Crime and punishment in 1800s England

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Crime and punishment in 1800s England

• Sherif Amin

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Table of Content

• Punishment
• Connection to Great Expectations
• Debtors
• Increase in Crime

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Punishment did not Fit the Crime

• Punishment was far more severe than warranted by
  the crime to act as a deterrent
• Punishment for crimes was often harshest possible
  (execution)
• Punishment was two-tiered The poor tended to be
  arrested more often
• Children were also punished under the legal
  system (Jackson).

4
Great Expectations

• The descriptions of Jaggers working conditions
  were typical of the court and legal environment
  during the Victorian Era
• - working conditions and court rooms
  were similar to those depicted in the book
• - hasty, the ventilation terrible,
  and the rooms unsuited, having been built for
  other purposes, (Ratner).
• Jagger's room is not a courtroom. However,
  Dickens does uses it to describe the average
  office of the legal profession.
• Jaggers symbolizes the legal profession during
  Dickens's era

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Debtors

• A debtor is a person that owes a debt to someone
  else
• Newgate was a prison for debtors
• Newgate was also mentioned in the book with Pip
  and Estella
• John Dickenss
• - February 20, 1824
• - Sent to Marshalsea Prison (for
  debtors)
• - could not pay back debts
• - Reduced family to poverty
  mother and children went with father to prison
• - Charles Dickens was sent to work
  in a factory as a child

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Causes for Increased Crime

• During this time in England, the cities were
  overcrowded and the condition of living was poor.
  There was extreme poverty, and many children were
  forced to work so that they could support their
  families. There were many children that were
  homeless because of the wretched living
  conditions at the time. The children had to find
  a way to live, so they often turned to stealing
  (Phillips).

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Works Cited

• Ratner, Dan. "Courtoom Experience in Victorian
  England at the time of Great Expectations." The
  Victorian Web An Overview. N.p., n.d. Web. 16
  Apr. 2010.lt http//www.victorianweb.org/authors/di
  ckens/ge/courtroom.htmlgt
• Phillips, Senia. Great Expectations in Victorian
  England.
• Jackson, James. "Crime and Punishment in
  Victorian England The Law System Switch from
  Death Penalty, to More Humane Punishment."
  Georgian/Victorian Britain. N.p., 13 May 2009.
  Web. 18 Apr. 2010. lthttp//georgian-victorian-brit
  ain.suite101.com/article.cfm/
• "John Dickens - Wikipedia, the free
  encyclopedia." Main Page - Wikipedia, the free
  encyclopedia. N.p., n.d. Web. 16 Apr. 2010.
  lthttp//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Dickensgt
• "Crime and punishment in the 1800's." WUFF'S HOME
  PAGE. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Apr. 2010.
  lthttp//wuff.me.uk/assizes/P5.htmlgt