SOLON Crimes and Misdemeanours: Deviance and the Law in Historical Perspective'Crimes and Misdemeanours' was the online journal of SOLON from 2007 to 2010. Replaced by 'Law, Crime and History'https://pearl.plymouth.ac.uk/handle/10026.1/87602024-03-29T15:13:22Z2024-03-29T15:13:22ZThe Advice Needs of Gypsies and Travellers in Plymouth: Final ReportJames, ZoeSimmonds, Lesleyhttps://pearl.plymouth.ac.uk/handle/10026.1/88522019-05-22T15:27:31Z2010-03-01T00:00:00ZThe Advice Needs of Gypsies and Travellers in Plymouth: Final Report
James, Zoe; Simmonds, Lesley
2010-03-01T00:00:00ZBusiness as Usual'? Britain’s First Women’s Convict Prison, Brixton 1853-1869Davie, Neilhttps://pearl.plymouth.ac.uk/handle/10026.1/88512019-05-22T15:27:31Z2010-03-01T00:00:00ZBusiness as Usual'? Britain’s First Women’s Convict Prison, Brixton 1853-1869
Davie, Neil
This article concerns the 16 year penal experiment at Brixton, Britain's first convict prison for women (1853-1869). From the start, the regime at Brixton was seen by Home Office officials and prison staff alike as a second-best solution, since contemporary views on 'appropriate' women's work ruled out the hard physical labour of the men's public works prisons, felt to bring salutary effects to both body and mind. The emphasis was placed instead on inculcating those domestic, 'womanly' values felt to be under threat from the social forces unleashed by the Industrial Revolution. However, a combination of the enforced sedentary lifestyle, together with women's supposedly 'impulsive' and 'excitable' natures, were blamed for creating an unexpected problem of discipline in the prison. Despite removing some of the worst cases to Millbank for a dose of separate confinement, the prison authorities felt continually frustrated and powerless in the face of persistent rule-breaking at Brixton. Caught between the conflicting demands of the reformatory project and calls from outside to tighten the penal screw, and clearly divided on the question of just what punishments were suitable for women prisoners, they saw no solution except to build a new prison and try again.
2010-03-01T00:00:00Z'Mony Utheris Divars Odious Crymes’: Women, Petty Crime and Power in Later Sixteenth Century AberdeenFalconer, J.R.D.https://pearl.plymouth.ac.uk/handle/10026.1/88502019-05-22T15:27:31Z2010-03-01T00:00:00Z'Mony Utheris Divars Odious Crymes’: Women, Petty Crime and Power in Later Sixteenth Century Aberdeen
Falconer, J.R.D.
This article examines the nature of petty crimes committed by sixteenth century Aberdonian women and the impact they had on burgh society. The evidence presented here challenges the notion that the burgh court charged women with a much more narrow range of criminal activities than men. Over a period of roughly 50 years (1541-1591), the Aberdeen Council Register and Baillie Court Books record nearly 2,000 individual convictions for a variety of criminal acts that included statute breaking, property crimes, and acts of verbal and physical assault. This article looks at a specific section of this evidence to argue that women used the same methods to wrong their neighbours, challenge the authority of the magistrates and to push the boundaries of acceptable behaviour. Even if it was not the intended consequence of their actions, the petty crimes committed by Aberdonian women, not unlike those committed by their male counterparts, (re)shaped their social space. The evidence suggests that individuals used petty crimes to achieve specific goals and to establish dominance within their environment. In many cases, such crimes, and the responses to these acts, constituted a negotiation of social power.
2010-03-01T00:00:00ZHistoriographical Contextualisation of Current IssueRowbotham, JudithStevenson, KimPegg, Samanthahttps://pearl.plymouth.ac.uk/handle/10026.1/88492019-05-22T15:27:31Z2010-03-01T00:00:00ZHistoriographical Contextualisation of Current Issue
Rowbotham, Judith; Stevenson, Kim; Pegg, Samantha
Editorial
2010-03-01T00:00:00Z