Abstract
The definition of crime has changed over the past hundred years. What was illegal then, and what is illegal now are very different laws from society changing and causing deviant behavior to evolve. Who can vote, who can own homes, who can get married? A lot of crimes have evolved. Some crimes back then may be the same as they are in life today, but different punishments (murder, stealing). Most crimes back in the colonial era were punished by shaming. Public humiliation was a big part of the colonial justice era. There were stocks, an iron cage, and much more public shaming of criminals. Over the 18th century and by the time the 19th century rolled around, these practices had been mostly abolished, though whipping still somewhat persisted. In the 19th century era, there were semi better court systems, hangings, gaols, and fines.
Definitions of Crime Evolved
Crime has changed drastically from the colonial era to the end of the 19th-century era, to today’s world. There are many different definitions of ‘crime’ that it is almost hard to put an exact definition for it. When someone does something that is out of the social norms and is considered ‘unlawful’ it is considered deviant behavior which turns into a crime and then a punishment. Crimes and punishment are always evolving into society’s norms.
Colonial Era
Society’s point of view on crime and punishment in colonial America was much different from what it is now. For crimes in the colonial era, the punishments were much harsher, and the things we would think of today as small were considered huge acts of deviance. Most laws set up in the colonial era were based upon religion, therefore anyone to do anything that was against God’s rules, would be penalized and severely punished. In the colonial era, criminals were punished publicly, setting an example for the other members of society to not break the rules. The justice system was built by amateurs. There were no police in the modem day sense. The local sheriff was the law enforcer. Officers made arrests, and night watchmen patrolled the streets of the towns. Officers and watchmen were just ordinary citizens. It was a man’s local duty to serve as an officer or watchman.
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The colonial era was based strictly on religion so all of the laws in the colonial era were, considered a sin as a crime. Since the criminal justice system was strictly related to religion, all crimes were against God and society. Society members who were considered lying, not working and drunkenness had to be punished. Other crimes were sexual offenses, theft, flirting, and even playing certain games in the colonies, such as cards, society members could not swear, and not display unacceptable behavior between members of the opposite gender. Many of the colonial laws were meant for keeping the servants, slaves, and youth in line. The courts used shame, hate, and humiliation to teach lessons for misbehavior.
More severe crimes led to whipping, hanging, cutting off fingers or toes and sometimes placing the criminals in a pillory. Having a different belief other than the church teachings was a major crime that could lead to banishment. If the banished individual returns, he would then get sentenced to death. Showing no respect to God is considered blasphemy, which is a severe crime. They could be sentenced to whipping, to the pillory, have a hole made in their tongue with a red-hot iron, or stand on the gallows with a rope around their neck for some time. Other laws punished colonists for not properly observing the day of rest for Catholics and skipping religious services. Another serious crime was witchcraft. It was believed that people who practiced witchcraft, made pacts with the devil. Those punishments were hangings, the water test (which usually makes the individual drown causing a death), and other public shaming (Friedman, Lawrence).
The white men were in charge of the Colonial Era, women were seen as a childbearing member of society, their roles were domesticated household chores and raising children. The colonists held a very traditional mindset about the proper status and role of women. Women had very little power or say in any matter. The wealthy men dominated all aspects of society and occupied important positions in religion, economics, and government. Sinners were to be punished. Every effort was made to connect people to their community. The system was also clearly hierarchical. The colonies were not democracies, but the most important men did not think of themselves as dictators.
The Colonial Era was strict about religion, deviant behavior during that time was all about not respecting God and having sins. If you sinned it was a crime, and crime is a sin.
The Late Nineteenth Century
During the late nineteenth century, the United States was experiencing a lot of change. Slavery became abolished, there was westward expansion, the economy was starting to boom, causing more problems, more crimes, and more laws. The lack of jobs, the poverty levels, women and African Americans fighting to reach equality created more crime. This led to crimes that are very different from current offenses, selling liquor, anarchy, fighting for discrimination, pickpocketing, train robbing, interracial relations, and increased murder. This led to the urge of modernizing the law, to make it adapt to republican beliefs; the advancement toward professionalism; and the impact of American societal conditions.
