The Colonial Williamsburg Official History & Citizenship Site. Colonial Crimes and Punishmentsby James A.
Cox"T" for thief was branded on the light- fingered criminal's hand. Photo by Dave Doody. The English- American colonies were autocratic and theocratic, with a patriarchal system of justice: magistrates and religious leaders, sometimes one and the same, made the laws, and the burden of obeying them fell on the less exalted—the tradesmen, soldiers, farmers, servants, slaves, and the young. That burden could be weighty.
Crime and Punishment; this gallery considers whether the Middle Ages were lawless and violent, using documents from The National Archives.
Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoyevsky. No cover available. Download; Bibrec; Bibliographic Record. In Crime Fiction. In Harvard Classics. Download This.
In his History of American Law, Lawrence M. Friedman wrote, "The earliest criminal codes mirrored the nasty, precarious life of pioneer settlements." A good example is the set of statutes imposed on Jamestown, the "Articles, Lawes and Orders Diuine, Politique, and Martiall for the Colony in Virginia," by the Virginia Company of London in 1. They were, with some justice, described by the colonists in a letter to the crown in 1. Tyrannycall Lawes written in blood." They said: The cause of the vniust and vndeserved death of sundry . Indians to gett reliefe beinge againe retorned were burnt to deth.
Some for stealinge to satisfie thir hunger were hanged, and one chained to a tree till he starved to death; others attemptinge to run awaye in a barge and a shallop (all the Boates that were then in the Collonye) and therin to adventure their lives for their native countrye, beinge discovered and prevented, were shott to death, hanged and broken upon the wheele, besides continuall whippings, extraordinary punishments, workinge as slaves in irons for terme of yeares (and that for petty offenses) weare dayly executed. Alice Earle's 1. 89. Curious Punishments of Bygone Days showed readers what bilboes did to the legs of lawbreakers. A brank, the "gossip's bridle," effectively silenced an offender. Every Virginia minister was required to read the "Articles, Lawes and Orders" to his congregation every Sunday, and, among other things, parishioners were reminded that failure to attend church twice each day was punishable in the first instance by the loss of a day's food.
A second offense was punishable by a whipping and a third by six months of rowing in the colony's galleys. Which underlines the notion of the law as an arm of religious orthodoxy. As Friedman says, an attempt to generalize about all the colonies during the 1. Jamestown and the Revolution—the number of years that passed between independence and Hiroshima—would be bootless. But common threads can be traced, and laws concerning religion, as well as the severity of punishments, are as good a place to start as any. In the Puritan north a religious message leaps out from almost every page of the early criminal codes.
![Crime And Punishment Crime And Punishment](https://images.indiegogo.com/file_attachments/710223/files/20140711062316-1544454_388513641284033_1146492132_n.jpg?1405084996)
Sin, of course, existed in the eyes of the beholders, and the eyes were everywhere—as you might expect in small, inbred communities. Consider the scrutiny given to observance of the Sabbath.
- From a general summary to chapter summaries to explanations of famous quotes, the SparkNotes Crime and Punishment Study Guide has everything you need to ace quizzes.
- This PDF is a selection from an out-of-print volume from the National Bureau of Economic Research Volume Title: Essays in the Economics of Crime and Punishment.
- Find breaking crime cases, videos, and photos. Read about the latest unsolved criminal cases, murders, kidnappings, true crime stories, and more on NBCNews.com.
The law usually required churchgoing, and someone was always checking attendance. In early Virginia, every minister was entitled to appoint four men in his fort or settlement to inform on religious scofflaws. In the early seventeenth century, Boston's Roger Scott was picked up for "repeated sleeping on the Lord's Day" and sentenced to be severely whipped for "striking the person who waked him from his godless slumber.". Virginia law in 1. Sundays "and there to abide orderly and soberly," on pain of a fine of fifty pounds of tobacco, the currency of the colony. Colonial strictures on deportment in the pews long applied, even to children, such as in 1. Abiel Wood of Plymouth was hauled before the court for "irreverently behaving himself by chalking the back of one Hezekiah Purrington, Jr., with Chalk, playing and recreating himself in the time of publick worship.".
In l. 66. 8 in Salem, Massachusetts, John Smith and the wife of John Kitchin were fined "for frequent absenting themselves from the public worship of God on the Lord's days." In l. Maine it cost Andrew Searle five shillings merely for "wandering from place to place" instead of "frequenting the publique worship of god.". And woe to the man who profaned the Sabbath "by lewd and unseemly behavior," the crime of a Boston seafaring man, one Captain Kemble. He made the mistake of publicly kissing his wife on returning home on a Sunday after three years at sea, a transgression that earned him several hours of public humiliation in the stocks. But, of course, the codes concerned themselves as much with the secular as the divine. The laws, especially in New England, made crimes of lying and idleness, general lewdness and bad behavior. Sex was of particular concern.
