Punishment and prison reform, c1700–c1900

Change: in the 18th century, punishment was mainly about deterrence and retribution. It was public and harsh, to frighten others.

In the 19th century, more people argued that punishment should also reform criminals, so that they would not offend again. This view was encouraged by Christian reformers, who believed people could change, and by thinkers who argued that harsh punishments were not working.

Significance: this change in attitudes explains the end of the Bloody Code and public executions, and the building of new prisons.

The number of crimes punishable by death rose from about 50 in 1688 to over 200 by the early 19th century. Most were crimes against property, such as stealing goods above a small value.

Why it ended:

• Juries often refused to convict people of minor crimes that carried the death penalty, or valued stolen goods below the limit.
• Many of those sentenced to death were pardoned or transported instead.
• Reformers argued that the code did not deter crime.

In the 1820s, Robert Peel removed the death penalty for many crimes. By 1861, only five crimes, including murder and treason, carried the death penalty.

After the American colonies won independence, Britain needed somewhere new to send convicts. In 1787 the first convict ships sailed to Australia. In all, about 160,000 convicts were transported there.

Why it was used: it removed criminals from Britain, was less harsh than hanging, gave convicts a chance to start again, and provided workers for the new colony.

Why it ended: it was expensive; many people saw it as a fresh start, not a deterrent; and Australians increasingly objected to receiving convicts, especially after gold was found there in 1851. New prisons in Britain offered an alternative. The last convict ship sailed in 1868.

Public hangings drew huge crowds. They had been meant to deter crime, but they became rowdy events, with drinking, pickpocketing and fighting. Many people, including the writer Charles Dickens, argued that they made criminals into heroes and brought out the worst in the crowd.

In 1868, Parliament ended public executions. From then on, executions took place inside prisons.

Significance: this shows changing attitudes. Punishment was now meant to be orderly, not a public spectacle.

In the 18th century, prisons were dirty and overcrowded, and diseases such as 'gaol fever' killed many prisoners. Gaolers were not paid wages: prisoners paid them fees.

• John Howard inspected prisons across the country, and in 1777 published The State of the Prisons, describing the terrible conditions.
• Elizabeth Fry, a Quaker, from 1813 visited women prisoners in Newgate prison. She organised schooling, sewing work and Bible readings, and pressed for women to be guarded by women.
• Peel's Gaols Act (1823) said that gaolers should be paid, prisoners should be visited by chaplains, and women prisoners should be guarded by women.