One of the major changes in criminal justice of the first half of the nineteenth century was the establishment of police forces, full-time, night-and-day bureaus whose job was to avoid crime and to seize criminals. The creation of police forces was a milestone on the road to professionalization. The London Metropolitan Police established in 1829, helped motivate American societies to become professional law enforcers. In the United States, one reason was fear, fear of riots and city conditions. A metropolitan area was a place of risk, its waterside areas and slums were areas of corruption. It had thieves, prostitutes, pickpockets, protesters. A series of riots in the 1830s and 1840s came to be in Philadelphia, Baltimore, New York, Cincinnati, and St. Louis. Some of these riots were about racism. In July, when a mob positioned a blockade to a Catholic church, militia troops came to the scene, they shot at the crowd, killing fourteen people. A grand jury called for a civilian solution, a police force of men. By 1852 there were over seven hundred policemen in the county (Friedman, Lawrence).
After the civil war was over, there were a lot of people that were once slaves, that were now set free. Even though the Thirteenth, Fourteenth, and Fifteenth Amendments were passed to free and help the freed slaves, many events took place, that caused them to not be helped at all. When slavery became abolished African Americans were subjected to Jim Crow Laws. The Jim Crow laws were state laws and the federal government did not have power over state laws. In the U.S. v. Cruikshank, the court ruled that the Fourteenth Amendment did not give the federal government power to protect equal rights for any citizens, it was in the hands of the states. The Fifteenth Amendment gave black males over the age of 21 the right to vote. However, southern states set up poll taxes and literacy tests to keep most blacks from voting. There was so much discrimination towards African Americans, they were more likely to become victims of personal assault, murder, or rape than lynching, they dealt with injuries and insults daily. This discrimination caused more crimes and a lot of African Americans were punished for fighting for their rights, some even killed.
The late nineteenth-century punishment for crimes changed as people began to believe that a criminal should be rehabilitated rather than tortured. Changes in criminal justice were coming around. The nation seemed to need a new system, more reasonable, more modern-day, more humane. This led to the Bill of Rights, the Bill of Rights are the first ten amendments to the Constitution, established in 1791. These were the basic laws that included rights to fair trials and fair methods. The Fourth Amendment secured the “right of the people to be secure… against unreasonable searches and seizures”, warrants were not to be issued except on a probable reason. The Fifth Amendment secured that no one would be retained to answer for a capital crime unless prosecuted or represented by a grand jury. By the same amendment, double jeopardy was banned, the offender had the right to remain silent at a trial. The Sixth Amendment secured a speedy and public trial, by an unbiased jury. The eighth banned harsh and unusual punishments.
One of the harsh punishments was whipping. Whipping posts or the back of a cart was used, and the criminal would be undressed to his waist and whipped. This punishment was also given to women. Whipping was also the way slaves were punished; it was the main method of social control on southern plantations. That was a cruel punishment and needed to change for reformers. In Massachusetts, whipping, branding, the stocks, and the pillory were eliminated around the time that the Massachusetts State Prison opened for business. Reformers willingly supported the idea of locking up criminals for long periods, they rejected the punishment at the whipping post. Physical punishment was barbaric. Northern states started changing to a more humane way of dealing with criminals. Prisons replaced the pillory and the whipping post, and most states eliminated the public event of hangings.
Imprisonment became a more humane solution to disciplining criminals. This was not a total success, but it did reduce the use of the death penalty. In 1790, the legislature put an end to the death penalty for robbery, burglary, and sodomy. A bill of 1794 introduced an improvement. This law divided murder into “degrees.” Murder in the first degree which was premeditated killing, or attempts to commit any arson, rape, or burglary brought the death penalty. All other murder cases were second degree which had a lesser punishment, like imprisonment (Friedman, Lawrence).
The prisons were a way to reform, but the prison of the late nineteenth century was not like today’s prisons. The prisoners were ironed and held by shackles. There was no concept about prison, except introducing the idea of having so much fear that no rational person would want to commit a crime and be put in one. In 1790 Walnut Street institution modernized a prison that contained sixteen separate cells, for isolated incarceration. The constitution of 1776 ordered the government to make punishments less barbaric, this meant, that prisoners would work hard in public. Their labor was to be a form of public humiliation, as the old humiliating punishments. This method lasted only for a short time.
The law of 1790, “to reform the penal laws of this state,” showed that the previous acts had failed because of the publicity of the criminals (Friedman, Lawrence). The prisoners were to be confined in cells that would avoid all outside interaction. The prisoners were also kept separate from each other.
