty and a hotbed of criminal instruction which made it a very dangerous place to be.
• • John Howard (1726 - 1790) inspected prisons in Bedfordshire and wrote a report in 1777 about the general state of prisons.
  • He made a number of proposals about changes to the system including:
  • Better accommodation.
  • Changes to the fees.
  • Improving diet.
  • Paying prison guards.
• • Elizabeth Fry (1780-1845) was a Quaker with strong religious views and her belief that everyone had some good in them led her to try to further reform prisoners.
  • She visited Newgate Prison in London and was horrified to find inmates kept together regardless of crime. She aimed to deal with this and the exploitation of female prisoners by male guards.
  • Fry established a school for children in Newgate Prison and set about teaching them useful work so they could get work when they left prison and avoid reoffending.
• Separate and silent systems

  • The 1830s saw the introduction of the separate system.
  • The main principle was that inmates were kept in solitary confinement, contact with others was limited and the main aim was to reform prisoners by expecting them to complete useful work.
• • The 1860s saw attitudes move from reform back to retribution. Prisoners in the silent system were expected to remain silent at all times. 
  • Beds were replaced with harsh wooden bunks and better food was replaced with hard fare, which was a basic monotonous diet.
  • Hard labour was also a feature, where prisoners would complete daily pointless tasks, like turning a crank, walking a treadmill or sometimes oakum picking.
• The Fielding Brothers

  • Henry and John Fielding were magistrates who tried to improve policing in London. 
  • They worked at Bow Magistrates Court in 1748 and decided that if there were more men on the streets they would be able to reduce crime.
• The Bow Street Runners

  • They established the Bow Street Runners in 1749, a group of men that patrolled the streets of London in the evening.
  • This was a more organised way of catching criminals but there was no coordination between groups of law enforcement. 
  • The runners introduced a Horse Patrol which virtually eliminated Highway Robbery.
  • Furthermore, they had a newspaper called the Hue and Cry where they published the names and details of criminals in an attempt to get the public help to catch them.
• • Robert Peel was appointed as the Home Secretary in 1822. His main aim was to improve life for people by reducing crime.
  • He used crime statistics to show fellow politicians that there was a need for a formal police force and persuaded them that it would not be a threat to their freedoms.
  • Peel was able to use funds from taxation to help pay for the force and rising crime had provided the platform to convince people that there was a genuine need.
• • In 1842, the first Detective Force was established.
  • They aimed to gather evidence to solve crimes.
• • By 1856, it was compulsory for all towns and counties to set up their own police force.
• • In 1878 the Criminal Investigation Department was established.
  • This reorganised the existing detective force.
• • By 1884 there were 200 separate police forces in Britain employing 39,000 police officers.
• Design of Pentonville

  • Pentonville was designed with a central area and the prison wings were spokes from the centre so that there could be fewer guards required to run the prison
• The separate system

  • The prison was based on the principle of the separate system, where prisoners spent the majority of their time alone and in their cells, in order to keep them away from the influence of other criminals. 
  • The separate system was effective in isolating prisoners but it also led to many going mad, nervous breakdowns and even suicide amongst inmates.
• Activities in Pentonville

  • Prisoners exercised in the yard wearing masks to avoid them being able to communicate with others.
  • Religious instruction was a large part of life in Pentonville and the chapel was constructed with boxes for inmates to sit in whilst in Church to again avoid contact with others.
• "Useful work"

  • Cells contained a bed and weaving loom for work.
  • Prisoners did ‘useful work’ in order to prepare them for when they were released. This cell design made a separate prison extremely costly to build.
• The Gaols Act


  Legislation that applied to the 130 biggest prisons in the country and had a number of key principles
• Key principles of the Gaols Act


  • Prisoners were to be classified according to their crimes, so the most hardened criminals would not be housed with first time offenders
  • Male and female prisoners would also be separated
  • Attending church and receiving religious instruction would be a large part of the inmate's time in prison
  • Prison warders were to be paid and local magistrates would have to visit regularly to ensure that warders were doing a good job
  • Prisoners should have access to fresh water, fresh air and good food