Articles

New heritage crime trail reveals town’s dark past

Prof Helen Johnston and Our Criminal Ancestors have teamed up with the heritage tourism app, ‘What Was Here?’, to offer a unique insight into the history of crime and punishment in Beverley.

Historical perspectives on imprisonment – part 2

May 26, 2020

The latest Prison Service Journal is the second in a series of special editions offering historical perspectives on a range of prison and criminal justice issues.

Historical perspectives on imprisonment

November 20, 2019

The latest issue of the Prison Service Journal features articles offering a historical perspective on various aspects of imprisonment, reaching from penal reform to prison financing systems.

Petitioning for mercy in mid-nineteenth century Yorkshire

May 14, 2019

This article, by Dick Hunter, examines petitions for clemency in Yorkshire courts in the mid-nineteenth century, with a case study of Sarah Ann Hill, who was sentenced to death for the murder of her new-born child in 1851 but whose sentence was commuted to transportation.

Disability and the Victorian prison

May 14, 2019

Prof Helen Johnston and Dr Jo Turner examine what life was like for the disabled prisoner in the nineteenth century convict system.

Convict prison lives in Victorian London

April 24, 2018

Helen Johnston, Barry Godfrey and David Cox look at convict prison lives in Victorian London.

‘Beyond the control of his parents’: Reformatory and Industrial Schools in Yorkshire

April 11, 2018

An overview of the work of reformatory and industrial schools, which were established as a response to a perceived increase in juvenile crime in the nineteenth century.

Borstal goes to war

April 11, 2014

Among the many combatants who fought during the First World War, a sizeable number had been in penal institutions before the outbreak of the conflict.

On the beat: stories from 1914-1918

April 11, 2014

A fresh approach to interpreting crime history at Bishop’s Stortford Museum.

Stockton’s criminal past: promoting a museum’s criminal history collection

April 11, 2014

Take a look at Preston Park Museum’s own criminal history collection.

Event review by Dr Zoe Alker, Liverpool John Moores University

May 17, 2013

The first AHRC ‘Our Criminal Past’ network event at the London Metropolitan Archives.

‘Closing and Opening Prisons’

April 11, 2013

A special issue of the Prison Service Journal explores the impact of closures and openings of prisons on those involved in the system.