Crime%20and%20Punishment

1
Crime and Punishment

• 1750-1900

2
Why was there a revolution in punishment and
policing 1750-1900

• By 1850 the Bloody Code had been swept away
• Prison sentences became the most common
  punishment
• Professional police forces set up

3
What were the reasons for these changes?

• The work of reformers like Elizabeth Fry and Sir
  Samuel Romilly which persuaded Sir Robert Peel to
  make the changes abolishing the Bloody Code
• Rising crime and fear of crime
• Changing attitudes to the Code and punishment in
  general
• Government getting more involved

4
Why was the Bloody Code abolished by the 1830s?

• Public executions were not working
• Juries would not convict
• Ideas about punishment were changing

5
Reasons for transportation

• To provide a less harsh punishment that courts
  would accept
• To provide a deterrent
• To reduce crime by removing criminals
• To claim Australia
• To reform criminals

• Courts would convict
• Crime levels went up
• Australia clearly part of the British Empire
• Many convicts made fresh starts in Australia

6
The Changes in Prisons

• What were the problems in prisons before the
  changes?

7
Problems in Prison

• Gaolers not paid
• Debtors mixed with serious criminals
• New prisoners often had to make payments to cell
  mates
• Prisoners had to pay for their keep

• Prison cells often filthy overcrowded
• Men women prisoners mixed
• Old ships (hulks) were used to keep prisoners
  high death rate

8
What changes were made to the prisons?

• A cell in Pentonville prison
• A hammock for sleeping
• A loom for working
• What does this tell you about changing attitudes
  to punishment?

9
Changes to prisons (2)

• New Pentonville prison , built in 1842
• What can we learn from this about attitudes
  towards punishment?

10
Changes in prisons (3)

• Prisoner in his cell, working the crank
• Could be turned 20 times a minute, 10,000 times a
  day for over 8 hours
• What was the purpose of this?

11
Changes in prisons (4)

• Prisoners on the treadmill
• 48 steps a minute in silence, up to 9 hours a day
• What was the point ?

12
19th century Prisons (5)

• Prisoners in exercise yard
• Wearing masks (blindfolds), walking in silence at
  intervals
• What was the purpose?

13
19th century prisons (6)

• Picking oakum, pulling apart and cleaning a 3
  foot length of tarred ships rope each day
• Worked in silence

14
19th century prisons (7)

• Prisoners at a religious service
• They sit separately

15
Why did prisons change so much in the 19th
century?

• Separate or silent?
• Work useful or pointless?
• Time off for good behaviour?
• What seemed to be the main attitude towards
  punishment after 1850?