Topic 5: Methods of Punishment

Question 1

What was held before the punishment in Saxon times?

Answer 1

Trial by ordeal e.g. trial by hot iron

Question 2

What were Saxon fines called?

Answer 2

Wergild

Question 3

What were the 3 main types of punishment in medieval times?

Answer 3

• Whipping e.g. beggars
• Stocks and pillory: minor crimes such as swearing or drunkenness
• Mutilation e.g. branding for beggars

Question 4

What crimes received the death penalty in the Early modern era?

Answer 4

• Murder
• Treason
• Persistent theft/begging

Question 5

What was the usual method of carrying out the death penalty in the Early modern era?

Answer 5

Public hanging

Question 6

What was the method of carrying out the death penalty for treason in EME?

Answer 6

• Hang, drawn and quartered
• E.g. Guy Fawkes (1605)
• E.g. Thomas Culpepper who committed adultery with Katherine Howard (Henry VIII’s 5th wife)

Question 7

What was the death penalty for nobles in the early modern era?

Answer 7

Beheading if committed treason e.g. Duke of Norfolk / Mary QoS

Question 8

What was the death penalty for heretics?

Answer 8

Burned at the stake e.g. Mary I burnt over 280 protestants

Question 9

What was the Bloody Code?

Answer 9

225 crimes punishable by death by 1815

Question 10

What was introduced as an alternative to the death penalty in the Industrial Era?

Answer 10

Transportation

Question 11

When did Australia start being used for transportation instead of North America?

Answer 11

1770s

Question 12

What were used as a temporary prison containment in the Industrial Era?

Answer 12

Hulks

Question 13

When did the first fleet of prisoners arrive in Australia?

Answer 13

1788

Question 14

How many convicts were transported each year?

Answer 14

2000

Question 15

What were conditions like in a penal colony?

Answer 15

• Harsh
• Prisoners who did not conform were whipped with cat o’nine tails
• Or sent to work in chain gangs

Question 16

When did transportation stop?

Answer 16

Mid 19th century

Question 17

Who were 3 prison reformers?

Answer 17

• Elizabeth Fry
• George O’Paul
• John Howard

Question 18

What did the separate system set out to do and how?

Answer 18

• Reform
• Individual cells with work and religious sermons
• Made boots, mail bags or sewed clothes

Question 19

How many prisons used the separate system by 1850?

Answer 19

Over 50

Question 20

What was the silent system?

Answer 20

• Made life as unpleasant as possible
• Pointless tasks like the crank, shot drill

Question 21

What was the result of both the silent and separate systems?

Answer 21

• Failed
• Re-offending rate high
• Suicide common
• Expensive

Question 22

When was corporal and capital punishment abolished?

Answer 22

In the 20th century

Question 23

When were borstals set up?

Answer 23

1908

Question 24

What was the function of borstals?

Answer 24

• To reform 15-21yr olds
• Strict rules and education
• Corporal punishment was used to begin with

Question 25

When and why were borstals abolished?

Answer 25

- 1982 - Reoffending rates were high

Question 26

When and why were Young Offenders Institutions set up?

Answer 26

- 1988 - To reform violent offenders aged 18-21

Question 27

What was there for those up to 17 in Young Offenders Institutions?

Answer 27

Secure training centres focussing on education and rehabilitation

Question 28

What are open prisons and when were they set up?

Answer 28

- House non-violent offenders, low risk of escape - Set up after WW2

Question 29

Why were alternatives to prisons needed?

Answer 29

Prisons continued to be overcrowded

Question 30

What is probation?

Answer 30

- Set of rules and probation officer to report to police - From 1980s had to undertake counselling for issues such as drug dependancy

Question 31

What is parole?

Answer 31

- Allows prisoners to be released earlier for good behaviour - Similar to probation

Question 32

What is community service and when was it introduced?

Answer 32

- Unpaid work to benefit the community e.g. cleaning graffiti - Introduced in 1972

Question 33

What is electronic tagging and when was it introduced?

Answer 33

- Limits on when and where they can go and the tag monitors their movements - Introduced in the 1990s