This document explores how criminal punishment developed in Britain from the late eighteenth to early nineteenth century, analaysing how harsh punitive measures were gradually replaced with more humane methods of punishment.
CRITICAL REVIEW:
CHANGES IN
PUNISHMENT.
Assessment number: J71263 S4305: Crime, continuities and change.
, Within this assignment, I will explore how punishment has developed and evolved from
1750 onwards, I will assess how popular methods of punishment diminished and came to be
replaced with more far-sighted, humanitarian approaches. I will explore the movements
within society that led to these changes whilst evaluating differing perspectives regarding
why change in the way in which we as a society punish presented itself.
The late eighteenth to the early nineteenth century saw an array of ghastly, retributive
punishments. During this time period, methods such as whipping, flogging and be-heading
occurred regularly, this was due to the previous societal belief that punishments of the body
were the most effective in maintaining order and deterring citizens from committing crime.
This was a time in which the bloody code governed the state of punishment, a body of laws
established during the late eighteenth century which enacted the use of the death penalty
for over two hundred separate offences. It was believed that the shocking nature of
punishments of such a severe nature would instil fear and horror into the minds of the
public; thus, dissuading them from entering into the world of crime and deviance. This view
was however flawed, as the crowds that would attend public executions failed to draw the
appropriate lessons from the spectacle, instead deriving pleasure and excitement from the
display. The horror of this method along with the public pleasure gained from spectating is
reflected within Dickens’ recount of his experience at a public execution: “When I came
upon the scene at midnight, the shrillness of the cries and howls that were raised from time
to time, denoting that they came from the concourse of boys and girls already assembled in
the best places, made my blood run cold” (Weiner, 1990)
Transportation was likewise a popular punitive method at this time, this method involved
the displacement of convicts to locations within Australia and America initially, then later
solely to Australia following the American war of independence, for periods between seven
and fourteen years. The voyage to these positions took an average of six months, with many
passengers dying en route as a result of the poor living conditions on board. Upon arrival,
convicts would be sent to work for local farmers. By the 1830’s, approximately 5,000
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