NCJ Number
161821
Date Published
1996
Length
19 pages
Annotation
This paper reviews research findings on the history of crime in England in the modern period.
Abstract
Much of the research on crime in England has focused on the impact of capitalism and the industrial economy in the 18th century. The most popular hypothesis advanced was that the increasing development of a capitalist economy and the shift to wage labor meant that employers began using the law to prosecute and punish employee theft. Issues associated with the collection of crime data are also considered. Other issues discussed in the research on crime in England were organized crime in Victorian times, gender differences in crime patterns, and changes in priorities given to various crimes. A review of research on the history of the British police considers the role of the police and the claim by historian Robert Storch that the creation of the new police (London Metropolitan Police established in 1829) was a strategy to control the new working class and to impose a new level of discipline. More recent studies have shown that policing before the "new" police was not as inadequate and ineffectual as the reformers and the Whig histories argued. Other research reviewed focused on the role of professional attorneys and the police in prosecutions and court operations, the reduction of capital statutes and the development of the penitentiary system, Victorian prison administration, and sentencing reform. An analysis of the future of research on the history of crime and criminal justice in England is also provided. 69 notes