Law and Order in the Late Nineteenth Century
In this essay I am going to write about Londonin the nineteenth
century and also about the creation of the metropolitan police force.
During the 19th century Londonwas different then what it is now for
instance there was no major police force and most of the police was
made up of volunteers. 75% of the crime in Londonwas petty theft; only
10% of the crime was made up of violent crimes such as murders so
there really wasn't any need for a police force which explains why
there wasn't one. The population of Londonstarted to grow and so did
the crimes because the more people there are at one place the
criminals could easily pick pocket them. The home secretary at the
time Robert Peel had to take some measures. In 1829 Robert Peel who
was the home secretary sets up the metropolitan police force because
of the number of crimes in Britainmainly in Englandwas rising at a
very fast rate. At the time there was a marine/river force and
volunteers but they were not trained to handle crime or prevent it. At
the start the metropolitan police force was given a black and blue
uniform in order to be different from the army uniform because no one
in Britainliked the army, so the MET police wanted to get on the good
side of the people. The MET were given a nickname ''The LondonBobby''
named after Sir Robert Peel. The MET police didn't really make the
impact all of the people were expecting it to do. That was maybe due
to the fact that they were not very well trained and they didn't have
any detectives who can solve and prevent crime, all the MET police
were doing against crime was deal with prostitutes and alcoholics. In
fact, while London's streets were far more orderly and there were less
street crimes in the late 19th century the burglaries went up. The
Police force also had to deal with riots and that's where they got
their reputation as ''heavy handed''.
While some citizens of the United States, between 1825 and 1850, believed that reform was foolish and that the nation should stick to its old conduct, reformists in this time period still sought to make the United States a more ideally democratic nation. This was an age of nationalism and pride, and where there was pride in one’s country, there was the aspiration to improve one’s country even further. Many new reformist and abolitionist groups began to form, all attempting to change aspects of the United States that the respective groups thought to be unfair or unjust. Some groups, such as lower and middle class women and immigrants, sought to improve rights within the county, while other reformers aspired to change the American education system into a more efficient way of teaching the county’s youth. Still other reform groups, particularly involved in the church and the second great awakening, wanted to change society as a whole. This was a time and age of change, and all these reforms were intended to contribute to the democratic way our country operated.
In the early 1900’s the Boston police were ranked among the best law enforcement groups in the world. Underneath this reputation of being one of the best in the world, the police department was having some trouble. Most of the police stations were old and deteriorating. An officer would have to many hours a week. The pay for most policemen were very low. While inflation was in much affect the policeman’s salary stayed the same. And the men were promised raises but never saw much more than they had already made. The Boston city policemen were very angry over these iss...
Law and Order in London in the Late 19th Century At the beginning of the nineteenth century 60% of Britain's population lived in the countryside, this meant there wasn't any need for police officers as people were living far apart and away from shops and financial areas. Crime was minimal, apart from small crimes like petty thieving and crimes over land etc. But as technology developed the Industrial Revolution began, steam powered factories were built all over the country, a new industrial development. The factories were mainly built in urbanized areas like London, Birmingham and Glasgow, but for the factories to be run effectively workers were needed.
worked seven days a week and up to fourteen hours a day. In London in
It would have been very dark, they would not have had a watch so they
Believe it or not, major events occurred in the 1870s. They did not go wild in their cowboy boots and hats riding along on their horses. The American people were expanding west and man was the controversy endless. Come on now, it’s drama, it can be dated back to the B.C. years. Of course the drama was all tied into politics. Politics in the 1870s consisted of changes, first time events, and two elections.
told what to do by someone in uniform. By the end of the 19th century,
From 1860 to 1877, the American people faced several constitutional and social issues. For example, the after-effects of the Civil War, power struggle between the state and federal government, issues with civil liberties and suffrage, the rights of free black men, and resentment of white men, have all become critical issues. These critical issues needed immediate resolutions. Therefore, resolutions were created to solve these problems and those resolutions called for new constitutional and social developments that have amount to a revolution.
The way that the police investigated cases, such as Helen Jewett murder was by gathering material evidence, observation, and testimonies from witnesses that they could link to the person who they suspected of committing the crime (Cohen, P. 1998, pg.9 &11). The police of this time were not an organized force or had any real training, they were consider to be more of a security force (Cohen, P. 1998, pg.8). Although the police force of the 1800’s used similar investigating tactic as our law enforcement do today they were missing one-hug aspects that we have, and that is DNA evidence. What can be interpreted about the criminal justice system in New York in the 1800’s is that even though they were not trained, they had a grasp on what had to be
The Criminal Justice System, a framework the British government set up to manage the treatment of culprits, has three principle objectives to accomplish social request, these are, (1) implementing criminal law, (2) keeping up peace in the general public, and (3) helping casualties. This may appear to be a well-considered framework, yet like some other association, there are blemishes, and one of the real imperfections is separation, and the predisposition that originates from segregation.
1.Q:What do I find interesting, revealing, or strange about my topic? In what ways are my observations significant?
In Dick Wolf’s television show Law and Order: Special Victims Unit episode entitled “Home Invasions” the writer conveys the message that people cannot take the law into their own hand. In the episode the detectives from the New York police department’s special victim’s unit investigate the homicide of a gay rights activist and her husband as well as the attempted homicide of their young daughter. As the investigation progressed throughout the show it is discovered that the father was sexually assaulting his daughter. As a result of this abuse the daughter confided in her housekeeper and the housekeepers brother. The daughter conspired with the housekeeper and the housekeeper’s brother to arrange the homicide of her parents. I agree with
However, this system of laws changed much throughout the century. The Chancery became merely a joke for there you could not present evidence during trials and Parliament came to view it as necessary for matters of will and divorce to be referred to new civil courts instead of the church. In 1873 the 3 common law courts and the Chancery were combined to make the Supreme Court
to be able to read and write. Much of the time before they went out on
Reiss, A, Jr. (1984). Consequences of Compliance and Deterrence Models of Law Enforcement for the Exercise of Police Discretion. Law and Contemporary Problems, 47(4), 83-122.