Outlawed were masturbation, fornication, adultery, sodomy, buggery, and every other sexual practice that inched off the line of straight sex as approved by the Bible. The term "sodomy" was applied to homosexual behavior; "buggery" to bestiality. Punishment for such serious sexual crimes could be severe. Thomas Granger of Plymouth, a boy of seventeen or so, was indicted in 1. Granger was hanged; the animals, for their part in the affair, were executed according to the law, Leviticus 2.
In 1. 64. 2, Edward Preston was sentenced to be publicly whipped at both Plymouth and Barnstable "for his lewd practices tending to sodomy with Edward Mitchell, and pressing John Keene thereunto (if he would have yielded)." Keene, who had reported the crime, was required to watch the punishment because he was suspected of "not being without fault himself." No death penalty here, since the actions of Preston and Mitchell only "tended toward sodomy.". In Crime and Punishment in American History, Friedman writes: In the eighteenth century, the death penalty was invoked less frequently for these crimes. Even in the seventeenth century, most sexual offences were petty, and the punishment less than severe.
Mild—but amazingly frequent. The thousands of cases of fornication and other offenses against morality . A frank and robust sexuality leaps from the pages of the record books. Still . . . most people probably did not transgress.
A seventeenth- century English ducking stool, in the Colonial Williamsburg collections, would be swung out at the end of beams over a river or pond. Some dunked died. CWF Collection. Behind most of the systems of justice in early civilizations lay the concept of vengeance, making the miscreant pay for his crime. A side benefit to this idea was deterrence—giving other would- be offenders a good reason to stay on the straight and narrow.
Colonial practice took the matter a step further, making use of shame and shaming. Punishments were almost always public, for the aim was to humiliate the wayward sheep and teach him a lesson so that he would repent and be eager to find his way back to the flock. Nothing made a colonial magistrate happier than public confessions of guilt and open expressions of remorse.
The records tell of hundreds of colonial sinners forced to sit in the stocks in public view. After warnings and fines, this was one of the mildest punishments, although the scorn of bystanders, not to mention the garbage and worse hurled at the miscreant by fellow citizens, made for uncomfortable moments. At times, the punishment was tailored to fit the crime, so that nobody missed the point. Thus, when a servant named Samuel Powell stole a pair of breeches in Accomack County, Virginia, in 1.
Sabboth day . . . Sermon with a pair of breeches about his necke.".
Colonial villages were enjoined to have their own sturdy stocks, and those that were lax ran the risk of a fine. The magistrates in early Boston had imported from England bilboes, long heavy bars of iron with sliding shackles and padlocks that held many a colonial culprit by the heels. When replacements became needed, it dawned on the local pence watchers that iron was expensive and in short supply, though wood was plentiful. A set of wooden stocks was ordered, and as soon as the job was done, the magistrates selected as their first customer Edward Palmer, who was "fyned £5 & censured to bee sett an houre in the stocks." Carpenter Palmer's crime?
He was accused of extortion for charging £1 1. Most self- respecting settlements also had a ducking stool, a seat set at the end of two beams twelve or fifteen feet long that could be swung out from the bank of a pond or river. This engine of punishment was especially assigned to scolds—usually women but sometimes men—and sometimes to quarrelsome married couples tied back to back. Other candidates were slanderers, "makebayts," brawlers, "chyderers," railers, and "women of light carriage," as well as brewers of bad beer, bakers of bad bread, and unruly paupers. In the absence of a proper ducking stool, authorities in some climes, as in Northampton County, Virginia, ordered the offender "dragged at a boat's Starn in ye River from ye shoare and thence unto the shoare again.".
Perhaps the cruelest punishment for slanderers, nags, and gossips, when simple gagging wasn't enough, was the brank, sometimes called the "gossip's bridle" or "scold's helm." This was a sort of heavy iron cage, that covered the head; a flat tongue of iron, sometimes spiked, was thrust into the mouth over the criminal's tongue. Less sophisticated areas made do with a "simpler machine—a cleft stick pinched on the tongue." Either system pretty much insured silence. Most village squares boasted, along with a church, a whipping post as well as stocks and other engines of correction. Larger municipalities often had whipping posts at convenient spots in the city, and sometimes a cart substituted for the post so that the evildoer could be dragged from location to location, tied to the "cart's- arse," for the education and edification—and entertainment—of the populace. Fifteen feet high, this pillory and post—from seventeenth- century England and in the Colonial Williamsburg collections—held the offender by the neck and hands. Whipping sentences usually stipulated that the stripes be "well laid on," as the phrase went.
