Edexcel GCSE History · Option 10

Crime and punishment in Britain, c1000–present and Whitechapel, c1870-c1900: crime, policing and the inner city

50 exam-style questions with answers for Option 10 Crime and punishment in Britain, c1000–present and Whitechapel, c1870-c1900: crime, policing and the inner city in Edexcel GCSE History (spec 1HI0). Practise with flashcards, a topic quiz, a random quiz across the course, 5 crosswords, or read every question and answer below.

All 50 questions and answers

Question 1 · Option 10, c1000–c1500: 1
What is a 'social crime'? [1 mark]
Answer:
A crime that many people did not think was really wrong, such as poaching.
Question 2 · Option 10, c1000–c1500: 1
What were William I's Forest Laws? [2 marks]
Answer:
Large areas of land were made royal forest for the king's hunting (1); hunting deer or cutting wood there became a crime, punished by mutilation or death (1).
Question 3 · Option 10, c1000–c1500: 2
What was a tithing? [1 mark]
Answer:
A group of ten men over the age of 12 who were responsible for each other's behaviour.
Question 4 · Option 10, c1000–c1500: 2
What was the hue and cry? [1 mark]
Answer:
When a crime was discovered, everyone in the village had to stop work and chase the criminal.
Question 5 · Option 10, c1000–c1500: 2
What was the role of the parish constable in later medieval England? [1 mark]
Answer:
An unpaid local man, appointed for a year, who arrested suspects and kept order.
Question 6 · Option 10, c1000–c1500: 2
What was the Wergild? [2 marks]
Answer:
A fine paid to the victim or their family in Anglo-Saxon England (1); the amount depended on the victim's status (1).
Question 7 · Option 10, c1000–c1500: 2
Explain the emphasis on deterrence and retribution in medieval punishment. [2 marks]
Answer:
Punishments were public and harsh to frighten others from committing crime (1); and to make the criminal suffer in return for the crime (1).
Question 8 · Option 10, c1000–c1500: 3
What was sanctuary? [2 marks]
Answer:
A criminal could shelter in a church and be safe from arrest (1); after 40 days they had to stand trial or leave the country (1).
Question 9 · Option 10, c1000–c1500: 3
What was benefit of clergy? [2 marks]
Answer:
Clergy could be tried in Church courts, which did not use the death penalty (1); proving you could read a passage from the Bible was enough to claim it (1).
Question 10 · Option 10, c1000–c1500: 3
What was trial by ordeal? [2 marks]
Answer:
A way of letting God decide guilt when there was no other evidence (1); for example, ordeal by hot iron: if the burn healed cleanly, the accused was innocent (1).
Question 11 · Option 10, c1000–c1500: 3
Why did trial by ordeal end? [1 mark]
Answer:
In 1215 the Pope ordered priests to stop taking part in ordeals.
Question 12 · Option 10, c1500–c1700: 1
Why did heresy become a common crime in the sixteenth century? [2 marks]
Answer:
The official religion changed several times under the Tudors (1); so people who did not follow the monarch's religion were punished as heretics, for example burning under Mary I (1).
Question 13 · Option 10, c1500–c1700: 1
Why was vagabondage made a crime in the sixteenth century? [2 marks]
Answer:
Population growth, enclosure and the dissolution of the monasteries increased the number of poor wanderers (1); the authorities feared they caused crime and disorder (1).
Question 14 · Option 10, c1500–c1700: 1
Why did witchcraft become a crime in the sixteenth century? [2 marks]
Answer:
Witchcraft Acts were passed in 1542 and 1563 (1); religious upheaval and fear of the devil increased suspicion of witches, often poor old women (1).
Question 15 · Option 10, c1500–c1700: 2
What was the role of town watchmen? [1 mark]
Answer:
Unpaid or poorly paid men who patrolled towns at night, arresting suspicious people.
Question 16 · Option 10, c1500–c1700: 2
What was transportation? [1 mark]
Answer:
Sending criminals to the colonies, first to America (from the 1610s) and later to Australia, as an alternative to execution.
Question 17 · Option 10, c1500–c1700: 2
What was the Bloody Code? [1 mark]
Answer:
