GCSE History: Changes in Crime and Punishment c.500 to the present day

Based on court records between 1300 and 1348, what percentage of crime was theft?

73.5%

Based on court records between 1300 and 1348, what percentage of crime was murder?

18.2%

When was the Great Famine?

1315-1317

In what decade during the 14th Century was the Black Death that killed a third of the population?

1340s

Name a trigger that caused the Peasants’ Revolt (1381).

Statute of Labourers, 1351, new king in 1377, poll tax from 1377.

Name a war that was going on during the medieval period (and years).

100 years’ war, 1337-1453 or War of the Roses, 1455-85

Name a rebellion / revolt during the medieval period (and year).

Peasants’ Revolt, 1381, Jack Cade’s revolt 1450, Cornish rebellion, 1497

John Wycliffe was a heretic to the Catholic Church during the medieval period. What were his followers known as?

Lollards

In the Tudor period, what percentage of crime was theft?

Around 75%

In the Tudor period, what percentage of crime was violent crime?

Around 15%

What was the population of England and Wales in 1500?

2.9 million

What was the population of England and Wales in 1600?

4.5 million

In what two decades of the 16th century were the harvests particularly bad, which caused a steep rise in the price of food?

1550s, 1590s

Why was the enclosure of land in the Tudor period an issue for labourers?

Farmers kept sheep instead of growing crops so fewer labourers were needed

In what decade was Henry VIII’s Dissolution of the Monasteries which took away their important role of helping the poor?

1530s

Name four types of vagrants / vagabonds / rogues from the Tudor period.

Angler, Counterfeit Crank, Abraham Man, Clapper Dungeon, Hooker, Doxy, Ruffler

When was the 1598 Poor Law to tackle vagrancy made permanent?

1601

Which German monk resulted in the emergence of the Protestant branch of Christianity and the Reformation?

Martin Luther

How many people did Mary execute in her reign (1553 – 1558) for heresy (holding a belief or opinion that is different to the accepted religion)?

283

Provide an example including the year of a treasonable incident from the Tudor period.

Pilgrimage of Grace (1536), Wyatt’s Rebellion (1554) or Apprentice Riots (1595)

Provide an example including the year of a treasonable incident from the Stuart period.

Gunpowder Plot (1605), Popish Plot (1678) or Monmouth Rebellion (1685)

What was the population of England in 1700?

9 million

Name two new or increasing crimes that began post-1700.

Smuggling, highway robbery, protests due to political rights

Name a smuggling hotspot in the eighteenth century.

Brandy Cove in Swansea

Which leading politician was involved in smuggling in the eighteenth century?

Robert Walpole

In 1784 the tax on tea changed from what to what (%)?

119% to 12%

Give a reason for an increase in highway robbery.

Trade led to increase in travel, few banks where money could be stored so money was carried around to pay for goods and improved turnpike roads made travel easier.

Name a famous highwayman in the eighteenth century.

Dick Turpin, Tom King, John Rann

Name a reason for a decline in highway robbery in the eighteenth century

Fewer isolated travellers (busier roads), horse patrol set up in 1805 to guard the roads, banknotes became traceable and could be cashed in, JPs refusing to license taverns known for harbouring highwaymen.

What did the population of the UK rise to from 16 million between 1800 and 1900?

42 million

Name the war that finished at the beginning of the 19th century that added to the unemployment figures which then led to petty crimes due to poor living conditions.

The Napoleonic Wars (1815)

In the 19th Century what were places notorious for criminal activities called? Give an example.

Rookeries (St Giles in Central London and King Street in Southampton.)

Give an example of the nickname given to a type of robbery that took place in the nineteenth century.

Thimble-screwers (pocket watches), prop-nailers (pins and brooches from women) or drag-sneaks (goods/luggage from carts/coaches.)

What law attempted to prevent trade union protests between 1799 in 1800?

The Combination Acts

Name a 19th Century group that attacked machinery as they were angry at the new equipment replacing them, causing them to become unemployed or be paid lower wages.

The Luddites (1812-13) or Swing Riots (1830-31)

Provide an example of social and political protest that did not involve attacks on machines in the industrial revolution.

