D M Buckland

Crucifixion & Criminality D M Buckland

Laws, rules, effective punishment, discipline, authority... Principles as old as man himself. As long as humans have walked the earth, we have always held highly established expectations upon how others should and should not behave towards us. We judge others and have learned from, created, and built upon an ever developing system of rules to guide our society as populations have increased, and alongside them wealth and power. From Roman crucifixion to medieval trials by ordeal, communities evolved their belief in a system of imposed justice. Monarchs and the Church have fuelled their own intense battles for centuries over the privilege to incarcerate and punish not just criminals, but any person daring to oppose their beliefs. The Industrial Revolution brought the country huge amounts of crime, forfeited by advances in shipping and a move to incarceration for punishment. The story of Britain's battle against crime and our constant attempt to punish those that wrong us has evolved for more than twenty centuries and is our countries longest and most costly conflict, but also one of our most fascinating. Crucifixion and Crime takes us on a tour... From the beginning of systematic punishment to today's modern service. A voyage of tales and priorities fuelled by the few that were daring enough to want to change the system.