CRIME AND PUNSIHMENT
Write a clear and organised summary that analyses how law and order was enforced in the period 1500- 1750. Support your summary with examples.
High level response In the years 1500-1750, there were still some of the medieval methods of enforcing the law. For example, the hue and cry was still used to get the community to chase a criminal, and individuals were still responsible for getting a warrant and catching the criminal who had robbed them. However, because towns were getting larger and they were not such small communities where everyone knew everyone else, these were no longer enough. New methods were added. Parish constables became more important. These were part time, unarmed group who were responsible for holding suspects for crime ready for trial. Their main job was to deal with beggars which was a big problem in the sixteenth century. They could fine or whip the beggars. Another group was town watchmen in bigger towns. These went on patrol and they were expected to deal with beggars and also look in windows to see if people were breaking the law. Another way of enforcing the law if a criminal was caught was in trials. Justices of the Peace were more important in the Tudor period than in medieval England because they ran the manor courts. They would fine people, put them in the stocks or have them whipped. For bigger cases, JPs met up 4 times a year in a Quarter Court for more serious crimes where they could even have people put to death. After 1688, they got more powerful because the Bloody Code meant that there were more crimes that could get the death penalty. The Church still had a role in law enforcement like in the middle Ages, and they had trials for clergy who had committed a crime. But these were less important because the civil courts had more power after the Reformation. Also because more common people had learned to read, the “neck verse” law was changed so that not as many people could claim to be clergy so there were not as many Church trials.
‘In the period between 1750 and 1900 there were big changes in policing’. How far do you agree with this statement?
Give reasons for your answer. [18] High level response in some ways it is true that there were big changes in policing between 1750-1900. However there is a lot of evidence that the changes were limited until after 19...
