Modern (present)

• Cybercrime 


  • Most cybercrimes are new versions of old
  • Online crimes, Theft, fraud or extortion
  • What is new is the scale, as thousands of people can be targeted at once,
  • Perpetrators of cybercrime can be overseas, which causes new problems for police.
• Smuggling 


  • Smuggling legal and illegal items without paying tax has happened for centuries.
  • In modern Britain cigarettes, alcohol and illegal drugs are smuggled into the country
  • There has also been a growth in people-trafficking
  • Social crime
• Terrorism 


  • Not new but modern weapons, transport and communications mean that more ordinary people are at risk
  • Example- On 7 July 2005 four suicide bombers, who claimed to be members of Al Qaeda, attacked central London. Three bombs went off on underground trains and one on a bus. Fifty-two people were killed and around 770 injured.
• Changing society 


  • Britain developed into a society that was multicultural , more equal and fair
  • attitudes changed, new laws were needed to ensure that all people were treated fairly and equally
  • some activities that had previously been illegal were decriminalised.
• Race crime 


  • The 1968 Race Relations Act and

  2006 Racial and Religious Hatred Act both made certain acts race crimes

  • Criminal Justice Act of 2005 gave criminal courts the power to give more severe sentences for other crimes, such as assault or murder, if they are classed as hate' crimes
  • If a crime is committed against someone because of their race, religion or sexuality, the criminal can receive harsher punishment
• Drug Crime


  • Since Misuse of Drugs Act in 1971, taking or supplying some substances has been illegal in the UK
  • Drugs are classified according to how dangerous they are perceived to be
  • The criminalisation of drugs is controversial. Some think it's important for some drugs to be illegal to clarify that taking them is wrong, while others believe that drug-taking is a personal choice.
• Driving Offences 


  • Many driving crimes are new due to the huge number of vehicles on today's roads such as :
  • driving while under the influence of drugs
  • driving without insurance, an MOT certificate or a valid driving licence
  • speeding
  • ignoring traffic lights, road signs, etc.
  • driving while using a mobile phone.
• Changes in Policing


  • Much of modern policing is about preventing crime as well as catching criminals
  • Motorised transport means that police Can reach crimes fast
  • SoMe police officers are armed like soldiers - some people don’t like this
  • The modern police force includes women and officers from different ethnic groups
• Special Police Units

  • National Crime Agency (NCA): seeks to detect and prevent serious organised crime, including large-scale drug trafficking
  • Economic Crime Unit: investigates large-scale fraud; officers require specialist understanding of financial systems
  • Police Central e-crime Unit (PCeU): tackles most serious types of cybercrimes and raises awareness on e-safety
  • Special Branch: each local force has a Special Branch which aims to prevent all forms of terrorism.
• Neighbourhood watch

  • From 1982, Neighbourhood Watch groups have used volunteers to help prevent and detect crime in their neighbourhood
  • The idea was to increase vigilance and education to prevent crime, as well as reduce the fear of crime
  • It has met with varying degrees of success.
• Prevention of Crimes 


  • Much of modern policy is about preventing crime as well as catching criminals
  • Police Community Support Officers (PCSOs) were introduced in 2002 to try to prevent crime in their communities
  • Police work with schools and community groups, such as Neighbourhood Watch, to educate people to help protect themselves and their property
  • The police also play a major role in the government's Prevent programme, which aims to challenge extremism and radicalisation.
• Use of Science and Technology

  • Rapid advances in technology have had a big impact on preventing, discovering and prosecuting crime since 1900.
• Abolition of Death Penalty

  • capital punishment was last used in 1964
  • capital punishment was completely abolished in 1998
  • ideas about punishment continued to change - reform and paying back society were now considered more important
  • controversial cases in the 1950s (Timothy Evans, Derek Bentley and Ruth Ellis, for example) led people to question the use of capital punishment.
• Controversial death penalty cases 


  • Timothy Evans (1950) - hung for murdering his wife and baby later proved innocent
  • Derek Bentley (1953) - hung for murdering a policeman even though he didn’t fire the gun, had severe learning difficulties
  • Ruth Ellis (1955) - hung for murdering her boyfriend after he violently abused her for years
• Prison 


  • The use of prison as a punishment continued to increase
  • Different prisons cater for different types of criminals - open prisons where prisoners are not locked up in cells and, at the other extreme, high-security prisons where prisoners are kept in cells away from other inmates for most of the day
• Prison


  • Since 1907, prisoners have been released on probation - they are watched by probation officers and put back in prison if they re-offend.
  • In 1948 hard labour and corporal punishment in prisons were abolished.
  • Separate 'prisons' have been established for young people
  • Borstals were set up in the early 1900s.
  • There has been a recent rise in female prisoners although still only 6% of all prisoners are women
  • Women's and men's prisons differ
• New Punishments 


