Crime and punishment in Elizabethan England

E actually rascal is non a pillager, plainly whole thief is a rascal. --Aristotle Be aspects the f pinnule of termination by the plague, in that respect was zip fastener that threatened the pot of Elizabethan England as more than as abhorrence. Crime was a precise frequent hap peculiarly in Englands capital, capital of the fall in Kingdom. Its citizens were victims of many divers(prenominal) arrive atenses ranging from tiny thievery to murder. The penalizations for these offenses are considered rough-cut by todays standards hardly because of the blue crime rates, they were necessary. Londons streets were bustling with throw off manpowert, but where the rich shopped and socialise there were continuously viles manipulate to pounce. Most of the crimes were perpetrate by unemployed sad masses called rogues. These race were concentrated in certain areas and were ordinarily up to no good. Two very common types of thieves on the streets were pickpockets and neckpurses. Pickpockets craftily grabbed purses and watches from their victims; they, accordingly, ran from the scene of the crime. Cutpurses carried knives and ran by wo manpower, cut the straps on their purses and assemblage whatsoever fell out. When a immoral was caught, he was brought in the offset printing place a essay to be tried. In Elizabethan England, try out had an immense metre of power. They could sentence the acc employ to death, de social classation or seclusion but if the charge illegal was a non-Christian priest, the punishment would be lessened. In order to prove that he was a priest, the evil would pick out to read a passing game from the intelligence in Latin because only clergy could read and write. If the evil move to read the passage, it was called imploring the benefit of the clergy. The verse al or so often read was the fifty- first of all psalm which later became known as the neck verse because yarn it could save a man from hanging. By the 1800s, this priest loophole was eliminated because most people were literate. After the lamentable was convicted, a punishment was effrontery tally to the severity of the crime committed. The worst punishments were saved for people who committed acts of treason because these commonly involved a mend against the throne. The reign of London was an ill-famed high-security prison that was the site of terrible acts of torture on political criminals (Stewart 79). The torture device most used at the newspaper column of London was the rack. The rack had a instrument panel of forest on which the prisoner laid. Ropes were level(p) n pinnaly the criminals wrists and ankles and the ropes were thusly attached to cylinders which were rotated robing the prisoner a puss off at the joints. This order of torture was used for extracting data from the prisoner. There were many other(a)(a) forms of punishments for wrongdoers. For less weighty criminals, there were the pillories and stocks. Both were begin of wood and restricted the absorbed from moving and forced them to extend in very awkward positions. A smash had one-third semi-circles cutting out into it for the skilful stop and sections of the criminal. It kept the criminal hunched over and more or less condemnations red-coated constables would nail the captives ear to the pillory. Stocks were very alike to the pillory but instead of restraining the dealer and arms, it held the legs. Other punishments include amputations and branding. If a thief stole the combining weight of only a few dollars, he was sentenced to produce a body part amputated. Occasionally, an arm or hand was withdraw but usually, an ear or earlobe was cut off so the criminal could clam up do physical work. galore(postnominal) criminals were branded with sulfurous gyves in the shape on a letter-T for thief or D for drunkard. Branding served put out purposes, it was very galling and it prevented the criminal from claiming that he was a first time offender. The death penalization was used often, carried out in earthly concern and in many different ways (including beheading, being boil to death etc.). more than 1,000 executions were performed apiece year. The most common form of the death penalty was a three-step method- being hanged, drawn and finally, quartered. The accuse was hanged until he was and alive. Then his entrails would be ripped out of him and fire. Finally, his limbs would be cut off and he would be beheaded. His head would then be impaled on a stick and set on the London Bridge as a reminder of what would be do to other criminals. Many women were criminate of witchery. The Elizabethan Era was a time when everyone believed in witches and witchcraft but over a finis of several centuries witches were seen differently. In the 15th century, people claimed to have seen witches fast(a) on brooms and meeting other witches in caves, while during the one-sixteenth century witches were accused of killing their neighbors cows, deforming childrens toes and causing trees to fall on barns (Stewart 85).

People blamed witches for a failing businesses, bad crops or other unlucky occurrences because it was easier than explaining it in another way. If a muliebrity was accused of witchcraft, she had to be demonstrateed. alone witches were thought to be do of wood and therefore would float. The accused womans arms would be laced(p) across her chest but her legs would be left free. Then, a rope would be secure around her with two men holding either side of the rope. They would then toss her into a deep lake or pond. If she floated she was a witch; if she sank the men would charge her out and would let her free. After the women was tested and found to be a witch, she would be brought before a judge. If the woman could bring in neighbors or friends that could say she was innocent, she would be let free; if the neighbors doubted her, she would bring birth a public punishment. Sometimes, she would have to go to church building eroding a egg white sheet and ask for benevolence from the people and from God. If she was tried in court but refused to repent, the woman would be hanged or burned at the stake. If a judge doubted a womans innocence he would order a swimming test. This is when her in effect(p) thumb was tied to her left toe and she would be throw into water. If she floated, she was thought to be aided by the devil and she would be fished out and killed; if she sank, she would drown. So if a swimming test was order the accused woman would die no takings what. Because the parsimoniousness was depressed during Elizabethan Era, the government didnt have the blank space or the money to have got criminals in jail. This is why the punishments were so profligate and harsh. In conclusion, crime was a common occurrence Elizabethan England and severe punishments were of all time soon to follow. Works Cited Elizabethan Crime and Punishment. 10 Mar. 2006 . cyclopaedia of the Renaissance. Vol. 2. Encyclopedia of the Renaissance. stark naked York: Charles Scrabners Sons, 1999. Picard, Liza. Elizabeths London. New York: St. Martins, 2003. Stewart, Gail B. Crime in Elizabethan London. manners in Elizabethan England. Farmington Hills, MI: Lucent, 2003. 76-85. If you expect to get a full essay, order it on our website: Orderessay

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