The Swift Economy of Colonial Justice

Here are just a few incidents of crime and punishment as they were administered throughout the colonies in the years 1768 through 1770 and chronicled by the Portsmouth New Hampshire Gazette. Contrary to what you might assume, crime was not a major feature of colonial newspapers. In this era, correspondents were far more interested in political intrigue and the ideas surrounding the rights of free men. You have to really look, in other words, for a crime blotter, and when crime was reported, unlike today, it had a beginning, a middle, and an end. You read about the crime itself, the trial, and the punishment.

I would argue the speediness of this justice is good for the soul of any society. You aren't left, as a citizen, with the angst of hearing about the villainy of one barbarous act after the next, followed by years of procedural maneuvering and the prospect of a smug criminal laughing at the system after a few years of watching Jerry Springer in the can; you have the satisfaction of knowing that the enormity of the crime was met with the enormity of punishment. Attempted rapists were publicly shamed and whipped, burglars were branded with a "B" on the forehead, murderers were hanged, and even common criminals proposed their own punishment, administered by the victims, without the censure of the local magistrate.

Those of us outside today's criminal justice apparatus tend to see our own system as erring on the side of caution, mercy, and the rights of the accused, but the reality is much more cynical. What we call "criminal justice" today is primarily a jobs program. Every new rapist, every new burglar, every new murderer represents money to the system--new jobs for jailers, new jobs for prison builders, more billable hours for detectives, social workers, psychiatrists, more fund-raising letters for various silly sisters of mercy who put Berkeley post-grads to work, trying to make the world safe for arsonists and child-killers. Follow the money. What we are paying for today has nothing to do with either justice for the victim or mercy for the accused. It has everything to do with handing out more state pensions to people who have the gall to say they are "reforming" criminals. Our system, in the last analysis, at a time of budget constraint, certainly has no respect for the tax-payer.

Think of the sheer beauty and simplicity of burning a burglar with a brand-iron "B" on the forehead. This was done in public, before children, as an example of bad behavior. For the rest of his life, the burglar carried with him a very efficient background check and a collosal incentive to reform himself. Imagine the man who truly wanted to change, after a life of crime. He had to work harder to win his fellow citizens' trust, and in the faces of those who reacted to his branded flesh, he had a reminder--every day--to change his ways. If he did continue in a life of crime, the judge could see, immediately, without the benefit of a computerized rap-sheet, what sort of offender he had before him.

We have come very far, on many fronts, as a society, but we are fooling ourselves if we really think we have become more merciful, and more "progressive" in the arena of criminal justice.

To wit:

Boston, April 23, 1770 In the present Term of the..Court, one George White was convicted of Burglary, in breaking into the House of Mr. John Moffatt, and had the Benefit of the Clergy, being burnt in the Hand, he was also convicted of breaking into the Province House and stealing, for which he was sentenced to be branded in the Forehead with the Letter B and to pay Cost; he was also convicted upon other Indictments against him for stealing, on each of which he has been sentenced to be whipt 20 Stripes, to pay treble damages and Cost.

Portsmouth, August 11,(1769) Friday last came on at the Superior-Court then sitting, the Trial of one Arthur Meloy, of this Town, a Man near 60 Years old, for abusing and attempting a RAPE...last Wednesday being the Day appointed for him to make his public Appearance in this Character, at Eleven A.M. he was mounted on a Stage before the State-House, erected for the Purpose on which he was Pillory'd, and there remained one Hour, a Spectacle to a great Concourse of People, he was then taken down and conducted to the Whipping-Post, where after receiving 15 Lashes...

(Charleston, SC, May 1, 1769) On Wednesday Matthew Turner, late a Mariner on Board the Ship Bacchus of Liverpool, was arraigned...for the Murder of Wililam Harrop, late Master of the said Ship, ...On Friday the 28th after a long and full hearing, the Court unanimously found the said M. Turner Guilty, and sentenced him to be hanged....

New York, December 4, 1769: Last Tuesday one John Campbell, was indicted and convicted of Grand Larceney, and received sentence of death, and is ordered to be executed on Friday, the 22d inst. He is an old offender, and has been crop'd and branded in the Forehead; and said to have been whip'd in South-Carolina, Pennsylvania, and Boston.

HARTFORD, November 27, (1770) In the Evening preceeding the Thanksgiving, a strolling Vagabondly fellow in his way (as he pretended) to Boston, coming into a private House in the eastwardly Part of the Town, in the Habit and Character of a Beggar plausibly sought for Entertainment; calling himself a Native Subject of the King of Denmark, from whose Dominions about Ten years ago he came into this Country; since which among other misfortunes, he has that of losing all the Fingers on one Hand, and free use of those of the other by falling into the Fire in a convulsion-Fit. Being thus recommended to the Pity and Charity of the hospitable Family, commiserating his calamitous Circumstances they could do no other than receive him as their Guest. But as he preferr'd solitary Retirement to Company under a Pretence of not being troublesome to the Family, was introduced to a comfortable Fire in the Kitchen. But while the Family were busy in the other Room, confiding in the Simplicity and Honesty, as well as imbecility of their new guest, he, with several Articles of Value, was soon found to be missing; whereupon with all convenient Speed, the Thief was pursued, and overtaken at a Tavern about a Mile distant, where in merry Mood, he was offering his new Assortment upon Sail (sic) to the highest Bidder. This Merriment might have lasted longer, had it not been interrupted by the true Owner challenging his Property, who after some proper Diversion, bound the apprehended Criminal, for a more easy and convenient Escortment about seven Miles in a retrograde March to a civil Magistrate. But the reluctant Villain, choosing rather to make a present than a future Settlement, made the Proposal, to which, with the Advice of the Company, the indulgent Creditor consented; for the Receipt of which (Matters being thus amicably accomodated) he voluntarily stripping himself receive'd upon the Spot seven hearty Lashes, with a good sturdy Horse-Whip warmly apply'd, which he tamely submitted to and endured with all the Patience and fortitude which his own Circumstances and the Nature of the Thing would well admit of..