The name for laws under which the number of crimes punishable by death rose to over 200 by 1800.
Question 18 · Option 10, c1500–c1700: 3
What was the Gunpowder Plot (1605)? [2 marks]
Answer:
A plan by Catholic conspirators to blow up Parliament and kill James I (1); Guy Fawkes was caught guarding gunpowder in the cellar (1).
Question 19 · Option 10, c1500–c1700: 3
How were the Gunpowder Plotters punished? [2 marks]
Answer:
They were hanged, drawn and quartered, the punishment for treason (1); in public, as a warning to others (1).
Question 20 · Option 10, c1500–c1700: 3
Who was Matthew Hopkins? [1 mark]
Answer:
The 'Witchfinder General', who led witch-hunts in eastern England in 1645–47.
Question 21 · Option 10, c1500–c1700: 3
State two reasons for the intensity of the witch-hunts of 1645–47. [2 marks]
Answer:
Any two from: the chaos of the Civil War (1); strong Puritan beliefs in the devil (1); Hopkins was paid for each witch found (1); economic hardship led to blaming others (1).
Question 22 · Option 10, c1700–c1900: 1
Why did highway robbery increase in the eighteenth century? [2 marks]
Answer:
More travellers carried money on roads between growing towns (1); roads were lonely and there was no police force (1).
Question 23 · Option 10, c1700–c1900: 1
Why did smuggling become common in the eighteenth century? [2 marks]
Answer:
High import duties made goods such as tea and brandy expensive (1); so smuggled goods were cheap and local people often protected smugglers (1).
Question 24 · Option 10, c1700–c1900: 1
Why did witchcraft prosecutions end? [1 mark]
Answer:
Belief in witchcraft declined with scientific ideas, and the Witchcraft Act 1736 made it only a crime to pretend to be a witch.
Question 25 · Option 10, c1700–c1900: 1
Who were the Tolpuddle Martyrs? [2 marks]
Answer:
Six Dorset farm labourers who formed a trade union in 1834 (1); they were transported to Australia for swearing a secret oath, but released after protests (1).
Question 26 · Option 10, c1700–c1900: 2
Who were the Fielding brothers? [2 marks]
Answer:
Henry and John Fielding, magistrates at Bow Street, London, in the 1740s–70s (1); they set up the Bow Street Runners, paid thief-takers who investigated crimes (1).
Question 27 · Option 10, c1700–c1900: 2
When was CID set up? [1 mark]
Answer:
1878 (the Criminal Investigation Department of the Metropolitan Police).
Question 28 · Option 10, c1700–c1900: 2
Why was the Bloody Code ended in the 1820s–30s? [2 marks]
Answer:
Juries refused to convict people for minor crimes that carried the death penalty (1); reformers argued that punishment should fit the crime and reform criminals (1).
Question 29 · Option 10, c1700–c1900: 2
State two of John Howard's ideas about prisons. [2 marks]
Answer:
Any two from: prisoners should be kept in clean, healthy conditions (1); jailers should be paid, not charge prisoners (1); prisoners should be separated, not mixed together (1).
Question 30 · Option 10, c1700–c1900: 2
What did Elizabeth Fry do? [2 marks]
Answer:
She visited women prisoners in Newgate from 1813 (1); she set up education and work for them, which influenced the Gaols Act 1823 (1).
Question 31 · Option 10, c1700–c1900: 3
Why was Pentonville prison built (1842)? [2 marks]
Answer:
Transportation was being reduced, so more prisons were needed (1); to try the separate system as a way to reform prisoners (1).
Question 32 · Option 10, c1700–c1900: 3
What was the separate system? [2 marks]
Answer:
Prisoners were kept alone in cells for most of the day (1); so they would reflect on their crimes and not be influenced by other criminals (1).
Question 33 · Option 10, c1700–c1900: 3
State two of Robert Peel's achievements. [2 marks]
Answer:
Any two from: he reformed prisons with the Gaols Act 1823 (1); he removed the death penalty for over 100 crimes (1); he set up the Metropolitan Police in 1829 (1).
Question 34 · Option 10, c1900–present: 1
State two changing definitions of crime since 1900. [2 marks]
Answer:
Any two from: driving offences such as drink-driving (1); race crimes under the Race Relations Acts (1); drug crimes such as possession of cannabis (1).
