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Hale et al: Criminology 2e

Chapter 2

References from the book:

Beattie, J.M. (1986) Crime and the Courts in England, 1660–1800, Oxford: Clarendon Press.
A classic and exhaustive account of the mechanisms of criminal justice in late seventeenth-century and eighteenth-century Surrey. Despite its local focus, this book has become a handbook for students seeking to understand how courts actually worked in the past.

Emsley, C. (2005) Crime and Society in England, 1750–1900 (3rd edn), London: Longman.
This is the most useful and authoritative overview of the history of crime from the later eighteenth century and in the nineteenth century. An invaluable introductory textbook.

Hay, D., Linebaugh, P., and Thompson, E.P. et al. (1975) Albion’s Fatal Tree: Crime and Society in Eighteenth Century England, London: Allen Lane.
Since its publication in 1975 this collection of essays by many of the luminaries of the crime history field has provoked much debate and some controversy. In particular Douglas Hay’s groundbreaking chapter
has become a classic contribution to our understanding of the eighteenth century criminal justice system.

King, P. (1998) ‘The Rise of Juvenile Delinquency in England, 1780–1840’, Past and Present, 160: 116–66.
A useful overview of the perceived rise of juvenile crime from the late eighteenth century, this provides an empirical and quantitative analysis of the subject, with a survey of the reform texts of the time.

Zedner, L. (1991) Women, Crime, and Custody. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
A gendered reading of the nineteenth century criminal justice system. This book adds much to our understanding of penality in the Victorian period, and the relationship between broader cultural and social attitudes and criminal justice.

Further references:

In addition to the above texts, Clive Emsley’s books ‘Policing and its context 1750 – 1870’ and ‘The English Police: A political and social history’ (1983, and 1996 respectively) provide a detailed overview of the history of the British Police Service as well as the evolution of the nature of crime in British society.