Justice through the ages

SEVEN CENTURIES OF LAW AND ORDER

1215

 The withdrawal of support by the Church effectively ends the age-old practice of ‘trial by ordeal’ as a way of determining a person’s guilt. Four years later, in January 1219, Henry II introduces trial by petty jury in England.

1351

H An act of parliament under Edward III defines treason in law. Despite major amendments, it remains one of the earliest English statutes still in force.

1494

 The Vagabonds and Beggars Act provides measures for poor relief but dictates that “vagabonds, idle and suspected persons shall be set in the stocks for three days and three nights and have none other sustenance but bread and water”.

31839

H The Prisons Act introduces new initiatives to encourage prisoners to reflect on their crimes. Prisons are also encouraged to adopt the ‘separate system’, which sees prisoners completely isolated from each other.

1829

 A new, centralised police force is created in London. Constables earn a standard wage of one guinea (around £1.05 today) for six 12-hour shifts per week, with Sunday the only rest day.

18252 18232

Home secretary (and later prime minister) Robert Peel reforms Britain’s penal code, reducing the number of crimes punishable by death by 100. The focus is now on crime prevention and reforming criminals.

 The Judgment of Death Act is enacted, allowing judges to commute death sentences for crimes other than treason and murder to imprisonment or transportation.

1842

A plain clothes detective department is set up at Scotland Yard. Its officers, who can go undercover, are tasked with investigating crimes, taking evidence, examining clues and dealing with witnesses and victims.

1868

The Capital Punishment Amendment Act ends the spectacle of public executions. From now on, condemned prisoners are executed within the walls of the prison in which they are being held, with their bodies buried in the prison grounds.

1888

H In August, Mary Ann Nichols becomes the first known victim of a serial killer who will later be dubbed Jack the Ripper. The murderer goes on to kill at least four more women, but is never apprehended.

1894

 The so-called

Bertillon system is adopted in Britain. Developed by French biometrics researcher and police officer

Alphonse Bertillon in 1879, each felon’s precise smeasurements and distinctive features are recorded on a standardised card, including a mugshot, allowing the police to track and identify them. . ch h r n ’s d d a t e d

From the introduction of jury trials to the abolition of the death penalty, we chart the evolution of crime and punishment in the British Isles

WORDS: CHARLOTTE HODGMAN

1571

The infamous ‘Triple Tree’ is erected at Tyburn in London (near the modern-day Marble Arch). The scaffold’s triangular shape allows several executions to take place at the same time; in June 1649, 24 people are hanged simultaneously.

1800

The Glasgow Police Act – the first of its kind in Britain – receives royal assent on 30 June. Three months later, Glasgow merchant John Stenhouse is appointed Master of Police and appoints three sergeants and six police officers.

1902

 ThThe e prepre-existing Borstalrstal prison neare r RocRo hester, Kentent (n(now HMP Rocochestere ), becoecomeses Britain’s firstrst jujuvenile correctorrec ional faca ilitylit forfo young peopleeople agedag 16–21. Inmnmatesat follow a strictstrict regime centredentred around physicalhysi a drills, traininraining and educducation.

1623 1688–1820

Under an act of James VI and I, those accused of a crime can no longer claim protection from the law inside a church. Previously, felons could claim sanctuary for up to 40 days before deciding to either attend trial or go into exile.

 The number of capital statutes in England and Wales increases from 50 to at least 200. Offences that now carry the death sentence can be as minor as wrecking a fishpond.

1787–1868

 In May 1787, more than 1,400 people set sail on 11 ships bound for Australia. Among them are some 700 convicts – the first of the more than 162,000 prisoners who will be transported Down Under between 1787 and 1868.

1908

The Children’s Act establishes separate juvenile courts and introduces the registration of foster parents. A minimum age for execution – of 16 years – is also stipulated.

1725

H Self-proclaimed ‘thief-taker general’ Jonathan Wild (pictured arresting a suspect, below) is hanged at Tyburn. The felon had been running a criminal empire while assuming a crimefighting role – mainly to remove his own rivals.

1749749

 Magistrate and author Henry

Fielding and his half-brother, John, establish the Bow Street Runners, a group often referred to as

London’s first professional police force.

1933

H The first open prison is built at New Hall Camp near Wakefield. Other open prisons, including HMP Ford (below) follow over the next decades.

1739739

Notorious butcher-turnedhighwayman Dick Turpin is hanged for stealing horses. His life of crime and brutality will later be given a romantic and heroic twist in William Harrison Ainsworth’s 19thcentury novel, Rookwood.

1964

Peter Anthony Allen and Gwynne Owen Evans become the last people in Britain to be executed. In 1998, the Human Rights Act abolishes the death penalty in all circumstances. d