CRIMES AND PUNISHMENTS

In England fifty-five crimes were punishable by death and the English legal code was nicknamed "the bloody code". England annually executed between seven hundred and eight hundred criminals in the beginning of the 18th century. Once convicted, they were fed only bread and water, and after execution, their bodies were to hang in chains before the public, then go to the surgeons for dissection. A range of other punishments were, however, also frequently imposed. Many felons were transported to the American colonies (and later in the century, to those in Australia), where they served out their sentences in hard labor.


Types of crimes:

• Shooting a rabbit   
• Adultery
• Piracy on the high seas
• Forging a birth certificate
• Communicating information to the enemy
• Setting fire to your own house
• Sheep stealing
• Cutting down fruit trees
• Stealing a pocket handkerchief
• Adopting a disguise
• Picking pockets
• Burglary
• Rebellion against the Government
• Setting fire to your mother’s house
• Passing of forged bank notes
• Being found upon the King’s highway with a sooty face
• Murder
• Forgery
• Stealing of shop goods
• Associating with gypsies
• Poisoning the wells

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An 18th Century prison: many Inmates ( convited felons) are crowded in one single cell.

Solitary Prison cell for dangerous felon in the 18th Century.