EDEXCEL GCSE HISTORY · PAPER 1 · CRIME & PUNISHMENT
Changing Views: Attitudes and the Law
c1900-present · Chapter 4: Crime, punishment and law enforcement in recent times, c1900-present · Lesson 1 of 4
What Do You Already Think?
Answer before the lesson, then check your ideas at the end.
1. Can something be a crime one year and legal the next?
Yes - when society's attitudes change, Parliament changes the law.
2. Name something that was legal in 1950 but is a crime today.
Drink driving, racial discrimination, marital rape, using a hand-held phone while driving.
3. Name something that was a crime in 1950 but is legal today.
Homosexual acts between men, and abortion in most circumstances.
Learning Objectives
1. Explain how changing attitudes led to some actions being decriminalised.
2. Explain how changing attitudes led to new crimes being created.
3. Compare the treatment of conscientious objectors in the First and Second World Wars.
Setting the Scene
In the twentieth century British society changed faster than ever before. Attitudes to sexuality, race, gender, drugs and driving shifted, and the law followed. Some actions were decriminalised; others became crimes for the first time. What counts as a crime depends on what society and Parliament think is harmful.
1916 - Conscription is introduced; conscientious objectors must face tribunals. | 1965 - The first Race Relations Act makes racial discrimination in public places illegal. | 1967 - Homosexual acts between men over 21 in private are decriminalised; the Abortion Act passes; the breathalyser is introduced. | 1971 - The Misuse of Drugs Act sorts drugs into classes A, B and C. | 1991 - Rape within marriage is recognised as a crime. | 1998 - The Crime and Disorder Act creates racially aggravated offences.
Decriminalised and Criminalised
|
NO LONGER CRIMES |
NEW CRIMES |
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▸ Homosexual acts between men in private (from 1967). ▸ Abortion in many circumstances (Abortion Act 1967). ▸ Attempting suicide (Suicide Act 1961). |
▸ Racial discrimination and race hate crime (from 1965 and 1998). ▸ Drink driving (breathalyser from 1967). ▸ Rape within marriage (from 1991). ▸ Using a hand-held phone while driving (from 2003). |
Why Attitudes Changed
The law changed because society changed.
▸ Tolerance. After the 1960s many people became more tolerant of private behaviour that harmed no one else.
▸ Equality. Campaigns for the rights of women and ethnic minorities led to laws against discrimination and hate crime.
▸ Safety. New technology, especially cars, created new dangers that the law had to address, such as drink driving.
▸ Campaigners. Pressure groups and individual MPs pushed for changes to laws they saw as unjust.
Conscientious Objectors in the First World War
Refusing to fight became a legal issue when conscription began.
▸ Conscription. The Military Service Act of 1916 made single men aged 18-41 liable to fight.
▸ COs. Around 16,000 men refused to fight on grounds of conscience; they were called conscientious objectors.
▸ Tribunals. Objectors had to prove their case at tribunals, which were often hostile and rejected most applications.
▸ Treatment. Some accepted non-combat roles; "absolutists" who refused everything were imprisoned, and some faced harsh treatment, including being sent to France where they could be shot for disobeying orders.
Conscientious Objectors at Dartmoor
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From 1917 some conscientious objectors were sent to do hard labour at work centres such as the old prison at Dartmoor, rather than to military prisons. How they were seen ▸ "Conchies". Many people saw them as cowards and traitors. ▸ White feathers. Men not in uniform were sometimes handed white feathers as a sign of cowardice. ▸ Loss of rights. After the war, many objectors lost the right to vote for five years. |
Conscientious objectors at the Princetown Work Centre, Dartmoor, 1917. |
Photograph, 1917; public domain copies on Wikimedia Commons or the Peace Pledge Union archive.
Conscientious Objectors: WW1 and WW2
The treatment of objectors changed a great deal between the wars.
|
First World War |
Second World War |
|
|---|---|---|
|
Number of COs |
Around 16,000 |
Around 60,000 |
|
Tribunals |
Often hostile; most applications rejected |
More understanding; many exemptions granted |
|
Alternatives |
Non-combat roles or work centres |
Civilian work such as farming, firefighting or bomb disposal |
|
Prison |
Many absolutists imprisoned, some harshly |
Far fewer imprisoned |
|
Public attitude |
Widely seen as cowards |
Still some hostility, but more tolerance |
Key Terms
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Decriminalise To make something no longer a crime. |
Conscription Making people join the armed forces by law. |
|
Conscientious objector Someone who refuses to fight for reasons of conscience. |
Tribunal A special court that decided whether an objector's case was genuine. |
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Absolutist A conscientious objector who refused to do anything to help the war effort. |
Hate crime A crime motivated by prejudice, for example against someone's race or religion. |
Summary
✓ Changing attitudes led Parliament to decriminalise some actions and criminalise others.
✓ Homosexuality and abortion were decriminalised in 1967.
✓ Race hate, drink driving and marital rape became crimes.
✓ Conscientious objectors were treated far more tolerantly in WW2 than in WW1.
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EXAM FOCUS Explain one way in which the treatment of conscientious objectors in the First World War was different from their treatment in the Second World War. (4 marks) Name one clear difference, then support it with specific detail from both wars. |