Shoplifting In The 1700s

Theft a common practice among people within each decade, shoplifting being one of the main contributors. The temptation of not paying for something, just hiding it away and not having to pay out of pocket is a large factor for some people. A thief just thinks he/she is getting a product for free and doesn’t realize all the effects of their actions. This paper will analyze the legal and social attitudes of theft/shopping lifting and how punishment changed over a century from 1700’s to the 1800’s.

In the 1700s, there was no law surrounding theft, mostly because at that time there was no government nor constancy with laws. It has also been noticed that there seems to be no judicial precedent, where cases bind future cases. All cases seem to

have been judged on a case by case basis and on their facts. Punishments which were given to defendants in the 1700s were rather extreme to what is given now, these would include death and branding.

Laws of theft or one who fraudulently and without right takes deprive, temporarily or absolutely deprives the owner of it, and converts to his use or to the use of another person, anything, whether animate or inanimate, with intent is guilty of theft.

Today shoplifting is one of the most common forms of theft and looking back at history in the seventeen and eighteen hundred in England, theft was a popular punishable crime. thousands of shoplifting trials have been examined from the Old Bailey online, a substantial majority of those heard at the Old Bailey between 1700’s and 1800. After reviewing the two cases which are very similar in nature its evident both crimes were prosecuted differently and the punishments for the same offense differ each era.

Benjamin Bolton’s shoplifting case from January 14th, 1801 who was indicted for privately stealing nine pairs of Women’s Worsted Stockings, valued at 21 s. on the 12th of January. The description of the case brought forward to the Old Bailey stated, it appeared that Benjamin Bolton came into the shop, pretending to buy stockings, and while the maid, was turning her Back to reach some, he took the goods and clapt them between his legs, and was going on his way, and was seen by a young man who pursued him, and took the goods from him. Benjamin Bolton was found guilty of theft by shoplifting and sentenced to

death.
A century later Richard Gash on January 26, 1700 was indicted for feloniously stealing, on the 20th of December, thirty-five yards of brown Holland cloth, valued at 30s. the property of Susannah Gillham, privately in her shop. He was sentenced to transportation for 7 years.
Two separate crimes of shoplifting a decade apart with two very different punishments. It should be noted the shoplifting crime in 1801 appeared to be nine s more than the one that took place in the seventeen hundred that was sentenced to death, it is evident the consequences for the same crime differ, so why were these two crimes punished differently.
As early as the sixteen hundred rising crime was the cause for much concern by local citizens in England.

Theft rates in particular remained alarmingly high and by the second half of the century many people were beginning to question the effectiveness of the methods and wanted to see criminal brought to justice. By 1699, shoplifting was made a capital offence in a response to fears of growth in the previous decades. The theft of goods 5s and above taken without any witness seeing the theft was punishable by hanging. During the end of the sixteenth century, the number of crimes that were punished by hanging rose to about 200. Some, such as treason or murder, were serious crimes, but others were what we would call minor offences. For example, the death sentence could be passed for theft and

shoplifting.

Throughout this period many people viewed criminals and law breaking as heroic and courageous, and the punishment and execution of criminals were often widely celebrated in popular culture. Publications of criminality were widely printed and distributed in a host of printed pamphlets, books and newspapers, and generated high levels of public interest across the country, these communities wanted to see criminals such as thieves pay for their crime by execution..
In the mid seventeen hundred the law system started to see changes including the strengthening by a more professional force of local policing and officers. In 1751 London magistrate Henry Fielding founded the Bow Street Runners, who for the first time provided a permanent body of armed men to carry out investigations and arrests. The presence of armed officers was changing the dynamic of criminal activity and the streets were more controlled. With streets being patrolled and with the presence of government forces a shift in social behaviors began. Towards the end of the seventeen hundreds the number of people hanged for petty crimes was causing public unrest and the deterrent, a vengeful enactment of moral justice and a morbid form of entertainment that attracted large festival like noisy crowds was about to shift.
The first prominent European to call for an end to the death penalty was Beccaria who is considered the founder of the modern abolition movement. In 1764, Beccaria published his famous Essays on Crimes and Punishments. It was the first major study of the criminal justice system as it operated in eighteenth-century Europe, as well as the first call for the abolition of capital punishment

Beccaria focused the attention of philosophers and political leaders on the issue. In addition to its effects in Europe, the Essay also had a significant effect on the thinking of abolitionists in America, including Dr. Benjamin Rush."
In 1823, Sir Robert Peel reduced the number of offences for which criminals could be executed for, by over 100 offenses. In,1830 Lord John Russell abolished the death sentence for stealing and housebreaking. It was evident not only the public that felt the sentences were unnecessarily harsh, but a government leads were now changing the social norms of the communities with regulations. Many records at the start of the eighteenth century, the criminal was often recorded after a guilty verdict, but the actual sentence was transportation or imprisonment as show in Benjamine Boltons case in the 1801, this happened because magistrates felt that the compulsory death sentence was too harsh. IT should be noted, from the late seventeen hundred into the eighteenth hundreds the British government decided to free up space in the prisons and populate Australia – by shipping convicts off to antipodean penal colonies. 165,000 of them, in just 80 years.
Eighteenth-century shoplifters sought goods that were in demand and could be disposed of easily. Clothes, fabric and haberdashery were seemingly their main targets. Clothing, which represented a significant repository of cultural and monetary value to much of the eighteenth-century population.
Between 1801 and 1837 the decline in executions was noticed, despite this era and the shift of social change, about 60% of offences were punishable by death and magistrates were less serious punishment. Between 1800 and 1900 only 3524 people were sentenced to hang in England, over half were for murder. The death penalty was removed from shoplifting in 1823, and those convicted faced the prospect of being transported. In 1820 under the pressure from those determined to dismantle the Bloody Code, made it harder to hang shoplifters. (Grew, 2016)
Another turn was in 1868 when the Prison Acts was made mandatory stating all executions were to take place within prison walls in more of a private setting. From 1874 onwards, authorities were looking at more humane ways of treating guilty criminals and different methods of hanging that ensure a more efficient, less painful death was established.
It is evident that underlining way criminals were punished in the seventeen hundreds opposed to the eighteenth hundreds generally affected social norms in particular the executions calling for different measures, constancy that had government forces have more of a say by establishing laws and more humane practices. By the eighteenth century, this new defense emerged that has begun to use transportation in the courts as punishment. The differences in social norms and laws is a plausible explanation of why these two cases were punished differently. The majority of laws back in the seventeenth century, left to common law, that is, the judge the decision by a case by case basis with execution being the main punishment. In the eighteenth hundreds new ways of testing the defendants case has been introduced (eg. Ghosh test), as well as judicial precedent and other matters concerning the change in the common law. This all causes problems as it means that the reasons behind why that type of punishment was given can not be seen clearly and because it means that even if the judges chose to give corporal punishment, it is not allowed so they wouldn¹t be able to give it as a punishment for any offence, not just theft. This paper therefore analyzed and applied social changes and asset-based analytical framework to the challenges stemming from sentences of criminal pertaining to theft overtime . The proposed framework offers a unifying lens to examine the links between punishment, adaptation to new laws, and vulnerability between the two cases .
Much attention instead has been paid to the conditions under which norms will be obeyed. Executions were an acceptable practice