The Bloody Codes
After the Secret River group's project on the state of the prisons in Thronhill's time, I became more interested in the Bloody Codes, so I looked at Javi and Kris's projects.
In Javi's paper, I found it interesting how religion was linked to the rise of the death penalty. This aligns strongly with Will's feelings in the beginning of The Secret River, where he sees religion as catering to the rich and either inaccessible or downright hostile to lower-class people like him. Class conflict, another factor in the rise of the Bloody Code, was also a large part of The Secret River. I found it interesting how the middle class was turned against the underprivileged lower class instead of the oppressive upper class; it seems as if this phenomenon is still relevant today.
Kris's paper brought up some itneresting other contributers to the Bloody Code. I had no idea that there was no actual police force in the 18th century, which obviously made it more difficult to stop criminals. Instead of creating a police force, the Bloody Code discouraged crime altogether and made repeat offences impossible by simply killing nearly all criminals. As Kris explains, this is in-line with the publicity of executions: watching another person die for stealing is more than enough to dissuade the majority of the population from theft. I also found it interesting that the executions were concentrated around London and therefore Parliament, where courts were more intent on following the law to the letter and setting a good example.
I also enjoyed reading and scrolling through our classmates' research excursion. I was also interested in and learned about the true horrors of the bloody code. Thanks for sharing Javi's and Kris's excursions!
ReplyDeleteI also enjoyed learning about the bloody code! I found it very interesting too that there was no police force in the 18th century. It made a lot more sense to me as to why death was the result of so many crimes committed (though I still do not think it was justified...obviously). As for religion, it always baffles me when religion aligns with rises in things such as the death penalty, given most religions do not support murder or killing, yet support this law. It is unfortunate but not surprising to me.
ReplyDeleteI also was surprised by the connection of religion that Javi brought up! It seemed so antithetical to the idea of such a violent system, but the idea of it allowing the institution of the church to keep people in line made sense
ReplyDeleteInterestingly, the police emerge as an institution directly in relation to slavery...
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