Crime and Punishment in Colonial America

Paper Summary:

In order to provide a better understanding of what were considered crimes in colonial America as well as what punishments were assigned to those crimes, this paper begins by examining what most colonies based their laws on, English Common Law. The paper then looks at how English Common Law influenced early American law on crime and punishment and compares the early American state laws to English Common Law, noting that the colonists intended to establish a system of criminal justice that was free of the harsh capital and forfeiture penalties that had been experienced in England. The paper also cites examples from history that illustrate these differences.

From the Paper:

"Whereas Douglas Hay stated, "the church courts still played a role in "wills and marriages and occasional cases of slander." The result in many cases was that a defendant convicted of a capital felony could plead his clergy, be branded on the thumb, and be sent home. Friedman tells us that clergyable offenses were offenses for which, absent privilege of clergy, the punishment was death. They were therefore generally serious offenses. Manslaughter, for example, was a clergyable felony. And the definition of manslaughter included many offenses that we would define as murder. A killing in a tavern brawl, even one done with a deadly weapon, was manslaughter as long as there was no evidence of premeditation or previous enmity. The killer was allowed to plead his clergy, branded on the thumb, and released."

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