Crime and Punishment - Causes

[Molly's Quizlet set]

what made poverty worse in the Saxon and Medieval period?

- famine and disease
- taxation
- warfare

what % of crimes were theft during the Saxon + Medieval period?

73.5%

how did the Norman conquest lead to an increase in crime?

- rebellions (1069-70)
- new laws
- homes + property destroyed
- refugees, poverty

how did the Norman conquest lead to a decrease in crime?

- rebels executed
- harsh, efficient ruler
- death penalties
- fear

how did the crime of heresy change in the Early Modern period?

due to Henry VIII's treason laws, heresy became treason as having religious ideas differing from the monarch's was now against the law. Heresy would be tried in the harsher King's courts and was a capitol crime.

How did religious change impact crime?

due to the constant fluctuation of the monarch's religion during the Tudor period, people were expected to constantly change their religious ideas according to the monarch. This lead to protest and many were executed, hung drawn and quartered or burnt as heretics.

what were the main causes of poverty during the Early Modern period?

- changes in farming methods: crop farming exchanged for livestock, which needed less workers.
- rural depopulation
- dissolution of the monasteries: loss of charity
- rising population: 2.9 mill in C16th- 4.3 mill by 1600.
- costly foreign wars.

what were the main causes of crime during the industrial period?

- redistribution of the population + population growth.
- disenfranchisement: working class deprived of voting rights.
- growth of industrial towns and poor living conditions.

why did people move to towns?

- wage of an industrial worker was higher than an agricultural worker.
- not enough farming jobs to go around.
- railways made it cheaper and easier to travel.
- agricultural work was seasonal
- employment was available for the whole family (men, women and children)

what causes of crime continued into C20th and C21st?

- poverty and deprivation: more relative poverty.
- alcohol misuse
- ethnic/ racial injustice.
- perception of lenient sentences.

what causes of crime were unique to C20th and C21st?

- quicker and faster communications (criminal networks)
- break-up of families
- impact of TV
- breakdown of traditional values (religion)
- gang culture
- drug misuse

has there been an increase in violent crime?

although the numbers of violent crimes has risen with the population, the ratio of murders to population has fallen in the last 100 years.

why can statistics be problematic?

the dark figure- unrecorded crime
in C20th and C21st, the reporting of crimes increased. This can make it look like crime has increased dramatically where it hasn't.

why did fear of crime increase in C20th and C21st?

due to the spread of the media, more people hear about crime and because violent crime such as murder and terrorism is mainly shown it can feel like there's more violent crime than there actually is.