Role Of Punishment In Elizabethan England

During the Elizabethan Era, witches were considered evil burdens to society. It was thought that witches worshipped the devil and used their supernatural powers to commit crimes against the community. They were often held responsible for deaths, illnesses, and other mishaps that occurred within the community. Many citizens hated witches for these misfortunes, even though witches had no control over these accidents. Many times witches were severely punished for committing these crimes and they could even be sentenced to death.

In the Elizabethan era, doing a crime was the worst mistake of all, depending on how big your crime was, people had to know that their lives were at risk. Every crime was big before, even “crimes of treason and offenses against the state were treated with that murder and rape today.”(Elizabethan Crime and Punishment) “Offenses such as manslaughter, robbery, rape, piracy and capital crimes entitled one to hanging, usually in the town square.” (Elizabethan crime and Punishment) During Queen Elizabeth’s time, the punishments were designed to fit the crime committed. A person may complain about the consequences of crimes one commits, but looking back at the Elizabethan times, punishments are far less brutal now than how they were then.

In order to determine what the law was in the Elizabethan Age for crime and punishment, you must research crime and punishment in that age, the laws and the acts. In the Elizabethan Age there were many different crimes. Each of those crimes had their own punishment or punishments. They were very strict about what they could and could not do in this age. If you have ever thought about planning a crime, you would have to really think about the punishment you would receive.

Under the different Kings and Queens of Britain, executions were common in these time periods. The many different types of executions that took place and have many unique differences. Why the executions took place, how were the speeches carried out, and how were they staged is something that needs to be examined. There are many sources that explain these different situations and it is a very interesting subject to examine. Each of these different monarchs varied in the way they carried out these executions and had different reasons in why these executions needed to happen. These executions were dependent on many different factors. One of these factors is the gender of the ruling king or queen calling for the execution in this specific

Crime and Punishment in the Elizabethan era was very unusual and cruel when we look at it from today’s standards. Punishment was very harsh and most things they did back then was completely normal for them but by today it’s insane what they used to do to criminals. Speaking of which whom they counted as “criminals” was insane as well as their definition of a criminal. The crimes committed directly affected the type of punishment someone one would receive for committing such an act. Crimes and punishments to us now seem completely wrong and just plain strange.

Having extreme, agonizing, punishments was not out of the ordinary during the 17th century. The punishments and crimes were very unsystematic, and often times very foul. There were punishments that were as minor as carting,and there were punishments as severe as the death penalty.Throughout the 17th century there were a variety of punishments for different crimes that were commited.

The punishments for crime in the colonial times were harsh in some cases or humiliating. Some crimes like murder, treason, or piracy,(stealing from other boats) had people sentenced to death. Crimes that cost the price of humiliation were crimes such as being drunk or working or traveling on sunday.The specific way a criminal would be punished is that

The image below is a primary source of people being hung in the Middle Ages for murdering. The authors perspective is shown how he has drawn people hanging down while there are people watching them to show them not to do this. The viewpoint of the author is to say not to do this otherwise it will happen to you. The crowd around the punished people are there to show the seriousness of the punishments providing a warning and awareness of the consequences. It could lead to death and torture for the rest of their lives, this reflects to the authors point of view. Overall, Crimes and Punishments in the Middle Ages were very hard for people to escape. Authors presented a lot detail to show how life was strict back in the Middle Ages. Images that

Crime and punishment in victorian times was divergent than it is today. In victorian times , the sentencing and punishment was very stricted. The petty crimes were mostly likely sentenced to death and hung. For example, John Walker was convicted of stealing onions and was sentenced seven years for it. If anyone stole food from the grocery store in this era and got caught the store would most likely call law enforcement and give them a warning and let them go. That is very different than how they treated it in victorian times. Criminals in victorian times were treated different than they are treated today.

To try to prevent crime from occurring some believed that making the punishments severe would slow the growth of crime. The punishments you would receive, varied on how bad the crime was that you committed. If you were accused for adultery or manslaughter, you were more than likely punished with a whipping or branding. When punished with a whipping the number of hits usually varied between 10 to 30. When committing adultery, you usually were required 30 hits with the whip and a hot iron brand to the forehead. You were also made to wear something around your neck showing the crime you committed. These punishments were usually for men, women were normally sent to workhouses. Hanging was also a big punishment in the 1800s. Hangings were found to be entertainment and multiple people received a job during a hanging. (Source 2, Page 101) When hanging got out of hand, they began to send the criminals to other colonies to serve their sentences. They found that it was much cheaper than holding them in the English prisons where they were overcrowded and the traveling had to be paid for. The 1800s is known to be the worst of crime because of the increase of population and the issues with wealth. Escapes were very common because the jails were overflowing and it was too much for the people to keep up with. Not only were adults at risk but children of any age were too because society was so bad. As time moved along some of the

Throughout the years, the use of imprisonment has varied, along with its influences of society. It is thought that although prisons have been around since the thirteenth century, prisons as we know them now to be have only been around for the last three centuries. The first uses of prisons were not seen as a form of punishment instead they were used as a way of making people do something. People would be held in prison until they paid their debts, or awaiting trial and then leading up to their sentence. McGowen (1995) suggests that from the early 1700s ‘bridewells’ a house of correction have existed, however at that time being used merely for vagrants and drunks. At the end of the sixteenth century there was a shift in punishment to imprisonment, along with this came a new, more humane idea of reform. Criminals would spend their days of prison carrying out hard labour. However after the American Revolution, imprisonment took a step back and there was another change. There was mass overcrowding within the prison service and although the death penalty was still being used it was a symbol of the power of the state. Therefore, an everyday way of dealing with offenders would be transportation to the colonies, being either Australia or America.

The punishment was decided upon depending on the crime. Out of all of them, hanging was the most severe and was very common. During the 19th century, the number of criminals that were punished by hanging rose to about 200. However, hanging was not the only punishment used. Flogging, beheading, and transportation were also common. Flogging is the act of beating the human body with whips, rods, switches, etc. Beheading was the complete separation of the head and body typically by blade, sword, axe, or mechanical means. Transportation was the act of relocating inmates to different places to work and sometimes sending them to the armed forces. Due to the significant number of criminals that were being sentenced with the death penalty, people named

Punishments could include beating up, lashings, exile from Rome and hung to death and massive fines. Romans normally didn't send people to prison for crimes, but they did have a lot of big jails to hold people while their crime was determined. During these times the punishments were very harsh especially for the less fortunate citizens such as slaves. But I think this was a good thing because it kept the citizens in order and this worked really well in the long term, Overall these punishments are very harsh and almost nothing like the punishments nowadays, although some of these punishments still remain the same. For example a few years in jail, a lot of money, sometimes even free labour like helping old people in orphanages or working in restaurants

In the roman times crucifixion was the punishments. Nails are driven through the wrists and ankles, you are then left to die in agony. Death takes hours and hours. Another punishment was being fed to lions in the morning, but in the afternoon it was man against man. The fighters had nothing to protect them from the animal - no helmets or shields. The crowd would shout KILL HIM, FLOG HIM AND BURN HIM.

The delivery of punishment has changed significantly over the centuries. Up until the 19th century in England, imprisonment was not regarded as a punishment, it was merely used while the offender waited to be sentenced to their ‘real’ punishment (Bull, 2010; Hirst, 1998). Corporal punishment such as flogging, branding and mutilation, death by hanging, and transportation to other continents such as America and Australia were common punitive measures through the ages, until well into the 1800’s (Newburn, 2003). Although these extreme penalties are no longer acceptable or practised by criminal courts in England or Australia, in some ways, the past has