The Industrial Revolution that began to take place over the early part of the 1800s had a huge impact on crime in Victorian England. The crime rate skyrocketed, and although the Industrial Revolution created more wealth, it largely created more poverty for many families. Urbanization caused the majority of people to move into densely populated cities, which resulted in high poverty rates and a small area. Life in these new cities was harsh; many families lived in over-crowded, squalid housing with little food and necessities. Disease was common in these parts due to the poor living conditions and bad nutrition. Although the majority of the population was struggling at this time, some people made a profit on industry and present new and tempting targets for burglars. These new opportunities for the age-old offense of theft combined with the poor living conditions aided this crime to become widespread. These conditions also brought about entirely new crimes, such as: not paying your fare on a railway train, vandalism on the tracks, stealing water from standpipes in the street, and so on. The minor crimes in Victorian England during this time were drunkenness, vagrancy prostitution and larceny. The major crimes were burglary, murder and rape – any major crime resulted in death. At the beginning of the Victorian era many saw criminals as people of the lowest working class, people who just refused to make an honest living – they only thought that their morals were incorrect.
You May Also Find These Documents Helpful
-
The prison population is illustrated in the Official Government Statistics. Nearly three-quarters of prisoners were in receipt of benefits immediately before entering prison. This displays that lower classes such as under class and working class are more likely to commit a crime. This can be explained by Millers study of working class males. Millers said that this anti social behaviour is just an extreme development of normal, working class male values. He says that these working class males have six ‘focal concerns’ which lead to deviance; trouble, toughness, smartness, excitement, fate and autonomy. They claim that they don’t look for trouble it just finds them while being physically strong…
- 2381 Words
- 10 Pages
Powerful Essays -
Although criminal behaviour and activity is found most commonly in poorer economic societies it is also, although less common, found in middle and upper class societies too. This statement is supported by sociologist Emile Durkheim who said ‘there is no society that is not confronted with the problem of criminality’ (1938, 65-66). This is the view of a social positivist and relates to the first model of crime, the predestined actor model which looks at internal and external determinism. His book The Division of Labour in Society described how in periods of social change, in this case industrial development, consequences…
- 3082 Words
- 13 Pages
Best Essays -
Many researchers agree that, in the United States, most arrests for street crime involve people of lower class position. Why, according to Robert K. Merton, Albert Cohen, Walter Miller, and Elijah Anderson, would this be the case? How would a broader definition of crime (to include more white-collar and corporate offenses) change the profile of the typical criminal?…
- 313 Words
- 1 Page
Good Essays -
Many crimes committed by commoners were through sheer desperation and abject poverty. The most common crimes were:…
- 1199 Words
- 5 Pages
Good Essays -
Many principles of Classical Criminology can be seen in many forms of sentencing legislation and crime prevention methods used in contemporary society today. The Crimes Act ( Vic) 1958 is a prime example of legislation, which sets out an array of crimes and their prescribed punishments. One of the main points of the Classical School can be seen in this act, ‘the seriousness of the crime should be determined by the harm caused to society; crimes and punishments needed to be defined by legislature’. Section 18B of the Sentencing Act (vic) 1999 provides that the court may impose harsher sentences to offenders deemed a threat to the community. Another example in accordance to the principle that punishment should be proportionate to the crime and…
- 160 Words
- 1 Page
Good Essays -
During the Elizabethan Era crime was a major problem, and the main contributor was the issue with poverty. Due to the fact that there were no social services, many people had to steal money or food just to stay alive. Elizabethans liked a calm way of life, and to maintain that meant that everyone had to behave themselves, be satisfied, and stay in their proper place. If there was anyone who disturbed the peace, they would be considered a threat to society, and they were to be punished.…
- 422 Words
- 2 Pages
Good Essays -
They say poverty is a leading factor in crime, yet the laws that were made to keep the rich man’s wealth also contributed to more poverty and possibly more crime. Between the years 1688 and 1820 the number of laws punishable by death rose from…
- 1845 Words
- 8 Pages
Better Essays -
