How much did the police-force change after 1900?

This enquiry uses the case of Colin Pitchfork to help your students work out how much policing changed in the 20^th century. After re-capping what policing was like by 1900, your students will read about the Pitchfork case. This was the first ever case to use DNA fingerprinting to find the killer. The scientist Alec Jeffreys (pictured here),  used DNA fingerprinting to find Pitchfork guilty of two horrific crimes.

Pitchfork raped and murdered two fifteen year old girls in the 1980s. The police struggled to find the murderer. But eventually, with the combination of new science and old police work Pitchfork was found.

This enquiry uses the strong narrative of the Pitchfork case to analyse just how much policing changed after 1900. Your students will read the story to find examples of changes to policing. They will then be able to use this vital information to explain why things changed so much!

Download lesson