Palgrave Histories of Policing, Punishment and Justice – serie

This book provides a comprehensive overview of police governance in England and Wales. This volume (I) starts from the Anglo Saxon period onwards. Volume II covers reform and development of tripartite governance from 1979-2025. These volumes analyse the key mechanisms and procedures that have sought to provide for the control and accountability of police organisations to external bodies and the means through which the conduct and work performed by police personnel is regulated internally. They discuss and evaluate the key debates and developments that have underpinned changes to police governance and the social, economic and political context within which these have emerged. They bring together a wide variety of material that relates to historical and contemporary aspects of policing. They draw upon primary (as well as secondary) source material including the use of historical documents for the early chapters. They speak to students taking courses in criminology and criminal justice studies and also those specialising in policing and to practitioners.

This book charts the historical development of 'forensic objectivity' through an analysis of the ways in which objective knowledge of crimes, crime scenes, crime materials and criminals is achieved. Taking an interdisciplinary approach, with authors drawn from law, history, sociology and science and technology studies, this work shows how forensic objectivity is constructed through detailed crime history case studies, mainly in relation to murder, set in Scotland, England, Germany, Sweden, USA and Ireland. Starting from the mid-nineteenth century and continuing to the present day, the book argues that a number of developments were crucial. These include: the beginning of crime photography, the use of diagrams and models specially constructed for the courtroom so jurors could be ‘virtual witnesses’, probabilistic models of certainty, the professionalization of medical and scientific expert witnesses and their networks, ways of measuring, recording and developing criminal records and the role of the media, particularly newspapers in reporting on crime, criminals and legal proceedings and their part in the shaping of public opinion on crime. This essential title demonstrates the ways in which forensic objectivity has become a central concept in relation to criminal justice over a period spanning 170 years.

This book charts the historical development of 'forensic objectivity' through an analysis of the ways in which objective knowledge of crimes, crime scenes, crime materials and criminals is achieved. Taking an interdisciplinary approach, with authors drawn from law, history, sociology and science and technology studies, this work shows how forensic objectivity is constructed through detailed crime history case studies, mainly in relation to murder, set in Scotland, England, Germany, Sweden, USA and Ireland. Starting from the mid-nineteenth century and continuing to the present day, the book argues that a number of developments were crucial. These include: the beginning of crime photography, the use of diagrams and models specially constructed for the courtroom so jurors could be ‘virtual witnesses’, probabilistic models of certainty, the professionalization of medical and scientific expert witnesses and their networks, ways of measuring, recording and developing criminal records and the role of the media, particularly newspapers in reporting on crime, criminals and legal proceedings and their part in the shaping of public opinion on crime. This essential title demonstrates the ways in which forensic objectivity has become a central concept in relation to criminal justice over a period spanning 170 years.

This book provides a comprehensive overview of capital punishment in the Australian colonies for the very first time. The author illuminates all aspects of the penalty, from shortcomings in execution technique, to the behaviour of the dying criminal, and the antics of the scaffold crowd. Mercy rates, execution numbers, and capital crimes are explored alongside the transition from public to private executions and the push to abolish the death penalty completely. Notions of culture and communication freely pollinate within a conceptual framework of penal change that explains the many transformations the death penalty underwent. A vast array of sources are assembled into one compelling argument that shows how the ‘lesson’ of the gallows was to be safeguarded, refined, and improved at all costs. This concise and engaging work will be a lasting resource for students, scholars, and general readers who want an in-depth understanding of a long feared punishment.Dr. Steven Anderson is a Visiting Research Fellow in the History Department at The University of Adelaide, Australia. His academic research explores the role of capital punishment in the Australian colonies by situating developments in these jurisdictions within global contexts and conceptual debates.

