Crime and punishment

• What was the separate system?

  solitary confinement, kept prisoners isolated
• What was the Silent system?

  harsh discipline, had to do monotonous tasks
• Who was John Howard?

  Wrote a report of 'state of prisons England and wales' in 1777. He was concerned of the levels of illness and death amongst prisoners and the lack of separation by prisoners, by gender and severity of offence. He was also concerned about general lack of security in prisons.
• Who was George o. Paul?

  designed a new prison based on security, health, separation and reform. It had separate areas for male and female prisoners, a chapel, workrooms and exercise yards.
• Who was Elizabeth Fry?

  she was outraged by conditions of female prisoners and the fact they were kept together and slept on the floor. She offered these prisoners bedding and set up a chapel and school within Newgate prison. She also taught skills to inmates and eventually her evidence helped to create the Goals act 1823
• what were punishments in the early modern period like?

  16th and 17th centuries: harsh. punishments, criminals suffered pain, humiliation, or death. harsh punishments viewed as a deterrent, a way to discourage others from crime especially in public. very little use of prisons.

  18th century: parliament represented rich landowners, and juries refused to give a death sentence for minor offences so transportation was introduced.
• what happened in the industrial period to help deal with punishment?


  19th century: Prison reform, many reformers helped to change attitudes and prison conditions
• What was punishment like in the modern period?

  20th and 21st century: believed prisoners could be reformed by better treatment and education. Prisons became much more humane. 1902- hard labour ended. 1922- solitary confinement ended. And in 1936 first open prison was built.
• How were young offenders treated in the modern period?

  20th and 21st century: 1982- borstals were replaced by detention centres for short sentences, or youth custody for longer sentences. they could be given community service or be tagged
• What alternatives to prison were introduced?

  probation, suspended sentences, community service, parole and electronic tagging. these were used to prevent the overpopulation of prisons and to try stop offenders from getting into the system.
• what were police like in the industrial period?

  19th century: many concerns of loss of freedom and invasion of privacy although no one wanted to pay extra tax for a police force. But Robert peel created the metropolitan police force. in 1856- the county and borough police act made it com for every area to have its own force
• describe the metropolitan police force: they were the first official police force that was trained, paid and professional. The officers were given the name ‘peelers’ and had to be healthy, be able to read and write and had to be at-least 5ft 7. many peelers were ex-soldiers and worked long hours with little pay. they had to be younger than 35 and wore a uniform.
• Who are the bow street runners?

  during the Industrial Revolution, London’s crime rate increased and people began creating their own private police forces. Thomas de veil began to help improve bow street (area with high crime rate) with proactive policing. His work was continued by john and Henry fielding. Henry created a force of 6 men, all paid who would catch criminals and bring them to justice.
• Describe modern period police: the number of officers increased from 46,000 to 125,000 over a few years. Every force now has a crime prevention officer and the governments introduced Initiatives to restore community links. they did this through neighbourhood watch schemes, community liaison officers and police community support officers.
• Describe crime during the Saxon and Norman period: crime was mainly associated with poverty and theft was common due to food prices increasing. During Norman times, a new law came forward called the forest laws meaning people couldn’t cut down trees due to the land belonging to the king. Animals also couldn’t be hunted on this land and 30% of England became the king’s property. People viewed these laws and unfair and people who broke them weren’t viewed as criminals.
• Describe crime during the tudor period:

  3 new crimes developed, vagrancy, heresy and treason vagrancy was when the poor and homeless wandered around in search for work because of high unemployment, rise in population, poor harvests and then end to war. treason Was when someone betrays the monarch or the country. a famous treason case is the gunpowder plot in 1605. Heresy was when someone didn’t follow the country established religion.
• Describe crime during the Industrial Revolution: crimes such as highway robbery and smuggling increased. this was because of poverty. Highway men would steal jewellery money and other valuables and sell them in taverns. smuggling involved bringing goods into the country illegally such as sugar, alcohol, tea, tobacco. People also moved from countryside to cities in search for work in factories. the city living conditions were terrible and unhygienic. Crime such as robbery, pick-pocketing, gang related crimes developed due to poor living and working conditions.
• What is transportation?


  for people convicted of crime would be reduced to transportation. they would be shipped to an American or Australian colony to work for a set number of years. it was mainly due to overcrowded prisons, increase in crime and people also wanted to remove criminals from the country in general. the conditions were unhealthy and violent and usually people were sent to Australia. It would make people reform through work and learning new skills.