Brief History of Crimes and Punishments
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Breaking laws is not recommended
Every historical period has people who commit crimes (break the law) and are punished for it. However, different eras had a variety of methods and devices they used to torture, embarrass and even kill criminals. In this unit study I cover a brief history of crimes and their punishments. The information is added to activities to help encourage fun and learning. Along with history this unit study reinforces the basics of English, science, math, art, geography and more!
Please note some of the information in this unit study can be a little gory and upsetting and is not for the faint of heart.
Please note some of the information in this unit study can be a little gory and upsetting and is not for the faint of heart.
Hammurabi and the first laws
Hammurabi was an ancient Babylonian King who controlled most of lower Mesopotamia. He is considered to be the first ruler to install a written code of law. Two hundred and eighty-two laws made up Hammurabi's tablets. They were placed in a public area for all to see and understand right and wrong under the control of Hammurabi. Punishments were severe, many meant death!
Hammurabi listed 282 laws in cuneiform (the first written language).
The Gladiator Arena
In Ancient Rome, how you were put to death depended on your social class. People of a higher class were allowed to poison themselves in private but lower class people, like slaves, were executed publicly. This could include crucifixion or the more popular gladiator arena (amphitheater).
Punishment devices
During the Middle Ages and up through the 1800s it became custom to punish people publicly and therefore add humiliation to their sentence. The practices in Old England were adopted by those who came to the New World to form colonies, and so, similar punishments were found in both parts of the world. Branks, Brands and Block Letters
Labeling a criminal is an ancient Roman tradition which was continued into England and the colonies.
The most common form of labeling was to force the offender to wear a letter cut from red cloth and sewed onto their garment. A more barbarous method of labeling was with branding. A brank was a horrible device intended to dissuade women from gossiping.
The most common form of labeling was to force the offender to wear a letter cut from red cloth and sewed onto their garment. A more barbarous method of labeling was with branding. A brank was a horrible device intended to dissuade women from gossiping.
Can you find 26 crimes hidden in this wordsearch puzzle? There is one for each letter of the alphabet (although the X is the second letter of the word).
If you need help you can download the entire unit study to learn about a variety of crimes.
Download HERE
Public Executions
Hangings began as a method of execution about 2500 years ago.
It became a popular form of execution because it was easy to perform, and did not cost a lot. The gallows were set up in the public square and then surrounded by wooden stands where spectators would pay for a good view.
It became a popular form of execution because it was easy to perform, and did not cost a lot. The gallows were set up in the public square and then surrounded by wooden stands where spectators would pay for a good view.
A famous hanging is that of Guy Fawkes in 1605. He was found hiding amongst gunpowder under the parliament buildings of King James. Fawkes, and other conspirators had hoped to blow up the parliament buildings. They were captured and found guilty of treason. The sentence for treason was one of horrible death. It would consist of hanging, being drawn and quartered and even burning at the stake. Fawkes was able to finish his death quickly when he jumped from the gallows causing his neck to break.
Read more about Fawkes and his act of treason
Read more about Fawkes and his act of treason
Did You Know?
Despite it being an ancient form of execution a legal hanging was conducted in the United States as recently as 1996!
Game of Hangman
Despite arguments that the game is in poor taste, the game of hangman (or gallows) seems to have been played since the Victorian time period.
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The Guillotine
The Guillotine was a machine invented by Joseph Ignace Guillotin in the 1700s. Joseph was a doctor who believed that punishment for crimes should never be inflicted on the family of the condemned. He also believed that criminals should go to their death with the least possible misery. His machine was a more successful method of beheading than the axe wielding executioner.
Did you Know?
In 1794 Queen Marie Antoinette was sentenced to death by the guillotine.
The Electric Chair
A search for a better form of capital punishment combined with a rivalry between the two giants of electrical service helped the development of the electric chair as a form of execution. An experiment by Thomas Edison to prove the dangers of AC electricity caused many live animals to be killed by electricity. This was followed by the creation of the word electrocution to define death by electricity and soon led to the development of the electric chair. The electric chair was the most popular form of execution in the United States from 1890 to 1980.
Witch trials
Death by fire is considered to be the most painful way to die. It was used as the most popular sentence during the witch trials. Witch burning lasted for about 300 years beginning in the 1450s. There were thousands of witch trials throughout Europe as well as the Salem witch trials in the United States. Read about the Salem witch trials
Jails and Justice
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From Medieval dungeons to Alcatraz and our modern day jailing system - this section talks about how confinement in prisons began to be used as punishment. So, the penal system went from one of torture and execution to one of imprisonment. Today it is considered as a system of corrections which encompasses a number of punishments other than imprisonment.
According to 2003 data there are more than 8.75 million people held in prisons around the world. Do you know which countries house the most criminals? Download the entire unit study to find out!
Did you know?
One of the smallest prisons in the world can be found in Rodney, Ontario, Canada. It is 24.3 m/270 ft².
Other unit studies that cover crime and punishment
If you enjoyed reading this unit study you can follow other aspects of crime and punishment with two other unit studies.
About the author
Sandra Wilson is an experienced educator and writer whose aim is to put the fun back into education. The Education with a Bang series of unit studies takes interesting topics of study and puts them into a unit study combined with fun activities to inspire a desire to learn.Sandra is also owner and operator of an online educational thrift store where you can save a buck on a book!
Visit the website to download the unit study
Bibliography and other resources of interest
Happy to hear from you!
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Ruthi
May 26, 2012 @ 2:47 pm | delete
- What an interesting and intensive study of crime and punishment! I readily agree that burning to death would have to be the most painful of punishments.
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happynutritionist Jan 17, 2012 @ 11:33 am | delete
- An interesting history on various forms of punishment for crimes...sometimes justified, sometimes not. Thought it interesting that the Babylon laws were written on tablets just as God wrote the 10 commandments, laws that were important to Him on stone tablets.
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BarbRad Jan 6, 2012 @ 4:37 pm | delete
- Looks like it's still in good taste. No gory or torture pictures. If there had been, I wouldn't have been able to keep reading. It strikes me just how much things have changed, since today in the US, we want to make sure no criminal, not matter what was done to his victims, suffers any pain at all when executed.
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traveller27
Jan 6, 2012 @ 11:39 am | delete
- Well done and informative.
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Zut_Moon
Jan 6, 2012 @ 9:21 am | delete
- Crime and punishment is always a fascinating subject ....
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