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Facts about crime and punishment in medieval europe
Characteristics of medieval period of europe
The medieval period 1100-1500
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From the beginning of time mankind have committed crime. Medieval Europe was rife with crime and the punishments were harsh. Throughout the Medieval period attitudes to crime and punishment changed. From 500AD-1500AD in Europe the way punishments were decided and carried out had developed from a sense of fear and crowd pleasing into a structured legal system.
Many common crimes from the early Medieval period, known as the Dark Ages, included adultery, intentional murder, robbery and kidnapping. People were even punished harshly for trivial crimes such as stealing a loaf of bread. . This was considered a serious offence in this time period. These crimes were mainly executed people who had no job. So they resorted to these crimes to get a pay.
In contrast the medieval times we in modern ages commit different crimes than the medieval ages. These crimes include drug related offences, driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs, assault on another person or animal, vandalism to public or private areas , domestic violence and weapon violation by having illegal weapons . Trivial offences committed today often get a warning or go unreported unlike the medieval times.
Generally the punishments during this period were extremely cruel and barbaric
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However there are some countries around the globe that still take part in these medieval, horrific punishments. In Iran, if you commit murder, kidnap or rape you will be hanged publicly to show what happens when you do the wrong thing. . Thankfully due to the effect of the medieval period on our lives this is a rare practice and that mankind has developed in their treatment of crime and punishment. As in Australia the death penalty is abolished and the penalty of freedom has taken its place as if you commit murder, kidnap or rape you will be confined to a small space for a long period of time therefore keeping the modern society
In the Elizabethan Era, many crimes were similar to today, but there were also some that have dissipated today. In the upper class, composed of the nobles, were mostly accused of crimes that involved religion and government. This included, but was not limited to: alchemy, high treason, blasphemy, and witchcraft. Alchemy is the magic power of turning things of little value into valuable items, closely related to witchcraft. On the other side of the social spectrum, lower class people usually committed crimes out of utter desperation. Commoners would often have to beg for food and money just to make it through. However, begging was taken very seriously at the time and a very punishable crime. Other punishable crimes could include adultery and being in debt to another individual (Law and Punishment- Travel Through Elizabethan England). Obviously common crimes like theft, murder, and assault were taken very serious...
Linking this back to my previous statement, the accused needed to be trialed. The first problem that arises is the fact that the judges can rule how they please towards the accused. We all have times when we feel better than others and this can affect our reasoning as well as our attitude towards certain aspects of life. This statement also applies to the judges when they are in court. Naturally they are supposed to determine whether the accused is guilty of the crime that has happened and come up with a reasonable and suitable punishment but some judges let their personal affairs get in the way. While this might sound strictly unjust to the accused, the judge displays signs of inequality when he or she lets signs of weakness from the victim affect their final verdict. The judge is there to assign a verdict as well as give out the proper punishment that is associated with the crime that was committed. If the judge changes their decision based on their point of view as well as how they feel towards the accused this means that the judge is bias. This creates an inequality between the accused members because if different people have been accused of the same crime and get the same judge they might get different verdicts depending on what the judge thinks and feels about them. Beccaria states that ‘‘we see the same court
In February, 1587, Queen Elizabeth had ordered her cousin, Mary, Queen of Scotts, to her execution to eliminate all possibilities of any threats to her throne. This event would reflect the relentless violence and unforgiving punishments of the judicial system in Elizabethan Era. Criminals during Queen Elizabeth’s reign in England, known as the Elizabethan Era, were subject to harsh, violent punishments for their crimes. England was separated into two social classes, which were the nobility, and the commoners. Within each class, the punishments were defined by the class and type of crime that had been committed. Under the Tudor rule, the punishments dating back to the middle ages were revived. Such gruesome punishments were carried out to strike fear into the hearts of the English citizens and lower crime rate. There were a wide range of crimes that a person could be prosecuted for, and even included the act of witchcraft and alchemy. Of course, today the American court system would find prosecutions of witchcraft and alchemy ridiculous. However, in the Elizabethan Era, people accused of even the most petty of crimes would be immediately placed in prison to await their sentences, often resulting in death. Public executions were a common practice, and were often a form of entertainment for a crowd of spectators. Often considered as the “Golden Age” in English history, England’s court systems became an essential part of society because cruel punishments were severe enough to strike fear into English citizens as well as demonstrating the influence and power of Queen Elizabeth’s rule.
They got the whole day off of work. On these days, the whole town would gather and watch as the criminal got his head chopped off. Everything at this time had more painful punishments, but not because of their lack of technology but because the leaders wanted you to learn your lesson. If someone lost a hand for stealing, they would most likely not do it again. Where as a commoner would lose their hand for stealing, a noble would only be placed in a pillory.
