Compare And Contrast The Cruel And Unusual Punishment During The Revolutionary Era

Revolutionary Era

During the Revolutionary Period, there were any crimes and punishments that took place, while reading and researching more of the lesson for this week I learned a great deal about the Revolutionary Era and the cruel and unusual punishment that took place during this time. Because of the extent of these punishments the American Criminal Justice system came together which included the courts, policing, and prisons on a local and state level, to apprehend, and arrest the responsible criminals and determining if they were guilty and to impose the right sentencing for the offenders. The two crimes and punishments that really stuck out to me are “the crime of Treason, and Piracy and Smuggling”. During this time of Era, the American

The crime of treason is an offensive act of over throwing the state or government in which the offender has been tried and convicted and owes commitment, or to kill a person, or can physical harm to the ruler or the ruler's family. By betraying the ruler or the country and waging war against and purposely acting to help another country resulted in this crime.

Though the act of committing Treason was one of the worst crimes that could be committed. This criminal offense drew the hardest penalties in England. The punishment varies by nations, although it very harsh punishments they discourage use of it. This punishment goes beyond the standard of execution by hanging, punishments included pulled to the scaffolds by horse, hanging of the body until near death, or the dividing of the corpse, or dismembering the body remains into four pieces. All of this was carried out in a public setting, so that the crowd could see the criminal

This criminal act became more frequent with the colonization’s of the America. Smugglers were able to sail across foreign lands and bring back the goods and trade without paying taxes which angered the rich government. Most of the smugglers were associated with groups or gangs, which made it difficult to stop them because they became challenging groups, almost like the mafia. Most of the smugglers were fisherman by trade who were either too poor to pay the fines linked with being sentenced, or too old to be forced into the Royal Navy if convicted. (Chin, 2010), “England was one of the largest smuggling centers during this Era. Most of the contraband brought ashore went to the local markets, smuggling was comprised of complex networks that permitted the illicit goods to reach distant markets, in London”. Chin, James K. (2010). This brought in a large amount of review, which made it that much harder to stop and control. When the smugglers got caught and was subjected to punishment it was very challenging to get the criminal executed for their actions. After several laws was past the British Naval was forces to take action to prevent the smuggling from continuing at sea, by enforcing the law and when they suspected illegal activity of important goods