This book provides a comprehensive overview of capital punishment in the Australian colonies for the very first time. The author illuminates all aspects of the penalty, from shortcomings in execution technique, to the behaviour of the dying criminal, and the antics of the scaffold crowd. Mercy rates, execution numbers, and capital crimes are explored alongside the transition from public to private executions and the push to abolish the death penalty completely. Notions of culture and communication freely pollinate within a conceptual framework of penal change that explains the many transformations the death penalty underwent. A vast array of sources are assembled into one compelling argument that shows how the ‘lesson’ of the gallows was to be safeguarded, refined, and improved at all costs. This concise and engaging work will be a lasting resource for students, scholars, and general readers who want an in-depth understanding of a long feared punishment.Dr. Steven Anderson is a Visiting Research Fellow in the History Department at The University of Adelaide, Australia. His academic research explores the role of capital punishment in the Australian colonies by situating developments in these jurisdictions within global contexts and conceptual debates.

This book considers the law, policy and procedure for child witnesses in Australian criminal courts across the twentieth century. It uses the stories and experiences of over 200 children, in many cases using their own words from press reports, to highlight how the relevant law was – or was not - applied throughout this period. The law was sympathetic to the plight of child witnesses and exhibited a significant degree of pragmatism to receive the evidence of children but was equally fearful of innocent men being wrongly convicted. The book highlights the impact ‘safeguards’ like corroboration and closed court rules had on the outcome of many cases and the extent to which fear – of children, of lies (or the truth) and of reform – influenced the criminal justice process. Over a century of children giving evidence in court it is `clear that the more things changed, the more they stayed the same’.

This book considers the law, policy and procedure for child witnesses in Australian criminal courts across the twentieth century. It uses the stories and experiences of over 200 children, in many cases using their own words from press reports, to highlight how the relevant law was – or was not - applied throughout this period. The law was sympathetic to the plight of child witnesses and exhibited a significant degree of pragmatism to receive the evidence of children but was equally fearful of innocent men being wrongly convicted. The book highlights the impact ‘safeguards’ like corroboration and closed court rules had on the outcome of many cases and the extent to which fear – of children, of lies (or the truth) and of reform – influenced the criminal justice process. Over a century of children giving evidence in court it is `clear that the more things changed, the more they stayed the same’.

This book considers how legal rules and institutions affected the outcome of women's trials in nineteenth century Western Australia and how this was mediated by various social and cultural constructs. It uses numerous case studies to determine the effect of legal representation, co-accused status, Aboriginality and mercy on the outcome of these women's trials. The stories of these mainly working-class women, often traced through trials records and witness depositions, also illuminates the challenges and pitfalls of their lives, the survival strategies they used to navigate these and the pathways that led them to be charged with serious crime. Western Australia offers a different set of conditions for examining female criminality. Its small population meant that women committing crime often became well-known identities within their communities and may have been known, at least by reputation, to the limited number of men eligible for jury duty. Western Australia's low population meant that the number of lawyers practising in the colony was small and that few judges were appointed. During this period Western Australia also created separate laws to apply only to Aboriginal defendants meaning that Aboriginal women became subject to different laws to non-Aboriginal women. The book examines how, and why, some women appeared to receive a more lenient outcome, whereas others were less fortunate. Despite the all-male nature of the criminal justice system in which they appeared, some women appeared to possess a degree of legal literacy which allowed them to use the system to achieve a more favourable outcome in court. This book will be of interest to scholars of criminology, as well as those interested in the history of crime, Western Australian history and the history of the criminal justice system in Australia.

This book provides a comprehensive overview of police governance in England and Wales. This volume (II) covers reform and development of tripartite governance from 1979-2025. Volume I starts from the Anglo Saxon period. These volumes analyse the key mechanisms and procedures that have sought to provide for the control and accountability of police organisations to external bodies and the means through which the conduct and work performed by police personnel is regulated internally. They discuss and evaluate the key debates and developments that have underpinned changes to police governance and the social, economic and political context within which these have emerged. They bring together a wide variety of material that relates to historical and contemporary aspects of policing. They draw upon primary (as well as secondary) source material including the use of historical documents for the early chapters. They speak to students taking courses in criminology and criminal justice studies and also those specialising in policing and to practitioners.