Law and Order in Victorian London

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Law and Order in Victorian London

In this essay I will be discussing what law and order was seen as in

Victorian London. I will be discussing the corruption throughout law

and order in the country, how crimes led to the formation of the

Metropolitan police and a new prison system.

The industrial revolution was the reason why crimes, population, money

and valuable goods had increased. If you were poor, there was a lot of

money and valuable goods to be taken for grabs. The invention new

crimes had become to show such as; street gambling, pick pocketing and

murder. The gradual increase of crime was outstanding. It had

increased from 5000 in 1800 till 20000 in 1840. This shows that many

people disobeyed the rules and regulations and that something was

missing in protection of society. With all factories goods coming into

the UK there was more valuable items to steal especially with a large

increase of poverty.

There was huge numbers of unemployment due to machinery being more

reliable and efficient than humans. This then made a new consequence;

it led to more poverty and more people desperate for money. This shows

that this may be one of the reasons why crimes increased. As

unemployment was increasing, immigrants were coming to Britain also

leading to a huge increase in the population and also an increase in

crime. This is because of the lack of jobs. As there was lots of money

surrounding the poor, little law and order and no jobs, people just

looted factories and warehouses for goods. This logically is humane to

do, as if you’re starving and there is no jobs to cover then the only

option left is to steal. Children had to go to school due to the 1870

education act. Parents made children miss school to swipe food, pick

pocket or any other method of breaking the law for beneficial reasons.

At the start of the 1800’s crime, law and order became a major

increasing problem. In 1839 the population of London was 1.5 million

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