history crime and punishment

• Vagrancy


  A serious crime in Tudor times
• Vagrants/Vagabonds


  Weak, lazy people
• People believed vagrants were

  Spreading the plague or likely to rise up in rebellion
• Elizabethan Poor Laws of 1598 and 1601


  1. Made each parish responsible for looking after its poor

  2. Punished vagabonds
• There were several economic pressures in the 16th century that explain the rise of poverty and the crime of vagrancy
• Population of England and Wales

  • Increasing during the 16th century
  • Led to more people competing for jobs and land
• England


  • Becoming a wealthier country through increased trade and commerce
  • Most people were still very poor
• Unemployment


  • Many people worked in the cloth industry, which went into a slump
  • Henry VII disbanded private armies, leading to job losses
• Tenant farmers


  • Rented or leased land from wealthy nobles or merchants
  • Richer farmers and merchants began to enclose land for sheep farming, causing the cost of renting land to rise rapidly (rack-renting)
  • Reliant on the harvest for their survival, with many bad harvests in the 16th century
• Inflation


  • Prices of essential goods including food rose as the population grew, forcing some people to leave their homes in search of help and food
  • Increase in taxation to pay for foreign wars against France, Scotland and Spain also made people poorer and inflation worse
• Dissolution of the monasteries

  • Increased the number of unemployed (e.g. monks, servants and labourers)
  • Removed the help for the poor and sick that monasteries provided
• Religious change


  • Failure to follow and swear allegiance to the changes each monarch made to religion was a crime
  • People who opposed the religious changes sometimes refused to follow the new practices, spoke out publicly against the changes, or organised rebellions or conspiracies against the monarchy
• Reformation in England and Wales

  • Started in the 1520s with the spread of Protestant ideas
  • Henry VIII's divorce crisis in 1529 was the catalyst for the start of the reformation
  • Thomas Cromwell used Parliament to pass laws that separated the Church in England from the Catholic Church and made Henry VIII the head of the Church
• Puritanism


  • Increased in popularity in the Stuart period
  • After the execution of Charles I in 1649, the Puritan Oliver Cromwell became Lord Protector, and Parliament was dominated by Puritans
  • This led to a series of laws which tried to enforce Puritan ideas and made it heresy not to follow them
• Urban areas


  • Overcrowded and full of disease
  • Little planning, and no infrastructure or amenities
  • People often lived in back-to-back houses, with open sewers, and rubbish-strewn streets
  • Crimes were more common in urban areas
• Rookeries


  Where crime was the norm
• Criminals


  Different types, e.g. those who stole pocket watches from their chains were referred to as 'thimle-screwers'
• Poverty and poor living conditions

  • Led to many people resorting to crime to improve their lives
  • Many people were dissatisfied with their lives and wanted more money
• Industrial accidents


  • Common, with no compensation and workers sacked if they could not work anymore
  • Accidents led to destitute families, who turned to crime to survive
• Orphans


  Common in industrial towns due to low life expectancy, and they often turned to crime to survive
• Workers


  • Had no political rights and so had no legal way to change their living and working conditions
  • Gathered in groups to protest about their conditions and lack of political rights, such as in Merthyr Tydfil 1831 and the Newport Chartists in 1838
• 'China' district in Merthyr Tydfil


  A notorious slum area that was dangerous, crime-ridden and poor, with crimes such as theft and prostitution common
• Rural crime


  • The Industrial Revolution changed the countryside, with machinery putting men out of work
  • Rural poverty was high, with farm labourers having low wages and long hours
  • At times of high bread prices, some farm labourers turned to poaching, which was punishable by transportation or execution
  • The Swing Riots of 1830-31 saw agricultural labourers resorting to machine breaking and rioting
  • Between 1839-43 in south-west Wales, groups of farmers dressed as women attacked toll gates due to anger over increased rents, the Poor Law and tithes
• Workers gathered in groups to protest about their conditions and lack of political rights, such as in Merthyr Tydfil 1831, and the Newport Chartists in 1838
• Merthyr Tydfil had experienced very rapid urbanisation. It was a small village in 1750, but by 1800 there were approximately 8,000 people living in the town
• Such rapid expansion led to very poor living conditions, with overcrowded shared houses, open sewers, slag heaps, dirt and disease. Epidemics of smallpox, cholera and typhus spread quickly and life expectancy was low
• The area, referred to as 'China' in Merthyr Tydfil, was a notorious slum area. It was a dangerous, crime-ridden and poor area. It was an area where crimes such as theft and prostitution were common
• The Industrial Revolution also changed the countryside. Machinery, such as threshing machines, was putting men out of work. Rural poverty was high. Farm labourers had low wages and long hours
• At the time of high bread prices, many struggled to survive. Some farm labourers turned to the crime of poaching. However, the punishment for poaching was transportation or even execution
• In the Swing Riots of 1830-31, agricultural labourers resorted to machine breaking and rioting in the south-east of England
• Between 1839-43 in south-west Wales, groups of farmers dressed as women attacked toll gates. They were not only angry at the prices paid to toll gates, but also about increased rents, the Poor Law and tithes
• Tithes also caused outbreaks of violence in rural Wales in the 1880s
• Urban areas were overcrowded and full of disease. There was little planning, and no infrastructure or amenities. People often lived in back-to-back houses, with open sewers, and rubbish-strewn streets. Crimes were more common in urban areas
• Many lived in rookeries where crime was the norm. There were different types of criminals, for example those who stole pocket watches from their chains were referred to as thimle-screwers
• It was easy for a criminal to evade capture through the narrow, winding streets, alleyways and courts
• It was easy for people to remain anonymous in a city. In pre-industrial villages, people had known each other, but in these new towns people did not. It was easier to get away with crime
• Policing was ineffective
• Poverty and poor living conditions led to many people resorting to crime to improve their lives. Many people were dissatisfied with their lives and wanted more money
• Industrial accidents were common. There was no compensation, and a worker would be sacked if they could not work anymore. Accidents led to destitute families, who turned to crime to survive
• Orphans were common in industrial towns, due to the low life expectancy, and they often turned to crime to survive