How did crime, policing and punishment change in industrial England, c.1700 to 1900?
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.
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What this dot point is asking
This is the third period of the Crime and Punishment thematic study and a turning point. Industrialisation packed people into fast-growing cities, changing crime and forcing the state to act. You need to explain new patterns of crime, the rise and fall of the Bloody Code, the birth of professional policing in 1829, the shift from public execution and transportation to imprisonment, and the reformers who drove these changes. Examiners love this period because so much change happens at once.
Crime in an industrial society
The Bloody Code and its decline
The birth of professional policing
From the scaffold to the prison
Punishment changed direction completely:
- Public execution was abolished in 1868; hangings continued behind prison walls, reflecting a sense that public death had become a degrading spectacle rather than a deterrent.
- Transportation to Australia, used heavily after the loss of the American colonies, was ended in 1868 as it grew costly, the colonies objected, and prison became the favoured alternative.
- Imprisonment became the central punishment. New prisons such as Pentonville (1842) were built on the "separate system", and reformers pushed the idea that prison should reform offenders, not merely contain them.
The reformers
Try this
Q1. In what year was the Metropolitan Police founded, and by whom? [Knowledge recall]
- Cue. 1829, by Home Secretary Robert Peel.
Q2. Explain why the Bloody Code was often not enforced. [Short explanation]
- Cue. Juries frequently refused to convict, or deliberately undervalued stolen goods ("pious perjury"), because they would not see someone hanged for a minor theft, so many capital laws went unenforced.
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 20194 marksDescribe two features of the Metropolitan Police set up in 1829.Show worked answer →
The thematic study opener (4 marks, two features, 2 marks each). Reward two distinct, developed features.
Feature one. It was a professional, paid and uniformed force: officers (nicknamed "bobbies" or "peelers" after Robert Peel) wore blue uniforms deliberately unlike the army, were paid a wage and worked set beats.
Feature two. It was organised and centrally run from Scotland Yard for the London area, with a clear command structure, marking a break from the old amateur parish constables.
Top marks. Two separate features, each with a precise supporting detail.
OCR SHP 20208 marksExplain why the Bloody Code was abolished in the early nineteenth century.Show worked answer →
The thematic study "Explain why" question (8 marks). Reward two or three developed reasons.
Reason one. It did not work as a deterrent: with over 200 capital crimes, juries often refused to convict (the "pious perjury" of undervaluing stolen goods) rather than hang someone for a minor theft, so the law was not enforced.
Reason two. Changing attitudes: Enlightenment thinkers and reformers argued that punishment should fit the crime and aim to reform, and the public increasingly found mass hanging for minor offences barbaric and unjust.
Reason three. Alternatives existed: transportation and, increasingly, prison offered a way to punish without execution, so the threat of hanging for petty crime became unnecessary.
Top band. Link each reason to abolition and reach a judgement on the most important.
Related dot points
- New crimes of the early modern period (vagabondage, witchcraft, smuggling, heresy), the work of constables, watchmen and thief-takers, the growth of harsher and more public punishment, and the role of religion and fear in shaping the law.
A focused answer to the early modern section of OCR's Crime and Punishment thematic study, covering new crimes such as vagabondage, witchcraft, smuggling and heresy, the continuing role of constables, watchmen and thief-takers, the rise of harsher public punishment, and how religious change and fear drove the law between 1500 and 1700.
- Medieval definitions of crime, the role of the Church and the King in the law, community policing through the hue and cry and tithings, trial by ordinary and trial by jury, and the use of fines, corporal and capital punishment.
A focused answer to the medieval section of OCR's Crime and Punishment thematic study, covering how crime was defined, the role of the Church and Crown, community law enforcement through tithings and the hue and cry, trial by ordeal and jury, and the use of fines, mutilation and execution c.1250 to 1500.
- New and changing crimes in the modern period, the use of science and technology in policing, the abolition of the death penalty in 1965, the development of prisons and alternatives to custody, and changing aims of punishment from deterrence towards rehabilitation.
A focused answer to the modern section of OCR's Crime and Punishment thematic study, covering new and changing crimes (cybercrime, hate crime, terrorism, motoring), science and technology in policing, the 1965 abolition of the death penalty, prisons and alternatives to custody, and the shift in the aims of punishment towards rehabilitation.
- 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.
- 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.
A focused case study within OCR's Crime and Punishment thematic study, examining the squalid eighteenth-century jails, the reforming work of John Howard and Elizabeth Fry, the separate and silent systems, Pentonville prison of 1842 as a model, and the enduring tension between reform and punishment.