Crime and Punishment in Britain, c1000-PRESENT | Edexcel GCSE History (1HI0)
Crime and Punishment in Britain, c1000-PRESENT
- 165 questions
- 13 subtopics
- Paper 1
- Paper 1
Crime and Punishment in Britain, c1000–present is examined in Paper 1, Thematic study and historic environment.
It covers factors driving change in crime and punishment, c1000–present, nature and changing definitions of criminal activity, c1000–c1500, the nature of law enforcement and punishment, c1000–c1500, case study: the Church, sanctuary and trial by ordeal, nature and changing definitions of criminal activity, c1500–c1700, the nature of law enforcement and punishment, c1500–c1700, case studies: the Gunpowder Plot and Matthew Hopkins, nature and changing definitions of criminal activity, c1700–c1900, the nature of law enforcement and punishment, c1700–c1900, case studies: Pentonville prison and Robert Peel, nature and changing definitions of criminal activity, c1900–present, the nature of law enforcement and punishment, c1900–present and case studies: conscientious objectors and Derek Bentley.
Sample questions from Crime and Punishment in Britain, c1000-PRESENT
Answer each one closed book first, then open the answer.
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Factors driving change in crime and punishment, c1000–present
Why is the Norman Conquest treated as a turning point?
Show the answer
William I created new offences such as breaking the Forest Laws and used harsh punishment to hold down a conquered people. -
Nature and changing definitions of criminal activity, c1000–c1500
Why did William I create these hunting laws?
Show the answer
To protect the deer he hunted and to show a conquered country that the new king controlled the land itself. -
Case study: the Church, sanctuary and trial by ordeal
How was Benefit of Clergy claimed in court?
Show the answer
By reading aloud a set verse from the Bible, which was supposed to prove the reader was a churchman. -
Nature and changing definitions of criminal activity, c1500–c1700
What punishment did the Vagrancy Act of 1547 lay down for an able-bodied beggar?
Show the answer
He could be whipped, branded on the chest with the letter V, and sold into two years of slavery. -
Case studies: the Gunpowder Plot and Matthew Hopkins
What offence were the conspirators charged with?
Show the answer
High treason, because they had planned to kill the king. -
Nature and changing definitions of criminal activity, c1700–c1900
Why did prosecutions for witchcraft come to an end?
Show the answer
Scientific explanation and better education made educated people reject the idea of magic, and the law was repealed in 1736. -
Case studies: Pentonville prison and Robert Peel
How were inmates kept apart when they left their cells?
Show the answer
They wore masks or peaked caps in the corridors, exercised in silence and sat in separate stalls in the chapel. -
Nature and changing definitions of criminal activity, c1900–present
How does the law treat an assault that is proved to be racially motivated?
Show the answer
It is a racially aggravated offence and carries a heavier sentence than the same attack without that motive.
The 13 subtopics
One subtopic is one session. Work down the list.
| Subtopic | What it covers | Questions |
|---|---|---|
| Factors driving change in crime and punishment, c1000–present | The three factors behind change, the Church as a brake and government as a driver, technology and science in detection, turning points such as the Norman Conquest and the London police, continuity in theft, factors combining, witchcraft, printing and heresy, towns and trade, the four purposes of punishment, total war, capital offences, the role of ordinary people and new prisons. | 20 |
| Nature and changing definitions of criminal activity, c1000–c1500 | Petty theft as the commonest crime, crimes against the person, treason as the most serious offence, social crime and poaching, moral crimes in the Church courts, William I's Forest Laws and why they were made and resented, and the murdrum fine. | 10 |
| The nature of law enforcement and punishment, c1000–c1500 | Tithings, the hue and cry, the parish constable, the shire reeve and the justice of the peace, retribution and deterrence, the wergild and its abolition after the Conquest, corporal and capital punishment, the stocks and pillory, and why punishments were carried out in public. | 14 |
| Case study: the Church, sanctuary and trial by ordeal | Sanctuary and the choice it forced, Benefit of Clergy and the Bible verse used to claim it, when trial by ordeal was used, the ordeals by hot iron, cold water and blessed bread, and why the ordeals ended after the Pope's ban of 1215. | 10 |
| Nature and changing definitions of criminal activity, c1500–c1700 | Theft as the commonest crime, heresy and its punishment, high treason, vagabonds and the Vagrancy Act of 1547, and why witchcraft was feared and who was accused of it. | 10 |
| The nature of law enforcement and punishment, c1500–c1700 | Town watchmen and the parish constable, assize judges, detection by ordinary people, whipping and the pillory, transportation to the colonies, and the beginnings of the Bloody Code. | 10 |
| Case studies: the Gunpowder Plot and Matthew Hopkins | The aims of the 1605 plotters, Catesby and Fawkes, the Monteagle letter, the treason charge and executions, then Matthew Hopkins, the witch-hunts of 1645–47, his methods, hangings and fees. | 10 |
| Nature and changing definitions of criminal activity, c1700–c1900 | The rise and fall of highway robbery, poaching and the Black Act, smuggling and its decline, the end of witchcraft prosecutions, and the Tolpuddle Martyrs. | 12 |
| The nature of law enforcement and punishment, c1700–c1900 | The Fieldings and the Bow Street Runners, thief-takers, the Police Act of 1856, the CID, the shift towards reform, transportation to Australia, the end of public hanging, John Howard and Elizabeth Fry. | 17 |
| Case studies: Pentonville prison and Robert Peel | Why Pentonville opened in 1842, the separate system and its design, its strengths and weaknesses, then Peel as Home Secretary, the capital offences he removed, the Gaols Act and the 1829 police. | 12 |
| Nature and changing definitions of criminal activity, c1900–present | Theft as the commonest offence and its new forms such as car crime and cybercrime, people trafficking, modern smuggling, crimes against authority, driving offences, race crime and racially aggravated offences, how drug crime came about and how illegal drugs are classified. | 10 |
| The nature of law enforcement and punishment, c1900–present | Neighbourhood Watch and Police Community Support Officers, specialist branches, fingerprints, DNA, cars, radios and computers, the shift towards prevention and CCTV, the end of hanging in 1965 and 1969 and why opinion turned, open prisons, young offenders and borstals, and punishments outside prison such as community orders and tagging. | 20 |
| Case studies: conscientious objectors and Derek Bentley | Conscientious objectors and their tribunals, alternativists and absolutists, their treatment in both world wars, then the Bentley case of 1952, the criticised verdict and its effect on the death penalty. | 10 |
How the guide is worked
Answering a question from memory stores it far better than reading the answer again. The guide runs that as a fixed procedure on one subtopic at a time, about twenty minutes a session.
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Step 1 · Closed book
Cover the answers. Work through one subtopic and write down what you can. Leave blanks where you have nothing.
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Step 2 · Open book
Go back to the top. Read each printed answer and write it out in full, including the ones you had right.
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Step 3 · Closed book again
Same questions, same order, from memory. The gap between pass one and pass three is the session result.
Read the full method, the return schedule and the research behind it.
Nearby options
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