  • New types of punishment have developed in the last two decades as non-custodial alternatives to prison-this means people are punished for their crime but not kept in prison
  • Community sentences - working on community projects
  • Antisocial Behaviour Orders (ASBOs)
  • Electronic tagging
• Rehabilitation 


  • Prisons in the 1800s used to punish criminals to discourage them from re-offending on release.
  • Prisons today try to reduce re-offending rates through education and giving prisoners work that teaches them new skills
  • However, they have mixed success rates, and the general public do not always support what can be portrayed as 'holiday camp' prisons.
• Conscientious Objectors - Conscriptions

  • a law that states that everyone who is asked to, and who is fit and healthy, had to fight in the armed forces
  • anyone who was conscripted but then refused to fight could be committing a crime
  • Conscription law was introduced twice in Britain - during the First and Second World Wars
  • In both cases, Conscientious Objectors had to make their objections known to the authorities and were then tried by tribunals who judged whether their objections were genuine.
• Conscientious Objectors - Public attitudes

  • The punishment and treatment by the authorities was very different in the two world wars
  • Shows how people in authority changed their attitude but the attitude of the general public and treatment of Conscientious Objectors was fairly similar in both instances
  • This was probably because most people felt they and their families were making great sacrifices and that others should, too.
• Treatment of Conscientious Objectors - WWI


  • Conscription for men: from 1916.
  • A clause in law excused Conscientious Objectors.
  • About 16000 men refused to fight.
  • Military tribunals made up of military officers and professionals decided if COs were genuine.
  • Only 400 were given total exemption on grounds of conscience.
  • 'Alternativists' were given non-combatant roles.
  • 'Absolutists' were imprisoned, given brutal treatment and hard labour - ten died in prison, 63 died after release and 31 had breakdowns.
• Treatment of Conscientious Objectors - WWII

  • Conscription: from April 1939 for men, from December 1941 for women.
  • A clause in law excused Conscientious Objectors.
  • Over 59000 men and women refused to fight.
  • Tribunals (minus military people) judged if COs were genuine.
  • All except 12 204 were given complete or partial exemption
  • Those with partial exemption were given non-combatant roles.
  • A far smaller percentage of those not given exemption were sent to prison and those who did were not treated as harshly.
• Case of Derek Bentley

  • Derek Bentley (19) had a leaming disability and a mental age of 10
  • He and his friend, Christopher Craig (16), decided to burgle a warehouse
  • The police arrived when they were on the roof so there was no escape
  • He was detained
  • Bentley and Craig were tried and evicted
  • Craig - sentenced to long prison term
  • Bentley - sentenced to death
• Public and Parliament opinion - Derek Bentley Case


  • There was a huge public outcry against the sentence
  • A motion in parliament to reprieve Bentley was supported by 200 MPs but it was never debated in parliament
  • The Home Secretary could have reprieved Bentley, as many others had been reprieved before, but chose not to
  • The case received a lot of media coverage, mostly sympathetic to Bentley's cause.
  • Derek Bentley's family continued the campaign after his death
  • He was pardoned in 1993 and in 1998 his conviction for murder was overturned.
• Significance of Derek Bentley Case

  • It highlighted the vast differences: punishment for murder, as some were hanged while others were reprieved
  • It illustrated how the system of the Home Secretary reprieving murderers from hanging was a lottery.
  • Combined with other controversial cases, it increased the number of people who were critical of the death penalty as a fair and just punishment
• Police Recruits for the Met Police

  • Most came from outside London and were attracted by the relatively good pay.
  • Some had been soldiers but most had backgrounds in labouring or farm work.
  • There were some problems with absenteeism and drinking on the jobOnly 1383 were on duty at a time.
  • By 1885, the Met totalled just 13 319 to police a population of over five million people.
• The ‘Beat’

  • A major aim of the Met was to prevent crime
  • Its main way of doing this was to deploy constables on the 'beat':
  • They patrolled a set route of streets to deter criminals from committing crime
  • they asked people what they were doing
  • they would break up fights
  • they would arrest suspects.
• Development if the CID


  • The Criminal Investigation Department (CID) of the Met was set up in 1878
  • There had been a department to detect crime before this but it was quite ineffective
  • Those in the CID (to detect crime) were therefore separate from the rest of the force (to prevent crime)
  • Initially the CID had little success, as shown by the investigation into the murders committed by Jack the Ripper in Whitechapel.
• Sir Charles Warren