Spark. Notes: Crime and Punishment: Plot Overview. Rodion Romanovich Raskolnikov, a. St. Petersburg. He is sickly, dressed in rags, short. He is contemplating committing an awful crime. He goes to the apartment. Alyona Ivanovna, to get money for.
Afterward, he stops for a drink at. Marmeladov, who, in a fit of. Marmeladov tells Raskolnikov. Katerina Ivanovna, and his daughter, Sonya. Raskolnikov. walks with Marmeladov to Marmeladov’s apartment, where he meets.
Katerina and sees firsthand the squalid conditions in which they. The next day, Raskolnikov receives a letter from his mother. Pulcheria Alexandrovna, informing him that his sister, Dunya, is engaged.
Luzhin and that they. St. Petersburg. He goes to another tavern, where. Alyona Ivanovna were dead.
Later, in the. streets, Raskolnikov hears that the pawnbroker will be alone in. He sleeps fitfully and wakes up the. That night, he goes to her apartment and kills her. While he is rummaging through her bedroom, looking for money, her.
Lizaveta, walks in, and Raskolnikov kills her as well. He. barely escapes from the apartment without being seen, then returns.
Waking up the next day, Raskolnikov frantically searches. He receives a summons from the. At the police. station, he learns that his landlady is trying to collect money. During a conversation about the murders, Raskolnikov.
Raskolnikov returns. He. visits his friend Razumikhin and refuses his offer of work. Returning. to his apartment, Raskolnikov falls into a fitful, nightmare- ridden. After four days of fever and delirium, he wakes up to find. Nastasya, and Razumikhin have been taking. He learns that Zossimov, a doctor, and Zamyotov, a. They have all. noticed that Raskolnikov becomes extremely uncomfortable whenever.
Luzhin, Dunya’s. fiancé, also makes a visit. After a confrontation with Luzhin, Raskolnikov. Zamyotov that he is. Afterward, he impulsively goes to the apartment of. On his way back home, he discovers that Marmeladov. Raskolnikov helps to carry him. Marmeladov dies. At the apartment.
Sonya and gives the family twenty rubles that he received. Returning with Razumikhin to his own apartment. Raskolnikov faints when he discovers that his sister and mother. Raskolnikov becomes annoyed with Pulcheria Alexandrovna and. Dunya and orders them out of the room. He also commands Dunya to.
Luzhin. Razumikhin, meanwhile, falls in. Dunya. The next morning, Razumikhin tries to explain Raskolnikov’s.
Dunya and Pulcheria Alexandrovna, and then the three. Raskolnikov’s apartment. There, Zossimov greets them and. Raskolnikov’s condition is much improved. Raskolnikov. apologizes for his behavior the night before and confesses to giving. Marmeladovs. But he soon grows angry. Dunya not marry Luzhin.
Dunya. tells him that she is meeting with Luzhin that evening, and that. Luzhin has requested specifically that Raskolnikov not. Raskolnikov agrees. At that moment, Sonya enters the room, greatly embarrassed to be. Raskolnikov’s family. She invites Raskolnikov. On her way back to her.
Sonya is followed by a strange man, who we later learn. Svidrigailov—Dunya’s lecherous former employer who is obsessively. Under the pretense of trying to recover a watch he pawned, Raskolnikov. Porfiry. Petrovich, a relative of Razumikhin’s.
Zamyotov is at the detective’s. Raskolnikov arrives. Raskolnikov and Porfiry have a tense. Raskolnikov starts to believe that. Porfiry suspects him and is trying to lead him into a trap. Afterward. Raskolnikov and Razumikhin discuss the conversation, trying to figure.
Porfiry suspects him. When Raskolnikov returns to his apartment. When he catches. up to the man in the street, the man calls him a murderer. That. night Raskolnikov dreams about the pawnbroker’s murder.
When he. wakes up, there is a stranger in the room. The stranger is Svidrigailov. He explains that he would. Dunya to break her engagement with Luzhin, whom he esteems unworthy. He offers to give Dunya the enormous sum of ten thousand.
