Nineteenth Century Crime In England

This book illuminates the origins and development of violence as a social issue by examining a critical period in the evolution of attitudes towards violence. It explores the meaning of violence through an accessible mixture of detailed empirical research and a broad survey of cutting-edge historical theory. The author discusses topics such as street fighting, policing, sports, community discipline and domestic violence and shows how the nineteenth century established enduring patterns in views of violence. Violence and Crime in Nineteenth-Century England will be essential reading for advanced students and researchers of modern British history, social and cultural history and criminology.

In 1883 newspaper editor G.W. Foote stood trial three times for blasphemy. Here Joss Marsh reconstructs the forgotten cases of more than 200 working-class "blasphemers" in Victorian England, whose stubborn refusal to silence their "hooligan" voices, along with Foote, helped secure our rights to speak and write freely today. 22 photos.

In the years between 1750 and 1868, English criminal justice underwent significant changes. The two most crucial developments were the gradual establishment of an organised, regular police, and the emergence of new secondary punishments, following the restriction in the scope of the death penalty. In place of an ill-paid parish constabulary, functioning largely through a system of rewards and common informers, professional police institutions were given the task of executing a speedy and systematic enforcement of the criminal law. In lieu of the severe and capriciously-administered capital laws, a penalty structure based on a proportionality between the gravity of crimes and the severity of punishments was erected as arguably a more effective deterrent of crime. This book, first published in 1981, examines the impact of these two important developments and casts new light on the way in which law enforcement evolved during the nineteenth century. This title will be of interest to students of history and criminology.

Combining a vivid analysis of criminal records and public debate with theories from cultural studies, anthropology and social geography, this book contributes to current debates in history, criminology and violence studies.

This social history not only studies crime and punishment in early 19th-century England, but also draws on higher court records to reconstruct case histories of the actual people involved in crime: the prisoners and the victims. The book focuses on Sussex, Gloucester, and Middlesec counties, each in its own way typical of developments in early British industrial society between 1800 and 1850. By examining crime as a social as well as a legal phenomenon, the book casts new light on the different urban and rural patterns of crime, the influence of economic and political factors, and the social profiles of both criminals and victims.

Using an interdisciplinary approach, this book traces the expansion of commodity culture and a mass consumer orientated market, and explores the wider social and cultural implications this had for society. The author emphasizes the key role women played in this evolution and, through a focus on retail crime and individual cases of middle-class shoplifting and fraud, provides the first detailed history of the "kleptomaniac" woman in 19th c. England.