Crime and Punishment in Colonial America
In Colonial America, crime and punishment was a new idea that was just started to be formed. During this time, they had a different set of rules and regulations that had to be followed in their towns and states. For each town, or even state, they had their own rules to follow, based on the men in charge during this time. They had punishments that would not be allowed during this day and age because they were inhumane and unlawful. Crime and punishment are what kept everyone in line; they were rules and regulations that everyone had to follow, no matter who you were or how much money you had. They wanted a peaceful society, and that involved them making a set of laws to stop the citizens from making bad decisions and hurting one another. They came up with new rules and regulations for each town and state to be more individualized and cover the bases each town felt was necessary.
Crimes during this period were usually separated into different sections, depending on how bad the crime was. All crimes and the punishments for them were written down so the whole town or state could see. Also if it written down, it becomes more real or even serious to people when they see them; it is not a thought anymore, it is happening.
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For fines, they are like ours today, they were written out by the law and the criminal had to pay such. When there was a second offense, your fine increased . Lastly, there were bind outs, which were punishments for children. If a child commits a crime, they are most like from a poor family, they would be “bound out .” The people of the court would set up a contract with someone for the child to serve as an apprentice for a certain amount of time. Rarely, someone’s punishment would be to “work it off” by being sold to someone for a certain amount of time as a