Nature of punishment Flashcards
(39 cards)
1
Q
What was the aim of punishment during the medieval period?
A
Retribution and deterrence
2
Q
MEDIEVAL
What was the saxon wergild in the anglo saxon period?
A
- Wergild was paid to victim’s family
- Varies according to victim’s social status - nobility paid a large sum
3
Q
MEDIEVAL
What were the corporal punishments in anglo saxon england?
A
- Stocks, whipping, maiming
- Deterrent - eye gouging, removing limbs, public humiliation
4
Q
MEDIEVAL
What was the change from anglo saxon to norman period?
A
- Wergild abolished - replaced by Murdrum fine as fines were paid to the King rather than the victim
- Concept of ‘King’s peace’ introduced
5
Q
MEDIEVAL
What was the change in punishment from anglo saxon to norman england? Why?(3)
A
- Increase in crimes punishable by mutilation or death(e.g breaking Forest Laws/Poaching)
- Castration, blinding or hanging
- Norman harshness and need for deterrent because of the small minority
6
Q
MEDIEVAL
What was the change in punishment from norman to later medieval england?(4)
A
- Use of capital punishment gradually decreased
- Corporal punishment still widely used
- Commoners hanged while nobles were beheaded
- FINES became more common
7
Q
MEDIEVAL–> EARLY MODERN
What is the continuity from medieval times to early modern?(5)
A
- Fines: to punish minor crimes,
- Corporal: Pillory or stocks, flogging or maiming for begging, vagrancy, drunkenness
- Capital: hanging for theft, murder, poaching, witchcraft, smuggling
- Burning: for heresy
- RETRIBUTION AND DETERRENCE
8
Q
EARLY MODERN
When was the Bloody Code from?
A
- 1688-1825
- 17th century = 50 crimes punishable by death
- Aim was to frighten people so they wouldn’t commit crime
9
Q
EARLY MODERN
When did Transportation to North America begin?
A
- 1610
10
Q
EARLY MODERN
What was transportation to north america like?
A
- Transporting criminals in North America where they did manual work
- 7 or 14 years but most could not return to England
- 50000-80000 people transported during this time
11
Q
EARLY MODERN
Why was transportation to north america set in place?(3)
A
- Gave criminals a chance at rehabilitation while still acting as a deterrent
- Alternative to execution for petty crime
- Workers to establish the American colonies while removing criminals from England
12
Q
EARLY MODERN —> INDUSTRIAL
Why were there changing views on the purpose of punishment for the industrial period?(5)
A
- Rapidly growing crime rates=increase of bloody code, capital crimes at 222 in 1810
- Not effective so they thought that: punishment should be equal to crime committed
- Corporal and capital punishments were inhumane except for serious crimes
- Punishment should also be about rehabilitation
- Led to decrease in use of death penalty and end to the bloody code in 1825, also helped lead to the end of public executions in 1868
13
Q
When did the Bloody code end?
A
1825
14
Q
When did Transportation to australia begin(industrial period)?
A
1787
15
Q
Why did Transportation to Australia begin?
A
- Because in 1776 American War of independence stops transportation to USA and increase crime rate
- Worked for 7 years, most stayed as they couldn’t afford to return
1787-1868 Over 160,000 people transported to Australia
16
Q
Why did Transportation to Australia end?
A
- 1868
- Discovery of gold - Australia no longer needed labourers and it didn’t want criminals
- Some felt it was too expensive and not a strong enough deterrent as it was now an attractive place. Others felt it was too harsh
- More prisons had been built and were increasingly used instead of transportation
17
Q
What were prisons like in the industrial period?
A
- Conditions were poor but increasingly used as a punishment
- Many reformers believed prisons should be improved to increase the likelihood of rehabilitation
18
Q
What did John Howard’s work lead to?
A
- 1774 Gaols Act
- Suggested how health and sanitation in prisons could be improved
- His work influenced Peel’s prison reforms
19
Q
What did Elizabeth Fry do?
A
- Visited women in Newgate Prison 1813 - set up education classes to reform female prisoners, better food and clothes, treated prisoners with kindness and respect
- Influenced Peel’s prison reforms
20
Q
What was the change from industrial period to modern period?
A
- Change from deterrent to rehabilitation
21
Q
What was the continuity from industrial period to modern period?
A
- Fines
22
Q
What was the death penalty in the modern period?
A
- 1965 Murder Act abolished the death penalty for murder, this replaced the death penalty with imprisonment for life
- Not completely abolished until 1998(treason still a crime punished by death penalty)
23
Q
Why was the death penalty abolished?
A
- Ideas about punishment continued to change - reform and paying back society were now considered more important
- Other European countries had abolished the death penalty and hadn’t seen an increase in crime
- Controversial cases in the 1950s:
24
Q
What was Timothy Evans case?
A
- 1950
- was hanged for murdering his wife and baby and later evidence proved he didn’t do it and that actually it was a serial killer - this made people think that it wasn’t right to punish someone with the death penalty without all the evidence
25
What was Derek Bentley's case?
- 1953
- was hanged for murdering a policeman, even though he didn’t fire the gun and had serious learning difficulties
26
What was Ruth Ellis' case?
- hanged for murdering her partner after he had violently abused her for years and had caused her to have a miscarriage
27
What were the changes in prisons in the modern period?
- Use of prisons increased after 1900, different prisons cater for different types of criminals
- 1948 - hard labour and corporal punishment in prisons abolished
- End to the requirement for prisoners to be kept in solitary confinement in 1922
- Before it was used as punishment to act as a deterrent and today prisons try to reduce reoffending rates through education and giving prisoners work that teaches them new skills
28
What were Open prisons?
- 1933
- Rules are more relaxed and people are allowed to leave each day for work, not locked up in cells, aim of open prisons is to prepare prisoners to return to the community and lead a life without crime once their sentence is complete
- Change took place because of changing attitudes - people thought that improved conditions and education could reform those who had committed crimes
29
Why were non custodial punishments introduced?
- Problems with prisons like high rates of reoffending
- younger prisoners mixing with hardened ones
- Prisons are expensive to maintain
- Prisons do not remove the factors that lead people to crime like poverty, greed and power
30
What were non-custodial punishment examples?(6)
- 1907 Probation - prisoners can be released but being watched by probation officers and put back into prison if they reoffend
- 1967 - parole - released early if they behaved well
- Fines still as a common punishment
- 1972 Community sentences like working on community projects or community service
- 1990s Electronic tagging - offenders’ locations are tracked using a tag placed on their ankle. This allows the police and courts to impose a curfew on the criminals
- Anti-social behaviour orders (ASBOs) can be issued by a court. They restrict the movement and interaction of young criminals
31
When was probation introduced?
1907
32
When were community sentences introduced?
1972
33
When was electronic tagging introduced?
1990s
34
How did the treatment of young offenders change in modern britain?
- From harsh punishment to rehabilitation and reform - easier to reform because their characters are not fixed
35
When did the first Borstal open?
1902
36
What were borstals?
- Opened to separate young offenders from adult criminals.
- These were similar to boarding schools with a structured day, strict rules, lots of sport, education and work programmes
- Sentences ranged from six months to two years
37
When was the Criminal justice act?
1982
38
What was the 1982 Criminal Justice Act?
- Borstals abolished because most offenders continued to offend after being released, replaced with Young Offenders Institutions which still have high reoffending rates
39
What were Young Offenders institutions?
- Custodial sentence - aim is to reform young offenders so they do not settle into a life of crime
- As last resort after receiving counselling, working with schools or social workers and the police, community service, tagging or curfews