In the United States, jury trials are an important part of our court system. We rely heavily on the jury to decide the fate of the accused. We don’t give a second thought to having a jury trial now, but they were not always the ‘norm’.
The Book of Execution: An Encyclopedia of Methods of Judicial Execution by Geoffrey Abbott Reprint edition (August 1995) Trafalgar Square
The Dark ages is the time between the 500’s and 1400’s. The Dark ages was a time of civil wars, Death, diseases, invasions and thief. There was a lot of invasions and to protect them self from that communities made a code call The code of Chivalry as (Doc 5) states “Europe in the Middle Ages was a dangerous place. Invasions from Muslims, Mongols, Vikings, and other tribal groups were common. War between lords was also common. The value of protection and warriors created a social code called Chivalry. Knights fought for lords and ladies, and lived by a gentleman- warrior code of Chivalry.” And other big thing in The Dark Ages was Diseases. Diseases in the dark ages was deadly because there was not antidote and even Doctors were scared of
"Today's system, where imprisonment is a common penalty for most crimes, is a historical newcomer." Many crimes during 1718 and 1776 were punishable by death. This was usually done by hanging, sometimes by stoning, breaking on the rack and burning at the stake. Towards the end of the 1700's people realized that cruel punishment did little to reduce crime and their society was changing the population grew and people started to move around more frequently. There had to be a search for new punishments. "New punishments were to rely heavily on new ideas imported from Europe in the writing of such social thinkers of the Enlightenment as the baron de Montesquieu, Voltaire, Thomas Pain and Cesare Beccaria". These thinkers came to believe that criminals could be rehabilitated."
In closing, the criminal trial process has been able to reflect the morals and ethics of society to a great extent, despite the few limitations, which hinder its effectiveness. The moral and ethical standards have been effectively been reflected to a great extent in the areas of the adversary system, the system of appeals, legal aid and the jury
Anything that was slightly considered a bad thing of that time was considered a crime. Even writers of the Medieval era would write about the crimes of that era. Geoffrey Chaucer wrote
Has the medieval period influenced the way we treat people today? The medieval period was the time of the 5th and 15th century. It was made up of three periods, the first being the low middle ages, second the high middle ages and third being the late middle ages. This period which went for a thousand years was crucial, horrifying and a gruesome time. The crimes that occurred during the medieval period were very similar to the ones that we have today, the punishments, however, have majorly differed to the ones we have today. Some crimes of the Medieval era are Murder, theft, the Gossip of women's, high treason and heresy. The punishments, hanging or beheading, fines or hands chopped off, hanged and cut and many others. Some modern day crime
Green, T. A. "The jury and the English law of homicide, 1200-1600.". Ann Arbor, MI: Mich. L. Rev. 74 (1976): 413-499.
The Classical School of criminology was founded by "European legal authorities that thought crime was caused by supernatural forces" (DeKeseredy & Schwartz, 1996, p.155) preceding the 1700's. The catch phrase "The devil made him do it" was very popular because of the thought that people who committed crimes were sinners or people who didn't follow God. Those who didn't follow God were known as heretics and this following led to the connection of church and state where torture or execution could happen to anyone that the government thought to be evil or a part of witchcraft. Since the Middle Ages didn't have equal rights for all, women and the poor were usually the ones being prosecuted. With all of the problems of the times, the government found and made scapegoats out of these people, and blamed them of the troubles that were occurring. As DeKeseredy and Schwartz (1996, p.156) stated, "the most common way of determining guilt was through torture. It was a simple system: if you confessed, you were executed: is you did not confess, the torture continued until you died." This system of killing people was a well-respected way of running the criminal justice system. As time passed, the punishments turned away from inflicting pain on the body and turned more towards inflicting pain on the soul. This meant that imprisonment of long periods of time was going to take place of executions.
Punishing the unlawful, undesirable and deviant members of society is an aspect of criminal justice that has experienced a variety of transformations throughout history. Although the concept of retribution has remained a constant (the idea that the law breaker must somehow pay his/her debt to society), the methods used to enforce and achieve that retribution has changed a great deal. The growth and development of society, along with an underlying, perpetual fear of crime, are heavily linked to the use of vastly different forms of punishment that have ranged from public executions, forced labor, penal welfare and popular punitivism over the course of only a few hundred years. Crime constructs us as a society whilst society, simultaneously determines what is criminal. Since society is always changing, how we see crime and criminal behavior is changing, thus the way in which we punish those criminal behaviors changes.
person knew that a particularly painful punishment was in-store for them, they would not commit the crime. This led to the creation of such punishments as beatings, torture, banishment, death, fines, and public humiliation.