Spa Field Riots (1816), Peterloo Massacre (1819), The Rebecca Riots (1839-1843) or Chartism (1839-1848)

What book was published by Charles Dickens, influenced by theft and the lives of criminals, in the Industrial Revolution?

Oliver Twist

How many orphans were estimated to live in London by 1876?

30,000

What percentage of crime was from theft during the Industrial Revolution?

90%

What was the name of the anonymous serial killer who committed multiple murders of women in 1880s London?

Jack the Ripper

Give one way in which social reformers and politicians tried to tackle the roots of crime in Victorian London that led to improved social conditions.

Clearing slums by knocking down some areas and building new roads (e.g. Oxford Street); social projects by philanthropists such as George Peabody and Angela Burdett; Introduction of compulsory elementary education in 1870

Give two examples of new types of crime in the 20th century.

Motor / transport related crimes; cybercrime (linked to new technology); more violent crime such as hooliganism or terrorism

In what year was the first legislation put in place punishing drink driving?

1966 (Breathalysers introduced to test for alcohol level in 1967)

In what year was the first legislation put in place punishing parking offences?

1956

What percentage of crime in the mid- twentieth century did working class offenders commit?

80%

What legislation was introduced in 2003 regarding motoring offences?

Use of hand-held mobile phones is illegal

Provide an example of cybercrime.

Hacking, phishing, identity theft, cyber bullying and sexual crimes.

How many people died in the Heysel Stadium (Belgium) disaster in 1985?

38

Name one way in which police tackled football hooliganism (which was present from the late 20th century).

CCTV; segregation; replacing terraces with seats; Special Police Unit.

Firearm offences increased from 1999 to 2009. What were they in both years?

5200 to nearly 10000

What act in 1920 made possession of certain drugs illegal?

Dangerous Drugs Act

What crime increased in the 20th Century due to the banning of certain drugs?

Smuggling or trafficking

Provide an example of planned terrorism that took place before the 20th Century?

Gunpowder Plot (1605) or Cato Street Conspiracy (1820) or Fenian Rising (1867)

In Northern Ireland how many people died between 1969 and 2001 from terrorist attacks carried out by the IRA and UDA?

Over 3500

Provide an example of a terrorist attack carried out by the IRA on the British mainland.

Public House bombing in Birmingham (1974) killing 19; bombing of Arndale shopping centre in Manchester (1996) injuring over 200; assassination of Airey Neave MP in the House of Commons car park (1979)

In what year did Libyan terrorists cause an aeroplane explosion at Lockerbie in Scotland?

1988

How many people were killed at Lockerbie?

Over 250

In what year did the co-ordinated series of suicide bombings known as the 7/7 attacks take place on London’s transport system?

2005

Crime figures have risen sharply since 1900 but this is not to say that crime has risen. Name one other reason that could have caused this increase.

Increased reporting of crime; increased recording of crime; more laws being brought in by government

The idea of policing in Saxon and Medieval Britain was very different to the system that has developed today. Name one way it was different.

Policing was based on community action; society was hierarchical – kings relied on nobles to keep order; and church had great power.

What did senior churchmen set up in the Saxon and Medieval period to deal with religious issues such as non-payment of tithes and blasphemy?

Church Courts

During the Saxon and Medieval period what were groups of ten families that were entrusted with policing minor problems such as disturbances, fire and wild animals called?

Tithings

What was a tithingman expected to raise when the community was threatened and to pursue suspected offenders?

Hue and cry

During the Saxon and Medieval period what was a hundred?

Ten tithings. The hundredman dealt with more serious threats.

England was divided up into shires or counties during most of the medieval period. Who was the main person responsible for keeping order at shire level?

The shire reeve (sheriff)

What was raised by the sheriff to capture criminals that had escaped the tithing?

Posse comitatus

When were Justices of the Peace first appointed to assist sheriffs and also hold courts of law?

During the Medieval period where did Justices of the Peace usually hold trials and hearings?

Who eventually replaced the hundredmen (13th Century)? Their job was to maintain law and order in communities.

Parish constables

From the 13th Century who patrolled at night and helped protect against robberies, disturbances and fire?

