Policing and Punishment in London 1660-1750: Urban Crime and the Limits of Terror - Tapa dura

... rich study ... will be required reading for anyone interested in the history of London's policing. (Crime, History & Societies)

We know Beattie's work by now: path breaking, authoritative, detailed. He produces a whole range of fascinating material, the kind of material that can be uncovered only by systematic archival work ... Quite simply Policing and Punishment in London 1660-1750 should be read by all those with an interest in the period or in the history of crime and policing. (Journal of Urban History)

Beattie's great strength is in the way he draws together different methodologies. The result is that for the reader, this book can be read on many levels. For the student of criminal justice, it provides a reference book, to be dipped into at will. For the historian of trends and patterns of crime and law enforcement, it provides both breadth and depth - quantitative and qualitative analyses of change. For the historian of culture, it provides a context against which to read the vast literature, both manuscript and printed, which survives from the eighteenth century. For the historian from below, it provides insights into both the ordinary and extraordinary lives of those involved in the business of crime. As a result this book will endure as a remarkable legacy to future historians of crime. (The London Journal)

... the vigorous research and methodology that underpin this book should also be highlighted. Few historians of crime are capable of matching Beattie in the sheer volume of material he draws upon. (The London Journal)

John Beattie's Crime and the Courts in England, 1660-1800 (Oxford, 1986) achieved the rare status of becoming an indispensable text-book. That John Beattie has managed to so the same again with this second book seems an immense achievement. (The London Journal)

There are many other aspects of law enforcement and judicial processes which Beattie reflects on in this rich study. Like his earlier book this one will be required reading for anyone interested in the history of London's policing, the nature of the city watch, the processes of 'thief-taking' and the problems of corruption in criminal law enforcement. (Crime, History & Societies)

Never before has the way that London's authorities and the city's criminal problems dominated national policy been more strikingly demonstrated. (Crime, History & Societies)

This is a brilliant book that will repay the attention of all early modern historians. (Albion)

... this is an excellent book that will do much to shape the history of criminal justice for generations to come. (Albion)

In apparent asides to his main subject Beattie also gives us histories of everything from street lighting to watchboxes, and adds substantially to our understanding of the development of the City of London as a physical and social entity. (Albion)

This study examines the considerable changes that took place in the criminal justice system in the City of London in the century after the Restoration, well before the inauguration of the so-called 'age of reform'. The policing institutions of the City were transformed in response to the problems created by the rapid expansion of the metropolis during the early modern period, and as a consequence of the emergence of a polite urban culture. At the same time, the City authorities were instrumental in the establishment of new forms of punishment - particularly transportation to the American colonies and confinement at hard labour - that for the first time made secondary sanctions available to the English courts for convicted felons and diminished the reliance on the terror created by capital punishment. The book investigates why in the century after 1660 the elements of an alternative means of dealing with crime in urban society were emerging in policing, in the practices and procedures of prosecution, and in the establishment of new forms of punishment.