What was crime and punishment like in Victorian times?

Watch: Punishing crimes in Victorian Britain

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Watch this video to find out how crime was punished in Britain during Victorian times.

The Victorian period in Britain was between 1837 and 1901.
In the Victorian period the population increased and many people began to move from the countryside to the towns and cities to work in factories.
Living conditions were often cramped with one family per room and the whole street would share an outside toilet and a water tap.
There was a great divide between the rich and poor.
The fear of crime was made worse by cheap books called penny dreadfuls. These stories set out to shock readers with details of horrible crimes.
If a child committed a crime they received the same punishment as an adult.

In 1829, a politician called Sir Robert Peel introduced the first English police force in order to improve public order in London. Over the next ten years, many other areas of the country formed their own police force.
Policemen were poorly paid and they would patrol a certain area, known as their beat.
Policemen carried truncheons and rattles to raise the alarm.
Many people did not trust the new police force. However, over time, the police proved they could reduce crime and so they became more trusted and popular.

For the first time, prisons became the main punishment in this period.
Transportation: Many criminals were sent to Australia for hard labour.
Prison hulks were ships that moored in the harbour and housed criminals to be transported or taken to court.
Hard labour was a common punishment.
The crank and the treadmill: Prisons often made prisoners do pointless tasks such as turn a crank up to 10,000 times a day. Or walk for hours on giant circular tread mills.
In 1854, Reformatory Schools were started for young offenders.
Other punishment included fines, hanging or being sent to join the army.