1. Who decided what was a crime?
ROMAN
Written laws displayed in towns.
Twelve Tablets.
Laws of Justinian.
SAXON
The king and rich nobles, e.g Alfred the Great
MEDIEVAL
The king and advisers
The Norman Forest Laws

2. What crimes were committed?
ROMAN
Because there were so many laws, there were many crimes
Most crime was petty theft
Violent crime only a small proportion
Rebellion against Roman rule
SAXON
Petty theft
MEDIEVAL
Rebellions

3. How was crime policed? ROMAN
In Rome, the Praetorian Guard, urban cohorts and vigiles.
In Britain, the governor and the army.
But for minor crimes like stealing, people had to catch criminals themselves and collect evidence
SAXON
No police. Local communities had to catch criminals.
Tithings
MEDIEVAL
Hue and cry
Constables

4. How were accused people tried?
ROMAN
In Rome, a magistrate (and a jury for serious crimes). Both sides gave evidence.
In Britain, the governor acted as magistrate.
Innocent until proved guilty
SAXON
Trial by jury of local men – with compurgators
Hundred Courts, Shire Courts and Royal Courts
Trial by ordeal – hot water, cold water, hot iron and consecrated bread
MEDIEVAL
Trial by jury
Trial by combat or ordeal (until 1215)
Courts with royal judges and Justices of the Peace (JPs)
Church Courts

5. How were convicted people punished?
ROMAN
Death for serious crimes
Whipping or fines for minor crimes
Nobles could be sent into exile
Collective punishment for slaves
One in ten (decimation) execution when soldiers deserted
SAXON
Wergilds
Fines, execution, mutilation, slavery
MEDIEVAL
Death and mutilation
Outlawing
Stocks, pillory and fines

6. What influenced approaches to punishment and law enforcement?
ROMAN
Power of the emperors
Protecting property
Belief that violent punishment would deter crime
Desire to control rebellion
SAXON
Growth of Christianity
Importance of local communities
MEDIEVAL
Christian ideas
Power of the Catholic Church
Fear of rebellion

7. THE EARLY MODERN PERIOD 1500-1750
Early 16th century: many changes led to crimes.
Growing towns led to street robbers (footpads) in dark alleys.
Changes in religious belief led to people refusing to follow official religion.
Increased unemployment led to beggars wandering from town to town.
Better roads led to highwaymen robbing travellers.
Rich people made the laws to protect their property from the poor.
Rich people had power over poor people.
Men had power over women.
Adults had power over children.
But the population was growing fast. Big towns were harder to control.

8. LAW ENFORCEMENT 1500-1750 No police force. Constables and watchmen.
Thieftakers such as Jonathan Wild. He pretended to catch thieves. In fact he was a criminal in charge of a gang of thieves. He was hanged in 1725.

9. PUNISHMENT 1500-1750 TRANSPORTATION
At first to America and the Caribbean to work on plantations.
In 1776 America won its independence so Britain could no longer transport convicts there.
After 1776 criminals were transported to Australia by ship.
Reasons for transportation
Prisons and prison ships (hulks) were overcrowded and diseased
The government wanted to get rid of criminals
They thought the idea of being sent so far away would scare people from committing crimes
They wanted to stop the rise in crime in the cities
They wanted to get rid of protesters against the government
They wanted free workers to build up Australia
They wanted to stop enemies like France getting hold of Australia

10. PUNISHMENT 1500-1750 CORPORAL PUNISHMENT
Whipping, beating or other pain inflicted on the body
CAPITAL PUNISHMENT
Death
OTHER PUNISHMENT
Stocks, pillory, ducking stool, carting
Fines
House of Correction (vagrants, unmarried mothers, runaway apprentices etc)

11. PUNISHMENT 1500-1750 ‘THE BLOODY CODE’
Over 200 crimes punishable by death
Developed gradually in the late 1600s and 1700s
Why was the ‘Bloody Code’ introduced?
Law makers worried about crime and feared revolution
Changes in society made it harder to enforce the law
Rich landowners wanted to protect property
Belief that harsh punishment would stop crime

12. CRIME 1500-1750 Reasons for the crime rate going up:
The crime rate went up and down.
Reasons for the crime rate going up:
Rising prices
Rising unemployment
War
Weak government
Corrupt judges
Reasons for the crime rate going down:
Cheap food
Plenty of jobs
Peace
Strong government
Honest judges

