Crime and Punishment Glossary Words

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Abscond
Leave or escape to avoid arrest.
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Absolute poverty
When a preson lacks in the basics (food and shelter ect.) needed to survive for any length of time.
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Alibi
A claim to have been somewhere else when a crime was committed.
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Anarchism
A beleif that opposes all forms of state government in favour of government on a voluntary co-operative basis.
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Arrest warrant
Permission from a Judge or magistrate to make an arrest.
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Assize judges
Royal judges who travelled around the country hearing seriou cases.
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Beat Constable
The lowest rank of police officer whose usual duty is to walk the 'beat'.
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Benefit of the clergy
The right to be judged in a church court.
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Black market
The illegal buying and selling of goods.
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Blood fued
The early Saxon right of a murder victim's family to track down and kill the murderer in revenge.
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Bloody code
Harsh laws, introduced in the late seventeenth and eaighteenth centuaries that made even the most minor of crimes punishable by death.
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Board of Works
A kind of council for London, but with very limite dpower and money.
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Borstal
A type of prison set up especially for young offenders in the early twentieth centuary. Abolished in 1982.
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Capital crime
A crime punishable by death.
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Capital punishment
The death pentalty.
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Castration
Removal of testicles.
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Chief inspector
The person in charge of a division or in charge of the CID.
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Colliers
Coal miners.
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Compensation
Money paid to the victim of a crime or the victim's fmaily.
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Compurgation
The oath taken during the Middle Ages by witnesses or people known to the accused in support of his or her innocence.
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Coroner
An official responsibility for investigating violent or suspicious deaths.
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Cononer's inquest
A legal hearing which investigates causes of death.
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Corporal punishment
A physically painful pinishment.
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Counterfeiting
makingillegal copies or forgeries.
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Criminal Investigation Departement (CID)
A departement in the police that employs detectives to investigate crimes.
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CS gas
A powerful form of tear gas that creates a burning senation in the eyes, nose and throat.
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Curfew
A time at which people must be at home, not on the streets or elsewhere.
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Custody
Being locked up.
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Customs officers
Officials who ensure nothing illegal is brought into the country and that the necessary taces are paid on any legal goods entering the country.
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Debtor's prison
An early type of prison where debtors were locked up unitl theu paid back what they owed.
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Detecting
Investigating crime.
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Detterence
To scare/warn people from committing a crime.
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Disembowel
To cut open and remove the guts.
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DNA matching
Using DNA to help trace victims and criminals.
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Drug crime
Includes posessing, consuming, selling or smuggling illegal drugs.
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Fenian
Committed to establishing an independant Irish Repiblic in the nineteenth centuary.
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Forest laws
normal laws that banned ordinary people from hunting or gathering in the King's forests.
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Fraud
A deliberate act of deception that results in personal gain.
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French Revolution
Overthrow of the Monarchy in France in 1789. Nobels and landowners lost their power and privilege. Became increasingly bloody by 1793, creating much fear in Englnd.
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Gamekeepers
People paid to patrol private land to protect game from poachers.
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Gold rush
The rapid influx of people hoping to make their fortune once gold is discovered in an area.
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Hard labour
Being made to work hard as punishment while serving a prison sentence. This included pointless work such as the crank and the treadmill.
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Heresy
The cime of holding religous beliefs different to those of the monarchy.
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Highway robbery
Stopping a coach and robbing the passengers.
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Hoaxers
People who make thinhs up in oder to make money or to fool the police.
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Home Rule
The right to local self-government.
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Home secretary
Minister responsible for the internal affairs of England and Wales, including police and prisons.
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Horse Patrol
A mounted partol to deter highway robbers
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Horsewhip
A whip used to control horses or for corporal punishment.
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Houses of correction
An early type of prison where vagabonds and prostitutes were whipped and made to work before being sent back to their parish. Also used to hold petty criminals awaiting trial.
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Hue and cry
Raising the alarm (by means of loud shouts or cries) when a crime had been commuitted. Everyone within hearing distance was expected to join the hunt for the suspect.
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Hulks
Old ships, often used in derelict condition, used to house prisoners in the nineteenth centuary.
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Identity parades
A way of identifying a criminal in which a witness picks out a preson they think they have seen from a line of people.
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Inspector
A more senoir policeman in charge of a station or a group of sergeants.
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IRA
Irish Republican Army - terrirost group wanting an independant Ireland that joined Northern Ireland with Eire.
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Irons
Fetters or chains.
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Justices of the Peace (JPs)
Local magistrates appointed to keep the peace, hear minor legal cases, and ensure the Poor Laws were being maintained.
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Knuckle-duster
A metal guard worn over the knuckles in fighting to increase the effect if blows.
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Legal highs
Legal highs contain one or more chemical substances which produce similar effects to illegal drugs. Little is known about their long or short-tern effects on health.
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Lock down
A security or safety measure in prisons that confines all inmates to their cells.
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Lodging houses
A buliding converted into many rooms in which people could pay a small fee - 4 or 5 pence - to sleep the night in.
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Lord Chief Justice
The top judge in the country.
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Lunatics
Mentally disturbed people.
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Manor courts
Local medival courts that dealt mainly with minor crimes.
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Market regulations
Laws relating to the buying and selling of goods in a market.
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Mass
A Catholic Church service.
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Metropolitan Police Force
