NCJ Number
103309
Editor(s)
E F Du Cane
Date Published
1986
Length
242 pages
Annotation
This book, originally published in 1885, describes the nature and goals of criminal punishments in England from medieval times through the early 1880's, including corporal punishment, capital punishment, prisons, penal servitude, banishment ('transportation'), and offender supervision.
Abstract
British writings in the 1870's and 1880's indicate that the goal of criminal punishments was to deter others from crime more than to influence the behavior of the person punished. The tracing of corporal and capital punishment in England from the Middle Ages to the early 1800's documents the use of torture, brandings, mutilations, and executions in an attempt to deter crime. As crime increased, the number of capital offenses increased, reaching 222 offenses by the 1800's. The number of capital offenses and executions declined under reforms between 1832 and 1835. The use and conditions of prisons in England are traced from 1166 through 1885, with a focus on the 1877 Prisons Act. Banishment or 'transportation,' the transporting of a person out of the country to serve as a slave or in a penal colony (legalized in 1717) is reviewed, as is penal servitude, which involved phases of punitive incarceration and supervised release. Also discussed is the supervision of offenders after release from prison, a practice authorized by the 1871 Prevention of Crimes Act. Data tables and subject index.