Crime rates began to rapidly increase during the upswing of the industrial revolution. Poverty and unemployment were increasing which lead many people to become desperate for money for survival. With the low pay rates people were reaching points that they felt they needed to steal or rob for money or food. Overcrowding due to large amounts of people moving to urban areas for work was another reason for high crime rates. The more people that came in, the fewer jobs were open. Factory workers were also faced with the lack of job security. If anything were to happen to them such as an illness or injury, they could easily be replaced or laid off. Job competition was at an all-time…
- 1157 Words
- 5 Pages
Good Essays -
The objective of this essay is to examine what crime and punishment was like during the 17th century through to the 19th century. Throughout the 17th and the 19th century, in Europe, states were being taken over by early forms of organized crime, such as highwaymen, bandits, brigands and bushrangers. Europe was not the only country to be overrun with organized crime, international countries had to deal with them too. How organized crime came to be was during the 15th and 17th centuries, in Europe there were a lot of countries going to war causing the economy to drop drastically. Cities in France, Italy, Spain and German were taken over by “bands of army deserters, discharged soldiers, smugglers and robbers.”…
- 1413 Words
- 6 Pages
Good Essays -
Wooden beds, Hundreds of people behind bars, can't forget about the poles that they hang prisoners on. These are all things to picture what prison was like in the victorian era. Prisoners and crime in the victorian era were not someplace you would want to be. The conditions were sometimes very unnecessary and cruel, it got to the point where the prisoners wanted to hang themselves and if they did something so bad, that's exactly what happened.Crime and punishment was a lot more painful back in the victorian era, also the punishment would last for a while.…
- 488 Words
- 2 Pages
Good Essays -
Discuss the aims and development of the penal system within the UK over the last 200 years.…
- 1244 Words
- 5 Pages
Good Essays -
The two sharply contrasted settings in Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoyevsky are symbolic of how turbulent Raskolinikov’s mind becomes after he murders Alyona Ivanov. In the bustling and disgusting Saint Petersburg, Raskolinikov has to suddenly battle the guilt that comes with Alyona’s demise yet once Raskolinikov confesses to his crime and serves his sentence in the lonely and removed Siberia; his mind relaxes. Similar to The Stranger, most of Crime and Punishment takes place during the summer, when the hot sun muddles Raskolinikov’s mind as it did to Meursaults’s. While Meursault uses the sun as an excuse to why he committed murder, Raskolinikov tried to justify his actions to Sonya; but ultimately Raskolinikov definitely comprehended his own guilt and spent most of the novel attempting to ease his shame.…
- 484 Words
- 2 Pages
Good Essays -
Throughout the centuries, both the system and the concept of prison have undergone many radical changes that eventually led to the formation of the prison as we know it now. In the 16th and 17th centuries, prison tended to be a place where criminals were kept in it while awaiting their punishment. It was a place, where criminals were held, rather than a means of punishment. In fact, criminals, at that time, were publically punished, rather than imprisoned, in the most torturous ways such as whipping, and slaughtering. However, in the 18th century, people in charge decided to put an end to these cruel methods of punishing. They came up with new methods of punishing instead of using torture in punishing criminals. In fact, the incarceration with hard labor was the new method of punishing criminals. Thus, the prison itself became a tool of punishment.…
- 625 Words
- 3 Pages
Good Essays -
The modern criminal justice system has evolved since ancient times, with new forms of punishment, added rights for offenders and victims, and policing reforms. These developments have reflected changing customs, political ideals, and economic conditions. In ancient times through the middle Ages, exile was a common form of punishment. During the Middle Ages, payment to the victim (or the victim's family), known as wergild, was another common punishment, including for violent crimes. For those who could not afford to buy their way out of punishment, harsh penalties included various forms of corporal punishment. These included mutilation, branding, and flogging, as well as execution.…
- 6235 Words
- 25 Pages
Powerful Essays -
Punishment is defined as the infliction of a penalty for an offense. The novel Crime and Punishment by Dostoevsky took place in St. Petersburg, Russia, mid 1860s. The main character, Raskolnikov, committed the murder of a pawn broker and her sister which he became ill with guilt. He is accused as the murderer but denied it until the end where he eventually confessed and was sent to Siberia. In the novel, Raskolnikov had an unbearable amount of guilt, faced punishment by imprisonment, and gave his heart to God for forgiveness. Conflicts he was put through helped illuminate the meaning of the novel: For all crimes, there will be punishment.…
- 493 Words
- 2 Pages
Good Essays