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Author Topic: Has anything changed?  (Read 2564 times)

Offline Jane Masri

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Has anything changed?
« on: Saturday 22 November 08 14:45 GMT (UK) »
I'm transcribing criminal registers for the Ancestry World Archives Project.  I've just been looking at one of the pages & three men of the ages, 44, 56 & 60 were found guilty of, 'carnally knowing a girl between the age of 10 & 12'.  This is in Kent in 1848.  Two of them got two years imprisonment & the other 18 months.  On the same page a counterfeiter of coin got 12 months imprisonment & a sheep stealer got 10 years transportation  :o
 >:(  makes me mad!!

jane
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Offline dollylee

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Re: Has anything changed?
« Reply #1 on: Saturday 22 November 08 15:05 GMT (UK) »
It's a crime without any excuses and with today's scientific "proof" in the cases where DNA can be collected it is beyond me why these criminals aren't given a life sentence.  If there can be no doubt of their guilt they should never see the light of day again.

dollylee

Offline Jane Masri

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Re: Has anything changed?
« Reply #2 on: Saturday 22 November 08 15:19 GMT (UK) »
Quite agree, Dollylee but it does make you wonder how seriously they took these crimes back in the day...not very as far as I can see  :(

jane
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Offline stanmapstone

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Re: Has anything changed?
« Reply #3 on: Saturday 22 November 08 15:46 GMT (UK) »
Sexual crimes against children were not unusual in Victorian times, the surprising thing is the blasé attitude of the magistrates and the relatively lenient sentences handed down. For example in North Shields Police Court on 1st March 1900 a Peter Marshall was accused of indecent assault on a four year old girl, he was sentenced to two months in jail.

Stan
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Offline Jane Masri

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Re: Has anything changed?
« Reply #4 on: Saturday 22 November 08 15:52 GMT (UK) »
 ::)

jane
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Offline MKG

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Re: Has anything changed?
« Reply #5 on: Saturday 22 November 08 16:45 GMT (UK) »
It isn't THAT long ago that a girl of 12 was old enough to marry (as long as the husband was at least 14).
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Offline Dancing Master

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Re: Has anything changed?
« Reply #6 on: Saturday 22 November 08 19:00 GMT (UK) »
There were no more in Victorian times as there are now, but because of the Press and Television coverage we simply know more about it.

When we were children we were always told there were certain persons you simply kept away from, nothing was elaborated upon but you did as your parents told you.


Offline stanmapstone

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Re: Has anything changed?
« Reply #7 on: Saturday 22 November 08 22:49 GMT (UK) »
Quote from: MKG on Saturday 22 November 08 16:45 GMT (UK)
It isn't THAT long ago that a girl of 12 was old enough to marry (as long as the husband was at least 14).

From 1823 the age at which a couple could undergo a valid marriage, even without parental consent, was 14 for boys and 12 for girls. The 1929 Age of Marriage Act made all marriages void from 10 May 1929, if either partner was under the age of 16. The legal age for marriage remained at 14 for boys and 12 for girls in the Republic of Ireland, until 1st January 1975, when it was raised to 16.

Stan
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Offline dollylee

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Re: Has anything changed?
« Reply #8 on: Sunday 23 November 08 00:44 GMT (UK) »
With the title of this thread being "Has anything changed?" I was not thinking of the laws of the time and how that might influence the ridiculous penalties given for the crimes nor the effect that age of consent might have had on the courts.

Unfortunately it would seem that very little has changed as far as this crime goes.  The penalties are still ridiculous, the crime is still rampant and we still seem to be casting a blind eye.

What has changed in some cases is the ability to dismiss any reasonable doubt of guilt and in those cases I say ....... Hang em and hang em high !!!  :'( :'(

dollylee
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