Why did the Bloody Code and transportation rise and fall as ways of punishing crime?
The Bloody Code as a system of deterrence by terror, why so many capital offences were added in the eighteenth century, transportation to America and then Australia, the experience of convicts, and why both were abandoned by the mid-nineteenth century.
A focused case study within OCR's Crime and Punishment thematic study, examining the Bloody Code as deterrence by terror, why over 200 capital offences were created in the eighteenth century, transportation to America and Australia, the convict experience, and why both punishments were abandoned by the mid-nineteenth century.
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What this dot point is asking
OCR's thematic study includes depth on particular punishments. This case study examines two linked eighteenth and nineteenth-century punishments: the Bloody Code (deterrence by mass capital punishment) and transportation (removing convicts overseas). You need to explain why they grew, what convicts experienced, and why both were abandoned by the mid-1800s. This connects directly to the bigger story of punishment moving from the scaffold to the prison.
The Bloody Code: deterrence by terror
The Code reflected the priorities of the propertied classes in Parliament, who passed new capital laws (such as the Waltham Black Act of 1723) to protect their land and goods.
Why the Bloody Code failed
Transportation: punishment and empire
Why transportation ended
Transportation was abolished by 1868 for several reasons:
- Colonial opposition. Free settlers in Australia objected to receiving convicts and to the reputation it gave their society.
- Cost and inconsistency. It was expensive, and the outcome varied so much (new life or misery) that it looked less like a reliable deterrent.
- A better alternative. The expanding prison system at home, with new penitentiaries such as Pentonville (1842), gave the government a cheaper, more controllable punishment.
Linking the case study to the big picture
Both punishments illustrate the shift from public, bodily punishment to imprisonment. As attitudes turned against execution and overseas exile, and as government grew able to build and run prisons, Britain moved towards locking offenders up at home, the system that still dominates today.
Try this
Q1. From what year were convicts transported to Australia? [Knowledge recall]
- Cue. 1787 (the First Fleet sailed in 1787, arriving 1788).
Q2. Explain why juries sometimes refused to convict under the Bloody Code. [Short explanation]
- Cue. They felt death was wildly disproportionate for minor theft, so they acquitted or used "pious perjury", undervaluing stolen goods below the capital threshold, which meant many capital laws were not enforced.
Exam-style practice questions
Practice questions written in the style of OCR exam questions on this dot point, with worked answer explainers. The year tag is the paper they imitate, not the source.
OCR SHP 20204 marksDescribe two features of transportation as a punishment.Show worked answer →
The thematic study opener (4 marks, two features, 2 marks each). Reward two distinct, developed features.
Feature one. Convicts were sent overseas for a fixed term (commonly 7 or 14 years, or life), first to the American colonies and, after 1787, to Australia, removing them far from Britain.
Feature two. It mixed punishment with hard labour and colonial settlement: transported convicts worked on building, farming and public works in the colony, and many never returned even after their sentence ended because they could not afford the passage home.
Top marks. Two separate features, each with a precise supporting detail.
OCR SHP 20228 marksExplain why transportation was abolished by 1868.Show worked answer →
The thematic study "Explain why" question (8 marks). Reward two or three developed reasons.
Reason one. Colonial opposition: free settlers in Australia objected to receiving convicts and to the "stain" on their growing society, so the colonies pressed Britain to stop.
Reason two. Cost and inconsistency: transporting and maintaining convicts overseas was expensive, and the punishment seemed an unpredictable lottery (some saw a new life in Australia, not a deterrent).
Reason three. A better alternative existed: the growth of the prison system at home, with new penitentiaries such as Pentonville, gave the government a cheaper, more controllable punishment.
Top band. Link each reason to abolition and judge the most important.
Related dot points
- Crime in an industrialising society, the Bloody Code and its decline, the founding of the Metropolitan Police in 1829, the move from public execution and transportation towards imprisonment, and the influence of reformers such as Peel, Howard and Fry.
A focused answer to the industrial section of OCR's Crime and Punishment thematic study, covering crime in a fast-growing urban society, the Bloody Code and its repeal, the creation of the Metropolitan Police in 1829, the shift from public execution and transportation to imprisonment, and reformers including Robert Peel, John Howard and Elizabeth Fry.
- The condition of eighteenth-century jails, the reforming work of John Howard and Elizabeth Fry, the separate and silent systems, Pentonville prison (1842) as a model, and the long debate between reform and punishment in prisons.
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