Punishments - capital punishment
Hanging was still used as a punishment. Although there was a dramatic increase in the number of crimes that were punishable by death, the actual number of executions fell from the mid-17th century onwards.
Methods of execution
treasonTo betray or plot against the government or monarchy. committed by commonerA person who is not a member of the nobility. continued to be punished by traitor’s death To die through being hanged (until near death), drawn (have their intestines pulled out) and quartered (body chopped into four pieces). Noblemen and the gentry who committed treason had their head cut off using an axe. The use of hanging, drawing and quartering increased during the early modern period as a result of growing political and religious conflict.
People found guilty of other capital offences were hanged. Hangings were slow and painful. They were always carried out in public and quite often large crowds turned out to watch.
The Bloody Code
The name Bloody Code refers to the legal system from around 1688 onwards, when the number of offences that were punishable by death rose dramatically. The system was given this nickname much later, by people who were critical of such harsh punishments. The table below shows how the number of capital offences - crimes punishable by death - increased over time.
| Year | Number of capital offences |
| 1688 | 50 |
| 1765 | 160 |
| 1820 | 200 |
| Year | 1688 |
|---|---|
| Number of capital offences | 50 |
| Year | 1765 |
|---|---|
| Number of capital offences | 160 |
| Year | 1820 |
|---|---|
| Number of capital offences | 200 |
The crimes that were added to the list of those punishable by death were mostly crimes against property. For example, the 1723 Black Act made the poachingKilling rabbits or other animals on land belonging to the local landowner. of deer, rabbit and fish a capital offence. Also, anyone who was found armed or disguised in a hunting area could be executed.
Reasons for the Bloody Code
There were a number of reasons why people felt the need for harsher punishments during this period.
People generally believed that crime was increasing throughout the 17th century - though records show it actually fell. They believed that their property was at risk due to:
- a high number of vagrants
- an increase in the amount of highway robbery
Lawmakers believed their land and property were under threat from the increase in the numbers of vagrants and highway robbers. This influenced Members of Parliament (MPs), who passed the harsh laws, and were themselves landowners and merchants, to give harsher punishments to those who committed crimes against property. Such crimes included:
- poaching
- breaking wool machines
- damaging roads
Social and demographic changes made it harder to find criminals and enforce the law. These changes include:
- the growth of towns
- increases in the population
- increases in travel
Since the medieval period, most people in British society believed that the best way to prevent further crime was to make punishment harsher.
Impact of the Bloody Code
The actual number of hangings fell from the middle of the 17th century onwards. It seems that judges and juryA group of people (usually 12 in number) who listen to the facts of a case in a court and give their verdict. in the assizes were uncomfortable with sending people to their deaths for minor crimes. As a result, they did things like:
- devaluing the goods that had been stolen to a level that was not punishable by death
- aquittingRelieving someone of responsibility for a crime. the accused person due to lack of evidence
- sentencing people to transportationA form of punishment during the 18th and 19th centuries, in which convicted criminals or other people considered undesirable were sent, or 'transported', to work in colonies in Australia, America or the Caribbean islands. to the American colonies or the Caribbean islands rather than ordering them to be executed