  • Warren was a former army general
  • He was appointed Met Commissioner in 1886.
  • Warren banned a planned unemployment protest in Trafalgar Square on 13 November 1887
  • When the protestors ignored the ban, he deployed thousands of police, supported by about 1000 men from the army
  • Violent clashes followed, many people were injured and one protestor later died
  • Warren directed the operation from horseback
  • When Jack the Ripper struck in 1888, in Whitechapel, Warren ordered an increase in patrols
  • Failure to catch the murderer cost Warren his job.
• Attitudes towards Police


  • Attitudes varied widely
  • The police still had people's trust in some areas
  • Events, such as the Trafalgar Square riot of 1887, contributed to the feeling held by many working-class people that the police were 'against' them, and only worked for the middle and upper classes
  • The economic depression and ensuing poverty of the period contributed to this hatred of police.
• Whitechapel - Housing

  • Lodging houses - where lodgers paid a nightly fee for a bed and access to a kitchen.
  • Around a quarter of Whitechapel's population lived in lodging houses.
  • There were some attempts to improve housing
  • George Peabody paid for the building Of 11 block flats in former slums
  • The Peabody Estate opened in 1881
  • tenant were charged rent
• Whitechapel - Housing for the poor

  • workhouses in Whitechapel were seen as the last resort - they offered a bed and food in return for hard labour.
  • Conditions were deliberately poor, families were split up and inmates had to wear a uniform, Most were elderly, ill, disabled, orphans or unmarried mothers.
  • After 1880, many young orphans were cared for in Barnardo's homes, where conditions were much better than the workhouse.
• Whitechapel - Lack of employment 


  • There was high unemployment because of an economic depression
  • few jobs were available to women so many turned to prostitution to survive
  • Those that had jobs worked long hours for low pay in factories in 'sweated' trades, where conditions were cramped and dirty
  • those that had jobs worked building the railways or in the dockyards
  • Pay was better but numbers required were variable so weekly incomes varied enormously.
• Environment and Crime 


  The significance of Whitechapel as an inner-city area of poverty, discontent and crime is due to:

  • low income levels that led to stealing for survival

  • overcrowding that led to tensions between

  residents which split into violence

  • unreliable (or lack of) work that meant many had a lot of 'spare' time, which led to alcoholism, disruptive behaviour and violence

  • the high levels of prostitution that led to violence on women.
• Whitechapel - Tension


  Irish Immigrants

  • Many Irish left Ireland for the USA in the 1840s but ended up in London Instead
  • Poverty meant most could only afford to live in the least expensive part of London
  • Most worked as navvies (labourers building roads, railways or canals) or dockers.
  • They had a reputation for being drunk and violent
  • They were associated with terrorism, such as the Fenians, who were seen as fanatical terrorists fighting for Irelands independence trom Britain.
• Whitechapel - Tension


  Eastern European Immigrants

  • Huge influx of Easter European immigrants into Whitechapel in the 1880safter Tsar Alexander Il's assassination in 1881.
  • Were mostly Russian and Polish Jews, and who had fled persecution in the Russian Empire after Tsars assassination
  • Poverty meant they were only able to settle in the cheaper parts of London.
  • Tended to stick together within these areas, causing segregation.

  By 1888, some parts of Whitechapel had a 95% Jewish population.
• Whitechapel - Tension 


  Anarchists and Socialists

  • from 1848 there was a wave of attempted revolutions across Europe, many of the revolutionaries ended up in London's East End,
  • Movements set up or supported by the revolutionaries were anarchism, which opposed organised government, and socialism, which wanted the end of capitalism.
  • Both movements were feared by the authorities, and middle and upper classes, but attracted some support from residents of Whitechapel,
• Whitechapel - Tension


  Resulting Tensions

  • As a result of its varied and fluctuating population, tensions in Whitechapel were high.
  • There were tensions between immigrant and local populations over access to housing and jobs,
  • Recently arrived Jewish immigrants were prepared to accept lower pay and poor conditions, leading to an increase in the sweatshop system - this annoyed other workers and non-sweatshop employers
• Whitechapel - Tension 


  Resulting Tension

  • Anti-Semitism and violence against Jews rose rapidly.
  • Anyone with a foreign accent was suspected of being a violent revolutionary.
  • 'Foreigners' were blamed for many crimes, such as the Ripper murders, which increased racial hatred and violence.
• Whitechapel - Policing 


  H Division

  • H Division beat constables were each given a set route within Whitechapel to patrol.
  • They were on the look-out for trouble and stopped and questioned people to find out what they were doing
  • They regularly had to report to their sergeant and everything was Recorded in a diary