Crime and Authority in Victorian England

The Industrial Revolution seemed, to contemporary eyes, to produce an upsurge of crime threatening a complete breakdown of social order. Focusing on one industrial area – the Black Country for 1835–60 – Crime and Authority in Victorian England, originally published in 1977 tests the validity of those contemporary fears.

It examines what sources can be used for studying crime and what can be deduced from them and also considers the change in policing from parish constable to police force, analysing their methods and efficiency. There is also a study of the criminal process, bringing out the great importance of its reliance on private prosecution.

Figures of committals to trial, compiled from over 20,000 cases, are analysed in order to show the relationship between crime and economic circumstances, and provides material on the offenders themselves and on the trends in punishment. The author looks in detail at property offenders and violent offenders and the circumstances surrounding the offences. Property offences made up the vast majority of offences and were mostly relatively trivial thefts. Examination of violent offences reveals a rough, but not notably homicidal society.

Throughout, emphasis is placed on the importance of the interaction between those who broke the law and those who enforced it.