The official name of the police force responsible for London. established in 1829.
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Moral offences
An action that offends the moral standards of the majority of society.
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Mortuary
A building or facility where bodies are stores.
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Mug-shots
Photographs of faces which started to be used by the police as a way of recognising people.
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Murdrum fine
Normal law that made the whole community pay a heavy fine if a Norman was killed.
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Neighbourhood Watch
An organisation set uo in the 1980s to prevent crime in local communities.
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Non-custodial
To do with an alternative to being locked up in prison.
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Ofsted
An organisation that inspects the quality of education in schools, nurseries and prisons.
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Open prison
Prisons for low-risk prisoners. Open prisons allowed prisoners freedom such as day relese and work placements in the community.
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Oppertunistic thief
A thief who acts on the spur of the moment when the oppertunity arises.
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Phamphleteers
People who printed and sold cheap news stories or tales of crime.
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Parish Constables
Men from every village or town tho were appointed to uphold law and order. This was part time and unpaid work.
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Penal Reform
Reforms to the prison system.
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Pepper Spray
A spray that irritates the eyes.
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Pillory
A wooden frame with holes in it that held the head and hands of a convicted criminal. Intended to publicly himiliate the offender.
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Poaching
The illegal hunting of animals.
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Police Surgeon
A police officer with medical training, often qualified as a doctor.
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Poor Rates
A tax paid by the wealthier members of a parish to provide relief for the poor.
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Posse
A group of men called upon by the sheriff to track down a criminal.
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Prison Colony
A settlement in a remote location used to exile and separate prisoners from the general population.
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Prison Warders
Prison guards.
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Prohibition Officer
A person who manages offenders in order to protect the public and reduce the chances if re-offending.
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Protection Racket
A system of taking money from people in echange for agreeing not to hurt them.
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Quaker
A person of religous belief characterised by total rejection of violence.
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Quater Sessions
Courts, held four times a year, used to hear serious cases. See Assize Judges.
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Race Crime
A crime motivated by racial prejudice.
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Reformation
A period of violent change in religion, especially in northern Europe, when Protectant Christians rejected the Roman Catholic Church.
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Repeal
When a law is withdrawn
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Residuum
A woed meaning the lowest possible class of person - literally the 'dregs of humanity'.
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Retribution
Revenge.
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Rookeries
Overcrowded and poor quality housing in slum areas.
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Sanctity of life
The belief that all lilfe is sacred and therefore must be protected.
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Sanctuary
A safe place within a church or cathedral. Once a person claimed sanctuary they could not be removed by force.
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Scribe
A person who writes books or other documents by hand.
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Serial Killer
A person who has committed a number of murders.
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Sheriff
The cheif law officer in each county during the Middle Ages.
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Slum clearance
A process begun in the late 1800s, and not completed until after WW2, which saw destruction of unhealthy or dangerous housing.
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Smuggling
Bringing goods into the country illegally or not paying tax or legal goods entering.
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Snares
A form of trap used to catch animals.
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Social Crime
An illegal act that many people do not regard as a crime.
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Socialism
A political and economic system in which most forms of property and resources are owned or controlled by the state.
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Sociological Research
Studies of the way people live, using obervation and by taking notes and measurements.
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Solitary Confinement
Being locked up on your own and totally separate from other people.
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Stagecoaches
Horse-drawn coaches that would stop at intervals or 'stages' to refresh the horse or allow rest for passangers.
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Stocks
A wooden frame which holes that held the feet of a coonvicted criminal. Intended to publically humiliate them.
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Sweatshops
Workshops, often making clothes or shoes, where people were paid low wages (often obly receiving a small sum for each iten they fiinished).
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Theif-takers
People who made money from collecting the reawrds offered for the return of stolen goods or the capture of criminals.
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Tithings
Groups of 10 men who were each responsible for eachother's behaviour. If a member of the tithiings broke the law then the others had to bring him to justice or face a fine.
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Trade Union
An organisation of workers set up to defend their interests and campaign for improvements in their working conditions.
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Transportation
Sending convicted criminals overseas
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Treason
Disobedience or disloyalty to the monarch (or the government).
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Trial by Combat
A type of trial by ordeal. Guilt is decided if the participant is defeated in combat.
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Trial by Ordeal
A trial, held in or near a church, in which God judges the accused with a sign of guilt or innnocence.
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Tribunal
A panel of people brought together to settle some types of dispute. Tribunals were sometimes used to decide on the cases of conscientious objectors.
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Vagabondage
The crime of being a wandering beggar. Also known as vagrancy.
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Welfare State
The system by which the government provides support for the poorest and most vunerable in society. This includes health care, unemployment relief and other benefits.
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Wergild
A form of compensation paid to victims of crime in saxon times.
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Witchcraft
The crime of using magic to cause harm to a person or their property.
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Young offenders' institutions
Secure units for young offenders that are run along the same lines as adult prisons.
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Other cards in this set

Card 2

Front

When a preson lacks in the basics (food and shelter ect.) needed to survive for any length of time.

Back

Absolute poverty

Card 3

Front

A claim to have been somewhere else when a crime was committed.

Back

Preview of the back of card 3

Card 4

Front

A beleif that opposes all forms of state government in favour of government on a voluntary co-operative basis.

Back

Preview of the back of card 4

Card 5

Front

Permission from a Judge or magistrate to make an arrest.

Back

Preview of the back of card 5
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