The changing scene of crime and punishmentin the nineteenth century fundamentally shaped the establishment andprogression of Australia. England’s urban condition was changing in theeighteenth and nineteenth for hundreds of years. The Transportation Act (1717)had legalised transportation as an act of punishment, and by 1800 it was an importantpart of the British legal system it allowed convictedcriminals to be transported to the colonies to serve their prison sentences.
Whichwere usually up to seven or fourteen years or for life. When the Americancolonies refused British rule in 1776, other British coloniesbecame places of convict transportation such as the new south wales In Australia New South Wales (NSW) was theprincipal convict site, with 775 landing on the First Fleet in January 1788. (Godfreyand Cox, 2008). These convicts, was brought in with their variety of abilities, exchanges, and as a key part ofoffering of free work, were fundamentalin building the new colony. 265 ref over 168,000 prisonerswere transported from the United Kingdom to Australia. (Godfrey and Cox,2008).
The Australian mainlandwas a ground for experimentation in the treatment of sentenced offenders it wasuseful as the criminal was expelled fromsociety and being quite cheap – thestate just needed to pay the cost of the journey . (Hirst 1995) During the 1785 – 1840Transportation was key punishment in dealing with convicts in the years of 1785-1840 it was seen as an alternative to hanging which the courts were more in favour of thistype of punishment as it did not lead to death. transportation was introduced in Australia to send a message to the public that theywould be removed from society if they were convicted of an offence therefore they would be tempted to break thelaw furthermore it? linked to the themeof re as it helped reformed individuals to change their ways and identify their wrongs .Also benefitted austrailia asit removed criminals and therefore reducing ?crime inBritain. also Australia for the British Empire, to helpbuild up control of regionHowever, there were differentapproaches and disciplines during the eighteenth and nineteenth century such asdeath by hanging, imprisonment and hard labour.
These disciplines however were costly and Britain’s prison system wasoverwhelmed with rising numbers of convictions for crime (Hirst, date). Crimes thatwere punishable by transportation were protesting, robbery, rebelling againstBritish rule and damage to property (ref); also there were other significantgroups of prisoners sent to the colonies including rioters, (the TolpuddleMartyrs)., These are seen as the main reasons of preferred method of dealing with convicts inthe period .
1785- 1840Overall there were a variety of punishments introduced during eighteenth and nineteenthcentury such as death by hanging, imprisonment, hard labour , these disciplinesfit in with the theory of punishment . for example, for an offenderto be concealed in a prison it is a form of imprisonment as it is a restricting the individuals rights and limiting the indidvuals freedom and in doing this you protect society . Hardlabour can be seen as retribution forthe crime as well as giving the offender an opportunity to reform.
Death byhanging was seen retribution for thevictim of the crime an eye for an eye a deterrence to the offender and otherpotential offendersThe 1777 treatise of John Howard,the penal reformer, set out plans for review of sentencing, where criminalswould be categorised and served punishments according to the seriousness oftheir crime. His plans included new prisons where prisoners would beincarcerated in cells and put to hard labour under close supervision. AlthoughHoward’s plans were accepted by the Pitt government and included in the 1779Penitentiary Act, the prisons were never built due to the expenditure required(Hirst, 1995). Transportation was seen by the government as being financiallymore beneficial in terms of punishing an offender and avoiding the outlay forthe prisons and ongoing costs. However, although on the first fleet of prisonships that set sail for Australia in 1787 under the command of Naval Captain Arthur Phillips, treatment ofthe convicts was good, Phillips having insisted on a sound, well provisionedship, this was not so for subsequentfleets. For example, of 750 convicts on the first fleet there were only 32deaths, there were 267 deaths on the second fleet, representing 25 percent ofthe convict passengers, indicating a greater number on the ships and suggestingconsiderably less expenditure on the trip (Hirst, 1995). Additionally, it wasfelt that transportation would better teach prisoners the value of hard work;secondly, it would remove the temptation for idle men get up to mischief andthirdly, it would deter others from committing crime. Another reason was theneed for cheap labour in Australia (Godfrey and Cox, 2008).
Low expenditure andeffectiveness as a means of reducing crime and recidivism are seen as the main reasons of transportation as the preferredmethod of dealing with convicts in the period 1785- 1840.Unsure where to put this in paragraph in However, this apparently unfair approach maybe identified in dynamic optimal punishment theory put forward by Becker (1968)in Leung (1991), which justifies harsh punishments based on the notion that tobe effective and fair, the punishment must be a multiple of the crime in orderto compensate society for undetected similar crimes and perhaps to deterfurther crimes Jeremy Bentham was keen on NewSouth Wales and convict transportation to a great extent attributable to hisfailed idea on the ‘Panopticon’ jail plot, which was intended to enable a solitary guardianto watch (- opticon) all (container ) fellow prisoners without them having thecapacity to tell whether they are being watched or not. He trusted this idea ashe felt that offenders will improve their conduct and figure out how to function and carry onwell. Bethan was against transportation his reasons for this :it was it was costly, uncertain in the punishment it inflicted , unlikely toreform because those employingconvicts were interested in solely in profit and unable to deter because punishment took place at distance in new south wales ( Hirst 1995) ……………………………………)removing criminals to another land did not seem to have had any effecton the crime-rate … Examples trying to find some prisons were presently viewed as a superior techniquefor rebuffing as well as changing offenders and numerous new ones were beingfabricated. Above all else, Australians started to protest firmly to theirnation being utilized as a dumping-ground for Britain’s criminals Rehabilitation is a key aim of prison and during the eighteenth and nineteenth century incentives were brought in toencourage prisoners to change their ways The ticket of leave system was firstintroduced by Governor Philip Gidley King in 1801. Its principal aim was toreduce the burden on the fledgling colonial government of providing food fromthe government’s limited stores to the convicts who were being transported fromthe United Kingdom to New South Wales. It benefitted those who were looked upon to beindependent they were awarded a ticket of leave The ticket of leave system was beneficial toprisoners as it gave them a goal toachieve and many that were released went on to havesuccessful lives in Australia as it provided a chance for offenders to writetheir own wrongs and start a fresh and build a new successful life ref (Hirst1995) In 1837, William Molesworth set up an inquiry , to investigatetransportation and secondary punishment in New South Wales and Van Diemens Land(Tasmania).
This report gained a variety of reactions and concerns voicedin both the colony and in Britain. Amid its examinations the advisory groupaccumulated proof that purportedly showed moral corruption of convicttransportation and the oppressed state of convicts, inferring thattransportation was by and large a disappointment and likened to slavery . Molesworth found that the taskframework had turned out to be broken and open to mishandle. As per hisexamination, the task of convicts to private bosses created unequal treatmentwhich had nothing to do with the nature of the offenders crime . Far moredetestable, as he would see it, the convict framework empowered prostitution,abnormality, moral debasement, the making of a criminal class and a breakdownin lawfulness. The report, alongside broad challenges drove by associations,for example, the Australasian Anti-Transportation League, saw transportationabolished to New South Wales in 1840.
….. Transportation to Van Diemans Land (Tasmania)proceeded until 1852 and to Western Australia until 1868.
Molesworth board(1837-8) censured transportation as costly, not adequately reformatory,improper, un-reformative r
