Did anyone really bother to enforce the law properly 1700-1900?
This enquiry starts with the fascinating story of Jonathan Wild – the self-named Thief Taker General who ran a massive network of thieves, had some of them tried and executed, and advised the government on crime prevention! Now that is having your cake and eating it. Move over examiners who write text books, you ain’t got nothin’ on this fella!
Surely Wild’s story shows us that no one was interested in enforcing the law properly in this period? Not the beadles (as shown in this picture), not the government, not the magistrates…or were they?
Your class will investigate this question by using a gallery exercise. Then will then test some hypotheses before turning all of this into a 16 mark exam question on changes to policing. Revision is in built into this enquiry.
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- Lesson presentation: PowerPoint
- Lesson write-up: PDF
- Resource 1-3: PDF
- Worksheet 1-2: PDF
