Introduction This unit is about how and why crime, policing and punishment in Britain changed in the years c.1880–c.1990. We shall see that governments passed laws creating new sorts of crime but that most crimes remained remarkably the same, except that criminals developed new high-tech ways of committing fraud and theft. We shall see that many aspects of policing also stayed the same but that policing methods changed from 1880, when little technology was used, to the high-tech policing of 1990. There have been changes in punishments, too, from harsh punishments, including capital punishment, in 1880. In 1990 there was more emphasis on reform of offenders. A variety of punishments was used as well as imprisonment. Part A of this book covers: • changing approaches to punishment • policing, law and order in the twentieth century • the changing nature of crime • developments in investigative policing. For your controlled assessment in this unit, you will learn how to carry out an enquiry (Part A) and to analyse and evaluate representations of history (Part B). Later sections of this book cover the skills you will need to be successful in unit 4. Your Part A enquiry will focus in detail on one key question. In Part B you will focus on representations of history: how to analyse, compare and evaluate different views of how effective Victorian policing was. A01_HICA_HB_GCSE_6466_FM.indd 2 5/5/10 16:58:34 Contents Crime, policing and punishment in England c.1880–c.1990 Part A: Carry out a historical enquiry A1 Changing approaches to punishment c.1880–c.1990 .......................................................................... 4 A2 Policing, law and order in the twentieth century ............................................................................... 15 A3 The changing nature of crime .............................................................................................................. 26 A4 Developments in investigative policing, c.1880–c.1990 ...................................................................... 36 Enquiry and writing skills support .............................................................................................................. 44 Part B: Representations of history Was Victorian policing effective c.1880– c.1901? ........................................................................................ 54 Understanding and analysing representations of history ......................................................................... 60 Evaluating representations .......................................................................................................................... 67 ResultsPlus Maximise your marks ............................................................................................... 71 Glossary ........................................................................................................................................................... 79 A01_HICA_HB_GCSE_6466_FM.indd 3 5/5/10 16:58:35 Part A: Carry out a historical enquiry Part A Carry out a historical enquiry A1 Changing approaches to punishment 4 c.1880–c.1990 ‘Engines of change’ Learning outcomes Changes take place in history for a range of different By the end of this topic, you should be reasons. The driving forces behind these changes are able to: sometimes called ‘engines of change’. They are the • explain how changing attitudes in things which cause changes to occur. Think of them government and society can lead to as being like ‘engines’ shunting or pushing ‘railway changes in punishment trucks’. In this way of thinking about it, the ‘trucks’ • show how prisons were reformed in the moving forwards are the changes which then late nineteenth century happen because of the ‘engine of change’ pushing. • explain how and why the death penalty was abolished Within the changing history of punishment, two of these ‘engines of change’ are (a) government action • describe alternatives to prison and the reasons for introducing these. and (b) changes in society. Government action New laws Changes to old laws Fear of crime waves can lead to Cheaper alternatives Changes in society Owning more desirable property may calls for tougher sentences lead to increased fear of theft to prison reduce taxes Mass media infl uences Increased living standards Cost of taxes affects ideas. can change outlook. attitudes. M01_HICA_HB_GCSE_6466_U01.indd 4 7/5/10 16:50:46 Changing approaches to punishment c.1880–c.1990 ‘Engine of change’ 1: government action When ‘engines’ collide Government plays an important part in the It should not be assumed though that these two changing history of punishment because it is the ‘engines of change’ always work smoothly together. laws passed by governments which decide that This is not always the case. For example, public certain actions are crimes and how they are to be opinion, as measured by opinion polls, is at times 5 punished. As a result, government is one of the favourable to the reintroduction of the death very important causes of change. The government penalty but successive governments have not may take action which causes change for different changed the law to respond to such opinions or reasons, for example: pressure. • new information may make government more aware of a crime, or of the effects of crime Activities • the cost of a type of punishment may make its use more or less attractive 1. Interview older friends, members of your family and teachers about corporal punishment in • types of punishment may become more or less schools: fi nd out what it was, when caning was popular with voters. stopped and why. 2. Choose one of the ‘engines of change’. Then, ‘Engine of change’ 2: changes in society in your own words, explain to a partner what The opinions of people living in society do not stay it is, why it is important and how it can lead to the same over time. As these attitudes change, so changes taking place. Your partner should then pressure can build on government to respond and do the same for the other ‘engine’, to you. alter the ways in which it acts. 3. Explain how the two ‘engines of change’ do not always work smoothly together. Give an Did you know? example to show this from information given on Overall crime fi gures were lower in 2008 than in the these pages. mid-1990s. Length of prison sentences Types of sentence used Design and use of prisons Some crimes are greater threats in More humane views may make it seem Prison may be seen as reforming not wartime (e.g. spying, attacks on civilian wrong to kill others just punishing criminals targets) War and terrorism can Religious changes can Increased education can alter viewpoints. affect beliefs. change opinions. M01_HICA_HB_GCSE_6466_U01.indd 5 7/5/10 16:50:49 Part A: Carry out a historical enquiry The condition of prisons by 1880: Source A: Prisons such as Pentonville were multi-storied buildings, separated into wings. the background to change Prison life was deliberately made hard, including long hours of monotonous work, a poor, boring 6 diet and isolation. Visits from family were allowed only twice a year. The only regular visitor was the prison chaplain, who encouraged the prisoners to be sorry for the crimes they had committed. Changing prison design: the ‘separate system’ in the 1880s Since the 1830s an American idea called the ‘separate system’ had changed how prisons were Source B: Prison cells were entered from galleries organised. They were built so that prisoners could surrounding large open landings like those shown in this be isolated – kept separate from each other (see drawing of the inside of Pentonville Prison. This allowed a Sources A–D). small number of warders to control many cells. At fi rst the main aim of the system was to reform prisoners by keeping them alone to think about their crimes. By the 1850s there was evidence that this made some prisoners go mad, though there were also criticisms that prisoners were sometimes able to communicate when isolation was not complete. By the 1880s the system was still seen as a way of trying to change prisoners by keeping them apart from evil infl uences and through doing useful work, but there was more emphasis on punishing them for their crimes. Work and punishment in prisons After 1865 anyone put in prison for over three months had to do hard labour. This work was intended mainly to punish prisoners for their crimes rather than to provide an income. Prisoners in solitary confi nement in some prisons picked Source C: Even during exercise, prisoners were kept some oakum. This involved pulling apart tarred rope into distance apart from each other and some had to wear masks, its individual fi bres. This work damaged the fi ngers as shown in this drawing of prisoners exercising at Pentonville. and was very painful. Some solitary prisoners picked rags, separating out different sorts of material and tearing it into strips. Many prisoners were expected to sew prison uniforms, or mail bags, used by the postal service to hold letters. Those in prisons near quarries broke stones. Many prisoners walked on the treadmill. This was a large iron frame of steps around a revolving cylinder. M01_HICA_HB_GCSE_6466_U01.indd 6 7/5/10 16:50:51 Changing approaches to punishment c.1880–c.1990 Prisoners walked on the treadmill for up to six Source D: In the ‘separate system’, prisoners were often kept hours a day. They were separated from other alone in their cells to stop them mixing and learning criminal prisoners by a partition. At this stage in most skills from each