Crime and Punishment in Britain, c1000–present
What's covered
Key facts
The Murder (Abolition of Death Penalty) Act 1965 abolished capital punishment for murder in Great Britain (made permanent in 1969).
The Black Act of 1723 made over 50 (previously minor) offences punishable by death, dramatically expanding the Bloody Code's reach to protect landed property.
In the 20th century attitudes to punishment shifted from deterrence toward rehabilitation.
The Church shaped medieval justice through its own Church courts (benefit of clergy), control of trials by ordeal until 1215, and the right of sanctuary.
Detective Inspector Frederick Abberline of the CID led house-to-house inquiries across Whitechapel, but the lack of fingerprinting and forensic technique limited what could be done with what they collected.
Throughout c. 1000–present the idea that punishment should deter others from committing crime has remained a consistent stated aim of the criminal justice system.
The "Bloody Code" was the system in 18th-century England under which over 200 offences carried the death penalty, including very petty thefts.
The death penalty for murder in Britain was abolished permanently in 1969 (suspended 1965, made permanent 1969).
In Anglo-Saxon and early Norman England, frankpledge (or "tithing") grouped all freemen into groups of ten who were collectively responsible for one another's good behaviour.
The "canonical five" Ripper murders — Mary Ann Nichols, Annie Chapman, Elizabeth Stride, Catherine Eddowes and Mary Jane Kelly — were committed in Whitechapel between August and November 1888.
Sample questions
A taste of the 54 questions in this topic — answers marked. Sign up to practise the full set with spaced repetition.
Which of the following best illustrates change in trial methods across the period c.1000–present?
- •Juries have remained twelve trained lawyers chosen by the king from the start of the period
- •Ordeals by hot iron remained the standard test of guilt right up until the 20th century
- •Trial by combat continues to be used in English courts today exactly as it was in 1100
- ✓Trial by ordeal was replaced by jury trial, then by a professional judiciary in courts
What was the 'Bloody Code'?
- •A medieval torture system used to extract confessions
- •Elizabeth I's harsh legal code for suppressing rebellion
- •Laws making it illegal to be a Catholic in England
- ✓Over 200 offences punishable by death, including petty theft
Which MP and lawyer led campaigns in Parliament to repeal the Bloody Code, reducing capital offences before his death in 1818?
- •Jeremy Bentham
- •John Howard
- •Robert Peel
- ✓Samuel Romilly
In Anglo-Saxon England, what system required all men in a village to be responsible for each other's behaviour?
- •Hue and cry
- •The assize system
- ✓The frankpledge system
- •Trial by jury
What was the main reason Whitechapel in East London had very high rates of crime in the 1880s?
- ✓Extreme poverty, overcrowding, unemployment, and migrants in slum conditions
- •The area was dominated by organised criminal gangs controlling all businesses
- •The government deliberately neglected the East End of London
- •Whitechapel had no police presence at all in the 1880s
Which of the following best illustrates continuity in punishment across c.1000–present?
- ✓Authorities have always used punishment to deter others from committing the same crime
- •Branding criminals with hot irons has been the standard sentence in every period since 1000
- •Public execution by hanging in front of crowds has remained legal across every century
- •The death penalty has been applied to petty theft continuously up to the present day
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