ABSTRACT
Perceptions of both crime and criminals changed significantly during the two centuries 1750-1950. At the start of the period, crime was often perceived to be a ‘moral’ issue, and criminals were commonly seen as those simply too greedy or lazy to control their most base desires. While the poor were often associated with crime, the role of poverty in engendering crime often went unacknowledged. By the turn of the twentieth century, however, this view of crime as a ‘choice’ taken by rational individuals had declined. Instead, early criminologists, psychologists and social commentators had shifted towards the view that crime was often the product of either inbuilt hereditary deficiencies or the exhausting and degrading urban environment in which much of the population now lived. Perceptions of criminals themselves also changed considerably. Certainly, fears of an alienated, ‘professional’ class of criminals can be traced throughout the period 1750-1950, but these were perhaps at their peak during the 1850s and 1860s. During the nineteenth century, society’s views of juvenile and female offenders also altered significantly. The reasons behind these changes were complex, and certainly developments in scientific thinking, in popular culture and in the role of the state all played a part. However, although complex, it is important to consider these developments, as the views that prevail in society regarding the essential nature of criminality have a strong influence on the ways in which laws are written and policing is organized.
