In the early modern period, Justices of Peace began to work on more minor crimes and travelling royal judges which would hold quarter sessions four times a year would deal with more serious crimes.

Watchmen were also employed during this time, but the were poorly paid and of little use to the town.

Hue and cry became less used as people began to not bother helping others as towns grew bigger during this time.

Prisons were installed mainly for those who were in debt and for those waiting to be trialled. As well as this, the amount of crimes which were punishable by death dramatically increased, and over 150 crimes could be punished by death. Poaching was one of them as well as smuggling in goods.

Public executions would be done in the early modern period as a form of deterrent as well as entertainment for those living in that time. The bloody code caused even more people to be punished during this time.

The bloody code was created by nobles as they wanted to protect their land. This caused crimes such as vandalism to be punishable by death, or anything against landowners punishable by death. The list had over 200 crimes punishable by death. This was a form of landowners attitude.

Another thing that caused punishments to get more severe would be public knowledge of crime. Wealthy men would be the ones to write the punishment for crimes and was in government and so they would make punishments more severe to protect themselves.

Another form would be the increased poverty. Quite a lot of people were getting richer in this time, but this meant that the poor population was increasing. when crops failed, the poor had no other way of getting money and so they would often have to steal to get money and survive.

The final form would be development of new crimes. a number of crimes were developed during the early modern period due to more methods of transportation. This meant that there were more chances of smuggling and restrictions were lifted meaning people could commit more crime. Poaching, Smuggling and Vagrancy were some of the many crimes introduced.

There was also many new methods of punishing during this time.

Hanging, drawing and quartering was given to people that had committed very serious crimes. This is where they would have themselves mutilated whilst they were watching themselves, have their organs removed and burned before them just before they died. They would then die after this brutal experience.

Transportation to different countries would also happen, but the main country people would be deported to would be America. They would go there to help provide manpower to projects and make colonies. It was an extremely strong deterrent.

Burning at the stake was mainly used during Mary 1st’s reign, where heretics (people who went against the religion of the monarch) would be burned to their death. Mary though she would be helping these nearly 300 people that she killed by “cleansing them of their sins” as they burned in the fire.

Henry VIII broke with Rome during his reign which caused a public outbreak, as this was around the time when witches came to belief. They believed witches caused this to happen, as they were ordered by Satan to do so.

Edward VI was a protestant, and also a strong hater of vagrants. Vagrancy was the crime of being unemployed, and this could be punished extremely seriously during this time as people believed vagrants to be horrible people who were too lazy to do a job, and when they offered they believed vagrants would cause a great mess and not do the job right.

Elizabeth 1st was a protestant, letting leeway for Catholics to pray in private. She was involved in the Spanish Armada, which was mainly caused by the Pope allowing the Catholics to open fire at Queen Elizabeth and rebel. 250 were executed, some were arrested for treason (betraying one’s country).

King James 1st promised Catholics a lot more freedom when he came to the throne, but he soon betrayed this promise and made Catholics even more trapped than they were before. A group of people lead by Robert Catesby set of to make a plan to blow up the House Of Lords, where King James would sit for a hearing. They rented a basement underneath the house of lords and every night they would transport a barrel of gunpowder and put it in the cellar. Guy Fawkes volunteered to set the barrels on fire, but their plan soon went to waste as a letter had been sent to Lord Monteagle, explaining their plan and not to tell anyone but he had seemingly told the king who sent his guards to investigate. Guy Fawkes got sent to the Tower of London where he got brutally tortured by the Tower of London’s head torturer until he said who else was included (John Wright, Thomas Perry, Thomas Wintour.) In the end he broke after 3 days, and Robert Catesby got shot trying to fight back when they got arrested for high treason. The others got hanged, drawn and quartered. 100 years later, this impacted Catholics by not allowing Catholics to practise law, be in the army or vote.

Witches were a common superstition in the Early Modern period as people mainly believed they were the cause for the break with Rome, and that they were sent by the devil to do so. James 1st wrote a book on how to find a witch called Demonology, where he in detail described their appearance and other details. He also wrote that they would usually have an apprentice which could be an animal or insect. As well as this, the devil would leave a mark on their body which would not bleed if you stuck a needle into it.

Old women were mostly singled out for being witches because many of them lived alone and had a pet dog or bird for company. They sometimes talked to themselves and also many old people were poor, which made people accuse them more due to their fright of the poor. (EX: Old Demdike)

People would deal with witches by doing a method of Trial by ordeal which they would trial them in cold water. If they sank, god had accepted them and they were innocent. If they floated, they were guilty. Due to the lack of scientific knowledge during this time, people didn’t know about forces and so many “witches” got falsely tried.

A famous witch hunter at the time would be Matthew Hopkins. He killed over 100 people in the span of 2 years due to accusing them of being witches when he started his witch hunt in East Anglia.

Henry VIII would punish Witches by the death penalty, Elizabeth I would try them in the common court and they would get the death penalty if they caused harm, James I would give the death penalty to summoning spirits and finally George II would punish them with fines and imprisonment.

Vagrancy was a social crime, meaning people would see it happen but ignore it as they felt sorry for the Vagrants. As Edward VI hated vagrants, he would punish them by being hanged and executed openly to everyone so they can be warned not to do it.

The Vagrancy punishment changed over years. (1531- Whipped until bloody and then returned to previous place or birthplace. 1547- First offence, 2 years slavery, Second offence, for life slavery or execution. 1547- Act 1 renewed. 1572- first offence whipping and burning, second offence execution. 1576- Houses of correction built in every county to punish and employ beggars. 1593- 1531 act repealed. 1572 act too harsh. 1598- Whipped and sent home.)