Question 35 · Option 10, c1900–present: 2
What is Neighbourhood Watch? [1 mark]
Answer:
A scheme started in 1982 in which local residents look out for and report suspicious activity.
Question 36 · Option 10, c1900–present: 2
State two ways science and technology have helped the police since 1900. [2 marks]
Answer:
Any two from: fingerprinting (1); DNA testing (1); CCTV (1); police radios and cars (1); computer databases (1).
Question 37 · Option 10, c1900–present: 2
When was the death penalty abolished for murder? [1 mark]
Answer:
1965 (made permanent in 1969).
Question 38 · Option 10, c1900–present: 2
State two non-custodial alternatives to prison. [2 marks]
Answer:
Any two from: probation (1); community service (1); electronic tagging (1); fines (1).
Question 39 · Option 10, c1900–present: 2
What were borstals? [1 mark]
Answer:
Institutions set up in 1902 to reform young offenders with education and training.
Question 40 · Option 10, c1900–present: 3
How were conscientious objectors treated in the First World War? [2 marks]
Answer:
They faced tribunals, and some did non-combat work (1); absolutists who refused all war work were imprisoned (1).
Question 41 · Option 10, c1900–present: 3
Why was the Derek Bentley case significant? [2 marks]
Answer:
Bentley was hanged in 1953 for a murder fired by his friend, although he had learning difficulties (1); public outrage helped lead to the abolition of the death penalty (1).
Question 42 · Option 10, Whitechapel historic environment
State two problems of housing in Whitechapel, c1870–c1900. [2 marks]
Answer:
Any two from: severe overcrowding in rookeries (1); whole families in one room (1); poor sanitation and disease (1); lodging houses known as 'doss houses' (1).
Question 43 · Option 10, Whitechapel historic environment
What was the Peabody Estate? [1 mark]
Answer:
Model housing built in Whitechapel in 1881 by the Peabody Trust to give the poor clean, cheap homes.
Question 44 · Option 10, Whitechapel historic environment
Why did Jewish migration to Whitechapel increase in the 1880s? [1 mark]
Answer:
Jews fled pogroms (violent attacks) in Russia and Eastern Europe.
Question 45 · Option 10, Whitechapel historic environment
What was H Division? [1 mark]
Answer:
The Metropolitan Police division responsible for policing Whitechapel.
Question 46 · Option 10, Whitechapel historic environment
State two problems the police faced in Whitechapel. [2 marks]
Answer:
Any two from: narrow alleys and courts were dark and hard to patrol (1); alcohol and violence (1); gangs and protection rackets (1); prostitution (1); a shifting population with no ties to the area (1).
Question 47 · Option 10, Whitechapel historic environment
State two problems with the investigation of the Jack the Ripper murders. [2 marks]
Answer:
Any two from: no forensic science or fingerprinting (1); the Metropolitan and City of London Police did not cooperate well (1); newspapers spread rumours and hoax letters (1); witnesses were unreliable (1).
Question 48 · Option 10, Whitechapel historic environment
Who was Sir Charles Warren? [1 mark]
Answer:
The Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police during the Ripper murders, who resigned in November 1888.
Question 49 · Option 10, Whitechapel historic environment
What was Charles Booth's survey? [2 marks]
Answer:
A survey of poverty in London from 1886 (1); its colour-coded maps showed the level of poverty street by street (1).
Question 50 · Option 10, Whitechapel historic environment
State one strength and one weakness of newspapers as a source for Whitechapel. [2 marks]
Answer:
Strength: they give detailed reports of events and public opinion at the time (1). Weakness: they exaggerated and sensationalised stories to sell papers (1).

Option 11 Medicine in Britain, c1250–present and The British sector of the Western Front, 1914–18: injuries, treatment and the trenches →

Crime and punishment in Britain, c1000–present and Whitechapel, c1870-c1900: crime, policing and the inner city

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