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How did the perception of crime change in early modern society?
Crimes of heresy and treason became more important than ever.
What is heresy?
Heresy is when you believe in a different religion to your monarch. Successive monarchs changed the country's religion. Edward VI continued in his Father's footsteps declaring England as a protestant country, but Mary I, a devout Catholic, changed it back again. During her 5 year reign, Mary burned 284 protestants at the stake for their beliefs.
What was vagabondage?
Being a vagrant or vagabond became a crime in the Early Modern period.
What were the punishments for criminals?
Punishments didn't change much in the Early Modern period.
- ❖ The stocks and pillory was still used as a method of public humiliation, often.
- ❖ Whipping and flogging was a punishment that was once again used as public humiliation and also acted as a deterrent to others.
- ❖ Prisons were still used to hold those that were in debt and those awaiting trial or execution.
- ❖ Houses of correction were a new method of punishment from the 1500s, designed to both punish and reform criminals. The idea was that they would learn the error of their ways.
What were the changes in punishment?
While many punishments stayed the same, there were some significant changes in attitudes. This resulted in some changes to the nature of punishments.
- ❖ Houses of Correction were a new method of punishment from the 1500s, designed to both punish and reform criminals. The idea was that criminals would learn the error of their ways.
- ❖ Transportation began in the 1660s, when criminals were shipped to America on large wooden ships known as hulks. This punishment was considered to be the soft option to the death penalty.
What was the Bloody Code?
The Bloody Code was introduced in 1688 when minor crimes such as poaching, cutting down live trees or going out at night with a blackened face were made punishable by death. By 1765, the figure had increased to 160 crimes. By 1815, 225 crimes were punishable by execution.
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