He also tells Raskolnikov that his late wife, Marfa Petrovna. Dunya three thousand rubles in her will. Raskolnikov rejects.
Svidrigailov’s offer of money and, after hearing him talk about. Marfa, suspects that he is insane. After Svidrigailov. Raskolnikov and Razumikhin walk to a restaurant to meet. Dunya, Pulcheria Alexandrovna, and Luzhin.
Razumikhin tells Raskolnikov. Raskolnikov. Luzhin is. Raskolnikov, contrary to his wishes, is in.
They discuss Svidrigailov’s arrival in the. Dunya. Luzhin and Raskolnikov. Luzhin offends. everyone in the room, including his fiancée and prospective mother- in- law. Dunya breaks the engagement and forces him to leave. Everyone is. overjoyed at his departure. Razumikhin starts to talk about plans.
Raskolnikov. ruins the mood by telling them that he does not want to see them. When Raskolnikov leaves the room, Razumikhin chases him. They stop, face- to- face, and Razumikhin realizes. Raskolnikov is guilty of the murders. He rushes back to Dunya and Pulcheria Alexandrovna to reassure them.
Raskolnikov goes to the apartment of Sonya Marmeladov. During their conversation, he learns that Sonya was a friend of. Lizaveta. He forces Sonya to read to him the. Lazarus, who was resurrected by Jesus. Meanwhile. Svidrigailov eavesdrops from the apartment next door.
The following morning, Raskolnikov visits Porfiry Petrovich. As they converse, Raskolnikov starts to feel. Porfiry is trying to lead him into a trap. Eventually, he. breaks under the pressure and accuses Porfiry of playing psychological.
At the height of tension between them, Nikolai. On the way to Katerina. Ivanovna’s memorial dinner for Marmeladov, Raskolnikov meets the. The scene shifts to the apartment of Luzhin and his roommate, Lebezyatnikov. Luzhin is nursing his hatred for Raskolnikov, whom he blames. Dunya. Although Luzhin has. Marmeladov’s memorial dinner, he refuses to go.
He invites Sonya to his room and gives her a ten- ruble bill. Katerina’s. memorial dinner goes poorly. The widow is extremely fussy and proud. Raskolnikov, those. Luzhin then enters the room and accuses. Sonya of stealing a one- hundred- ruble bill. Sonya denies his claim.
Just as everyone. Sonya a thief, however, Lebezyatnikov enters and.
Luzhin slip the bill into Sonya’s pocket. Raskolnikov explains that Luzhin was. Sonya. Luzhin leaves. Katerina and her landlady. After the dinner, Raskolnikov goes to Sonya’s. They have a long conversation.
Sonya tries to convince him to confess. Lebezyatnikov then enters and informs them that.
Katerina Ivanovna seems to have gone mad—she is parading the children. Sonya rushes out to find them. Raskolnikov goes back to his room and talks to Dunya.
He soon. returns to the street and sees Katerina dancing and singing wildly. She collapses after a confrontation with a policeman and, soon after. Svidrigailov appears and offers. He reveals. to Raskolnikov that he knows Raskolnikov is the murderer. Raskolnikov wanders around in a haze after his confession.
Sonya and the death of Katerina. Razumikhin confronts him in.
After their conversation. Porfiry Petrovich appears and apologizes for his treatment of Raskolnikov.
Nonetheless, he does not believe Nikolai’s. He accuses Raskolnikov of the murders but admits that. Finally, he urges. Raskolnikov goes looking for Svidrigailov, eventually. Svidrigailov tells him that though he is still.
Dunya, he has gotten engaged to a sixteen- year- old girl. Svidrigailov parts from Raskolnikov and manages to bring Dunya to. She fires several shots at him with a revolver and misses. He takes her revolver and wanders aimlessly around St.
Petersburg. He gives three thousand rubles to Dunya, fifteen thousand rubles. He sleeps fitfully and dreams of a flood and a seductive five- year- old. In the morning, he kills himself. Raskolnikov, who is visiting his mother, tells her that. Dunya that he is planning to confess. After she leaves, he goes. Sonya, who gives him a cross to wear.
On the way to the. He almost pulls back from confessing when he reaches the police. Svidrigailov’s suicide. The sight of Sonya. Ilya Petrovich. A year and a half later, Raskolnikov is in prison. Siberia, where he has been for nine months.
Sonya has moved to. Raskolnikov regularly. Because of his confession, his mental.
Siberia. After Raskolnikov’s. Razumikhin and Dunya.
For a short while, Raskolnikov remains as proud and. Sonya and expresses remorse.