Crime and Punishment in Colonial America

Question 1

1st permanent British colony

Answer 1

• Established in 1607
• Colonists adopted English criminal justice practices
• Capital punishment mandated for dozen+ offenses: homicide, heresy, theft, destruction of crops…
• Petty/minor crimes punished = public shaming

Question 2

Public shaming punishment

Answer 2

Pillory, Ducking stool
Whipping Post

Question 3

Pillory

Answer 3

In Colonial Virginia
The accused was placed in a wooden framework with holes for the head and arms. Leaving them vulnerable to public humiliation

Question 4

Ducking Stool

Answer 4

A chair located near a riverbank to which the accused was tied and dunked into water
Colonial America

Question 5

Whipping Post

Answer 5

The public location where criminals were whipped in front of the entire town

Question 6

Virginia Slave Code

Answer 6

1705
- 1 of the first Slave codes in the American Colonial South
- Installed by the Colonial gov of Virginia.
- Defined the status of slaves as racially based and as real estate (not human)
- Gave Virginia slaveholders near absolute power over their “human property”
- Served as model for other Southern colonies
- Practices towards slaves were appalling:
- Slaves barred form interracial
marriage, traveling freely and
learning how to write/read
Punishment for slaves: public whipping and physical mutilation (visible to other slaves)
Serious crimes(homicide, insurrection) = Execution

Question 7

Puritan Massachusetts

Answer 7

Largest colony in the North East (-> representative of New England Colonial Experience)
Colonial Massachusetts in 1629 by Puritans who hoped to create a new perfect society based on the Bible
Biblical Law: Puritans = intolerant regarding morality (adultery)
- Extramarital sex, if involved woman = Capital offense punishable by death
- Thief = punishable by branding on cheek/forehead
- Heresy and Political misconduct = banishment
- Petty/minor crimes = public whipping and pillory