Bailor, Richard Paul2023-05-232023-05-231951https://udspace.udel.edu/handle/19716/32778This study is concerned with crime and its punishment in the colonies along the Delaware during the period from 1740-1790. The criminal code which was-in force during this period was the harsh English criminal law. A long list, of crimes were designated as capital offenses. The list included the various degrees of treason, murder, manslaughter by stabbing, serious maiming, highway robbery, burglary, arson, sodomy, buggery, rape, concealing the death of a bastard child, advising the killing such a child, and witchcraft. Later in the period counterfeiting was added to the list. Offenses which were not deemed capital were punished generally with some form or corporal punishment. Whipping, branding and confinement in the stocks and pillory were among the more popular forms of corporal punishment administered. Imprisonment as a method of punishment was almost totally absent. The prison system as we know it today did not exist. ☐ Offenses against property and property rights oonstituted the overwhelming majority of crimes committed. In this category of offenses burglary was the most frequently committed, and robbery was the next most frequent offense. While serious offenses against the person were less frequent than property offenses, they were outstanding in the public mind and notable for the extreme cruelty involved. ☐ In an examination of some of the major crimes, it was found that 105 persons were sentenced to death for burglary but of this number only 37 were actually reported executed. For robbery, twenty were given the death sentence but only 17 of these suffered death. Out of 19 persons sentenced to death for counterfeiting, only eleven paid the full penalty. Four persons were sentenced to death for arson but not one executed. In considering offenses against the person a similar trend was found to exist. Out of 76 persons found guilty of murder and sentenced to death only 54 were reported executed. Only four women out of the ten sentenced to death for infanticide were actually executed. ☐ In all of these major offenses not nearly all persons under the death sentence were actually reported as executed. Of the rest, some were reprieved or pardoned, or perhaps escaped. From the foregoing information, it may be stated that while the criminal code along the Delaware was very harsh from our point of view, it was not quite as harsh as it would seem and it definitely was tempered by mercy. The large number of persons who were either reprieved, pardoned or banished indicates that colonial authorities were reluctant to enforce the harsh provisions of the criminal code to the full extent. ☐ It has been extremely difficult to establish any definite trends or patterns or any significant growth in criminal tendencies when crime as a whole is.considered. Certain groups or offenses such as those against public morals, against public peace and justice, and against the person were not frequent enough to make it possible to establish any definite trend for these crimes. However, it is possible, by using the two most frequent crimes., robbery and burglary, to note a definite trend in these crimes. These two offenses occurred in sufficient numbers to make it possible to establish a trend in criminal tendencies. From 1740 to 1790 there was a steady increase in the number of robberies and burglaries. Not only did these crimes increase. in frequency as the period progressed, but the number of persons sentenced to death and executed. for these offenses steadily increased. From this information it would seem that there was a definite increase in criminal tendencies as far as these two property offenses are concerned. However, such an inferenoe should not be made without some interpretation of what is implied. It should be noted that the population along the Delaware was steadily increasing throughout the whole period. Also, there was constant influx of indentured servants coming into·these colonies. While · most of these servants were not criminally inclined, a considerable number were given to acts of violence and they helped to swell the class of undesirables. ☐ An attempt was made to subject the Indian impartially to the white man's laws. However, there is a definite discrimination against the Negro, in severity of punishment.Crime -- Delaware -- History -- 18th century.Crime -- Pennsylvania -- History -- 18th century.Crime -- New Jersey -- History -- 18th century.Punishment -- Delaware -- History -- 18th century.Punishment -- Pennsylvania -- History -- 18th century.Punishment -- New Jersey -- History -- 18th century.Thesis1379798524https://doi.org/10.58088/y3td-9f68