‘The use of public execution remained an important feature in the penal system in the years 1500-
1900’ (20 marks)
- Gunpowder plotters
- Transportation
Public executions played a large part in trying to minimise and fight crime between the years 1500-
1900 but were abolished in the year 1860 when the last public hanging took place. They displayed
the consequences to committing crimes and were used as deterrent to scare people from becoming
criminals as there was no real policing method to fight crime.
In certain ways I can agree that the use of public execution remained an important feature in the
penal system as for decades the method of scaring people and deterring them from committing the
crime in the first place was used. For example large scale organised crime like the Gunpowder plot,
where the English parliament was planned to be blown up by Catholics, took place in 1605 and
ended in the guilty participants first hung, then drawn and lastly quartered in public with their heads
being put on pikes and on display around London. This was done to act as a severe warning to
anyone else that planned anything against the king and country ever again and was closely followed
by laws to further lower Catholic power in the country as they were the ones found guilty of the
murder attempt. The start of the Bloody code brought about more and more death penalty
punishments for many other crimes after 1688 and public executions became even more common as
people became paranoid about vagabondage and witchcraft due to the technological advances in
the printing press that allowed mass distribution of information around the country. Furthermore, in
the 1700s the amount of crimes punishable by the death penalty skyrocketed to a peak of 225. The
idea of deterring people by imposing mind bogglingly harsh punishments for even the pettiest of
crimes had been around for long and was at its peak in the time of the Bloody code.
However I can also disagree with this statement as the frequency of public executions decreased as
time went on due to government paranoia. This occurred because people didn't believe public
execution was working which according to statistics was true as crime actually increased as juries
and judges often didn't want to inflict such harsh punishments on people. This slowly but surely
increased crime as there was less of a consequence to committing it. People even began to heroise
criminals like Highway Robbers; writing poems and stories about them. The government also wanted
to appeal to the public as it was worried about a reoccurrence of the French Revolution of 1789 in
Britain and it was worried that a continuance of public executions could spark a revolution in Britain.
Due to this public executions because less frequent before they were abolished in 1860.
Lastly another reason for disagreement with this statement would be the rise of alternative
punishments that appeared instead of public execution. In the 1700s and 1800s transportation to
Australia became a common punishment which juries preferred over the death penalty. This was an
older punishment as it had been used by England when sending convicts to the Americas in the
1600s and early 1700s but after America gained independence in 1776 England needed to colonise
Australia before France or Spain took over. In total over 160,000 convicts were sent to Australia on
7-14 year sentences but many gained freedom after 4 years if they behaved well and didn't commit
more crimes. This system was designed to act as a deterrent but also brought about a new
advantage of removing criminals from the country in turn reducing crime rates. Prisons also became
a more widely used alternative later in the 19th century, especially after the Gaols act passed in
1823. This was, to some degree, due to many people starting to believe criminals should be given a
chance to reform instead of just punished. Many reformers appeared like Elizabeth Fry and John
Howard who paved the way and fought for better conditions in prisons to give criminals a chance to
reform.
1900’ (20 marks)
- Gunpowder plotters
- Transportation
Public executions played a large part in trying to minimise and fight crime between the years 1500-
1900 but were abolished in the year 1860 when the last public hanging took place. They displayed
the consequences to committing crimes and were used as deterrent to scare people from becoming
criminals as there was no real policing method to fight crime.
In certain ways I can agree that the use of public execution remained an important feature in the
penal system as for decades the method of scaring people and deterring them from committing the
crime in the first place was used. For example large scale organised crime like the Gunpowder plot,
where the English parliament was planned to be blown up by Catholics, took place in 1605 and
ended in the guilty participants first hung, then drawn and lastly quartered in public with their heads
being put on pikes and on display around London. This was done to act as a severe warning to
anyone else that planned anything against the king and country ever again and was closely followed
by laws to further lower Catholic power in the country as they were the ones found guilty of the
murder attempt. The start of the Bloody code brought about more and more death penalty
punishments for many other crimes after 1688 and public executions became even more common as
people became paranoid about vagabondage and witchcraft due to the technological advances in
the printing press that allowed mass distribution of information around the country. Furthermore, in
the 1700s the amount of crimes punishable by the death penalty skyrocketed to a peak of 225. The
idea of deterring people by imposing mind bogglingly harsh punishments for even the pettiest of
crimes had been around for long and was at its peak in the time of the Bloody code.
However I can also disagree with this statement as the frequency of public executions decreased as
time went on due to government paranoia. This occurred because people didn't believe public
execution was working which according to statistics was true as crime actually increased as juries
and judges often didn't want to inflict such harsh punishments on people. This slowly but surely
increased crime as there was less of a consequence to committing it. People even began to heroise
criminals like Highway Robbers; writing poems and stories about them. The government also wanted
to appeal to the public as it was worried about a reoccurrence of the French Revolution of 1789 in
Britain and it was worried that a continuance of public executions could spark a revolution in Britain.
Due to this public executions because less frequent before they were abolished in 1860.
Lastly another reason for disagreement with this statement would be the rise of alternative
punishments that appeared instead of public execution. In the 1700s and 1800s transportation to
Australia became a common punishment which juries preferred over the death penalty. This was an
older punishment as it had been used by England when sending convicts to the Americas in the
1600s and early 1700s but after America gained independence in 1776 England needed to colonise
Australia before France or Spain took over. In total over 160,000 convicts were sent to Australia on
7-14 year sentences but many gained freedom after 4 years if they behaved well and didn't commit
more crimes. This system was designed to act as a deterrent but also brought about a new
advantage of removing criminals from the country in turn reducing crime rates. Prisons also became
a more widely used alternative later in the 19th century, especially after the Gaols act passed in
1823. This was, to some degree, due to many people starting to believe criminals should be given a
chance to reform instead of just punished. Many reformers appeared like Elizabeth Fry and John
Howard who paved the way and fought for better conditions in prisons to give criminals a chance to
reform.
