Crime and Punishment

• The Metropolitan Police Act, drafted by Sir Robert Peel, set up the Metropolitan Police. Sir Charles Rowan and Richard Mayne were the first Commissioners. By 1830 there were 3,300 policemen in the force.


  1829
• Detective Branch formed. Some worried that police detectives would be used to spy on ordinary people. Plain-clothed policemen were ordered to reveal their identity in confrontations with the public.


  1842
• Newspapers praised the quick response by the police to a fire at Millbank Prison, which prevented any escapes or trouble among the prisoners.


  1835
• Sir Charles Rowan died. There were now 5,700 men in the force.


  1852
• 3,200 policemen were used to control a riot in Hyde Park. Commissioner Mayne was injured, and the army was called in to control the crowd.


  1866
• Irish 'Fenians', who wanted independence for Ireland, planted a bomb in Clerkenwell. The police ignored warnings of the attack.


  1867
• New Commissioner Edmund Henderson introduced rules to increase the quality of recruits and to raise standards of reading and writing in the police. He relaxed rules about drill.


  1870
• A court case revealed corruption among senior officers at the Detective Branch in an international gambling fraud conspiracy. This 'Trial of the Detectives' was closely followed and reported in the newspapers. The following year, Sir Charles Vincent reformed this branch into the Criminal Investigation Department (CID).


  1877
• Only a year after a 'Special Irish Branch' was set up to infiltrate Irish terrorist cells, Fenian bombs exploded at the Houses of Parliament and the Tower of London.


  1885
• A protest in Trafalgar Square got out of hand and houses were damaged. Henderson resigned as Commissioner. Sir Charles Warren replaced him.


  1886
• Warren resigned after seeming to criticise the Home Secretary following another riot in Trafalgar Square. James Munro was appointed in his place.


  1887
• The Whitechapel Murders were carried out - five were thought to be the work of one man, Jack the Ripper. The Ripper was not caught.


  1888-89
• New system for identifying suspects was put in place - using physical measurements, photographs and 'the mug shot'.


  1894
• New rules for recruitment. Applicants had to be between 21 and 27, able to read and write well, and be taller than 5'9".


  1895
• Fingerprint identification introduced.


  1901
• Medals, time off and a bonus was paid to all policemen to repay them for extra duties during the coronation of Edward VII.


  1902
• Why was the government so worried about protest at this time?

  Many were fearful that the ideas of the French Revolution would spread to Britain
• George I had felt threatened by rebellion so he introduced the Riot Act in 1715
• For ordinary people rioting was the only way to get their voices heard
• Criminal class


  Based on Darwin's theory of evolution, it suggested that criminals inherited their criminal tendencies and could not escape from a life of crime as they had not evolved properly
• How the industrial revolution affected crime and punishment


  • Growth of towns and cities
  • Voting
  • Work
  • Education
  • Acceptance of government interference
  • Changes in ideas and attitudes
• Things people at the time blamed for the increase in crime


  • Lack of seasonal work due to the weather
  • Alcohol
  • Too many children in families
  • Poverty
  • Literature
  • Trade fluctuations
  • Cheap newspapers
  • Professional sport
  • The criminal class
• Penny Dreadfuls


  The cheap magazines, newspapers and literature which a magistrate believed influenced young people's behaviour
• Sir Robert Peel abolished the Bloody Code in the 1820's
• Reasons why the Bloody Code was abolished


  • Public executions weren't working
  • Juries wouldn't convict
  • Ideas about punishments were changing
• The last public hanging took place in 1868
• Reasons transportation was abolished


  • It cost too much
  • Prisons were expanding and changing
  • Crime had not fallen in Britain
  • Lord Ellenborough called transportation 'no more than a summer's excursion' in 1810
• Problems with the prison system in the late 1700's


  • Overcrowded
  • Expensive
  • Unhygienic
  • Men and women were mixed
  • Hardened criminals mixed with debtors
  • Children were brought up in prison
• Turnkey fee


  An amount you had to pay to leave prison once your sentence was completed
• Pentonville was the name of the first prison built using the separate system
• Reasons why prison reformers wanted to change the prison system

  • To teach people useful skills
  • To avoid 'hardening' petty criminals
  • To educate prisoners
  • To separate men and women
  • To prevent the spread of diseases
  • To provide religious instruction in prisons
• John Howard was appointed High Sheriff of Bedfordshire in 1773 where he supervised the county jail. He was shocked by the conditions he found there so he visited other prisons in England and found the situation was no better. He wrote a book called 'The State of Prisons in England and Wales' in 1777. He influenced two parliamentary acts on reforming prisons.
• Separate system


  • Prisoners were kept in individual cells where they worked, prayed and received religious teachings. They only left the cells for religious services and exercise. Even then they were not allowed to see other prisoners.
• Silent system


  • Prisoners worked together, but in silence. Discipline had to be effective for this system to work
• There were very high suicide and insanity rates in the separate system
• Examples of 'useful work'


  • Making boots
  • Weaving mats
  • Stitching prison clothes, mail bags and coal sacks
• Examples of pointless work


  • Oakum picking
  • The treadwheel
  • The crank
• Elizabeth Fry visited Newgate prison
• Changes which Elizabeth Fry helped to introduce


  • Women only prisons
  • Female warders
  • New rules for women prisoners
  • Provision of clothing and furniture
  • Education
  • Regular work
• Things Sir Robert Peel achieved as Home Secretary in the 1800's


  • He abolished the Bloody Code
  • Reformed the prison system
  • Introduced the Metropolitan Police Force