Watchmen (1285 by Edward I)

In Tudor times by what other title were Justices of the Peace also known as?

Magistrates

During the Tudor period how often were Justices of Peace appointed?

Once a year

During the Tudor period name one thing that the Night Watchmen carried with them.

A bell, a lantern and a weapon for protection

In what year did Charles II pass an Act which created a force of paid watchmen to patrol the streets that were known as Charleys?

1663

What was the name given to the increased concentration of people in large towns and cities during the industrial revolution?

Urbanisation

Manchester's population grew from 75,000 in 1801 to which figure by 1851?

300 000

What was the name given to those who captured criminals for reward money or who negotiated the return of stolen goods for a fee (in the Industrial period)?

Thief-takers

Name one infamous thief taker who was corruptly involved in arranging the crimes from which they made a profit.

Charles Hitchen / Jonathan Wild

Name the Justice of the Peace for Westminster who was among the first to find a solution to the growing crime rate in parts of London and was made chief magistrate (1740).

Thomas de Veil

Who replaced Thomas De Veil as chief magistrate in Bow Street (Westminster) in 1748?

Henry Fielding

When did Henry Fielding publish ‘An Enquiry into the Late Increase in Robbers etc.’?

1751

What were the first police officers known as (from 1748)?

At first, they were known as ‘Mr Fielding’s People’ but later became famous as the Bow Street Runners.

When Henry Fielding died in 1754 who continued his work at Bow Street?

John Fielding (his blind half-brother), nicknamed ‘Blind Beak’

Name one thing that John Fielding did to either tackle highway robbery or pass or information about crimes and criminals.

He began a Horse Patrol; continued to publish a weekly newspaper renamed The Hue and Cry (1786)

The Fielding brothers were dead by the time that the full effects of their work were clear. However, their legacy was carried on by magistrates such as Patrick Colquhoun. Name one of these developments.

The Middlesex Justices Act of 1792 which extended the Bow Street scheme by funding a similar arrangement in seven other areas of London; a River Police was set up in 1798; in 1805 the Horse Patrol was re-introduced with government money to patrol the highways around London and guard against highway robbery

When was the Association for the Prosecution of Felons and Swindlers set up in Nottinghamshire?

1789

What is the name of the late 18th Century idea that promoted the attempts to stop crimes from being committed rather than just dealing with crime after it had been carried out?

Preventative policing

What city benefitted from the first state funded police force in Britain in the year 1800?

Glasgow

In what year were the Metropolitan Police established in London by the Home Secretary Robert Peel?

1829 (expanded to cover more of London in 1839)

The new constables nicknamed ‘Bobbies’ or ‘Peelers’ that patrolled one of the 17 districts, each with a company of 144 police constables, had to be below which age?

35 years old (and at least 1.7m tall and able to read and write)

When was the Municipal Corporations Act passed which allowed permission for police forces to be set in larger towns?

1835

When was the Rural Police Act passed which enabled police forces to be set up in more rural areas (e.g. Norwich) of the country?

1839

When was the County and Borough Police Act passed making it compulsory for a police force to be set up in every county that had not previously taken the opportunity to set one up?

1856

Name a specialist branch of the police force introduced in the 19th century.

The Detective Branch (1842) or The Special Branch (1883)

Name one of the new, developing methods used by the police force in the Victorian era in order to catch criminals.

Photography (1850s onwards) or fingerprinting (1901)

Following the Police force's introduction of new crime detection methods such as a national register, by what figure did the crime detection rate increase in the first few years of the 20th Century?

400%

How many police forces were there in 2000?

43 (nearly 200 in 1900; this reduction was due to the need to share information)

Give a reason why, in 1900, policing jobs attracted little interest.

Low wages, similar to skilled manual workers, lots of walking and little equipment (truncheon and whistle)

Women were first used in policing during WW1. When were the first official female constables appointed?

1919 (28% in 2015)

Give the year of one of these changes: (a) Female police officers no longer had to resign once married, (b) Women able to become detectives, (c) Female officers got equal pay, (d) Female officers no longer called WPCs.

(a) 1946, (b) 1973, (c) 1974, (d) 1999