13. CRIME 1500-1750 THEFT – HIGHWAY ROBBERY Why it increased:
Ex-soldiers with no work
Cheap horses
Lonely open land outside towns
Easy access to guns
No police
People travelled alone carrying money
Easy to hide loot in inns
Why it later decreased:
Mounted patrols
High rewards
Better roads and more traffic
Stagecoaches with guards
Licences refused to inns that helped highwaymen
Open land built on
Banks

14. CRIME 1500-1750 POACHING Catching animals on private land
Eating or selling on
Punishable by death
Why many thought the law was wrong
Rich landowners were allowed to hunt but the poor weren’t.
Laws were made by the rich.
In the past land had been shared in common

15. CRIME 1500-1750 SMUGGLING Because of tax on tea, wines etc
Goods brought by sea and unloaded at night
Batsmen were armed smugglers protecting the cargo
Carried to towns and sold to duffers (dealers)
Hawkers sold the tea to customers
Why it was hard for customs officers to control
Smuggling was widespread and popular – lots of people enjoyed cheaper goods
Smugglers could earn a lot of money
Some smuggling gangs were violent and scary
A few customs officers had to police wide areas
England’s long coastline gave smugglers a wide choice of places to land

16. CRIME 1500-1750 VAGRANTS & VAGABONDS
Many unemployed people on the roads,
What caused an increase?
Problems in the cloth industry
Large numbers of people with no jobs
Prices going up faster than wages
Monasteries closed down (they had supported poor people)
End of wars in England so lots of soldiers with no work
Growing population – more people wanting jobs and food
No system to help the poor and sick
Why was begging treated as a crime?
People felt threatened by the large numbers of beggars on the streets
Communities did not like having to pay for the beggars that turned up in their areas
Acts of charity were not enough to help all the poor people
Poor people were more likely to turn to stealing

17. CRIME 1500-1750 VAGRANTS AND VAGABONDS How did the authorities react?
Some places gave special badges to sick or disabled beggars (‘the deserving poor’) and allowed them to beg.
Others (‘study beggars’) were seen as lazy and punished.
Some sturdy beggars made themselves disabled to get the badges.
Vagrancy Acts 1494 and 1547
Tried many punishments – whipping, exile, slavery, execution, house of correction
Punishments not effective

18. CRIME
HERESY
Having beliefs that contradicted Catholic teaching.
Was a crime when England was a Catholic country
Punishment was burning to death.
Example:
200 Protestants including Archbishop Cranmer under Queen Mary.

19. CRIME 1500-1750 TREASON Disloyalty to the monarch or country.
Was a crime when England was a Protestant country
Punishment was execution (sometimes hanging, drawing and quartering)
Example:
1605 Gunpowder Plot against King James I

20. CRIME 1500-1750 WITCHCRAFT Why were there so many witch hunts?
Actions by the rulers – Henry VIII, Elizabeth, James I
Religion - conflict between Catholics and Protestants.
Poverty - lower wages, less work and a wider gap between rich and poor.
More beggars and vagabonds.
Changes in society - people moving away looking for work
Families and communities breaking up - old women left on their own
Civil wars in the 1640s

21. CRIME 1500-1750 WITCHCRAFT Why were most accusations against women?
When times were hard…..
rulers saw witchcraft as an offence against the government
people looked for someone to blame
there were more bad feelings between neighbours
people believed God was angry
people believed the Devil was at work
Most accusations of witchcraft were made by richer people against poor people
Why were most accusations against women?
Many men feared or hated women (misogyny)
Christianity portrayed women as weaker than men and more likely to do the Devil’s work (e.g. Adam and Eve)
Puritans (extreme Protestants) believed women would tempt men to bad actions
Some older women did abortions which was a crime punishable by death

22. CRIME 1500-1750 WITCHCRAFT What evidence was used against ‘witches’?
Strange marks on the body
The needle test (if she did not feel the prick she was with the Devil)
Evidence from neighbours
‘Possessed’ children acting as accusers
Confessions (often after torture such as sleep deprivation)
‘Proof’ if two ‘witches’ swore that another person was also a witch
The ‘swimming test’

23. CRIME
WITCHCRAFT
Why did the number of witchcraft trials go down?
After the 1660s change slowed down and society was more peaceful.
Many people started to be better off and relations between people in villages got better.
More people stopped having superstitious beliefs and took a more scientific view of the world.
Many things that had been seen as the work of evil spirits began to be explained by science (the ‘Scientific Revolution’)
The last execution for witchcraft was in 1684.
Witchcraft was still a crime until 1736 when all laws about witchcraft were abolished.