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Puritans Role In The Criminal Justice System

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The first set of people that came to the New World had decided to embark on that journey for many reasons. One of the groups that came to the New World were the Puritans who settled in Massachusetts. They had left England because they believed their king had not done enough when he had separated from the Church. They wanted to purify everything and when this did not happen, they decided to head to the New World. Massachusetts was one of the leading states to decide how the laws were to be in place. The Puritans form of discipline for crime and punishment is strict and the United States criminal justice system has used the Puritan form of discipline for the system. Puritans origin still plays a role in our current criminal justice system, which …show more content…

Allowing “spectral evidence” to be used during trials is not how due process is supposed to work. The criminal justice system during this time was a tool that Puritans used in means of social control (H, 69), by using different forms of punishment. By controlling social means, it allows placing individuals into the criminal justice system and the use of harsh punishments to try and get them to follow the puritanical laws we have set in place. Puritan’s set up a system where the other would be the ones who are sent into the criminal system because of all the stereotypes that are placed on their groups, since the
Due to the small size of the communities, public shaming allowed Puritans to control the social means. Once communities began to get bigger and neighbors did not know one another like before, people did not care about public shaming since they did not care what their neighbors thought about them. This allowed a change in the criminal procedure and allows a puritanical way of punishing those that commit an offense to society. Now a day’s people in our society do not know one another, making it easier for the criminal justice system to work and have harsher punishments for those within the …show more content…

“Crime and punishment meant to shame, and beyond that, reform. The codes and their enforcers never abandoned this aim; and the goal of enforcing moral laws. The Most commonly punished crimes in the seventeenth century Massachusetts were fornification and drunkenness… Taverns (inns, or “ordinance”) had to be licensed; and the colonies, at least in theory, insisted that owners of taverns had to be sober, respectable men and women. As to fornification… continued to be the most common crime.” By forcing business to have certifications makes this issue a property one. It is not about the moral issue because if it was it would have been about the health and safety of the people the businesses are catering to. However, the law tries to make the business responsible for what individuals are doing inside their establishments. By making them the ones responsible, instead of holding accountable those performing the actions, it makes the issue about property. They are not the ones committing the immoral action, but they are the ones that are getting in trouble for others and will be paying fines for others. Which that money will then go back to the government, thus making it a property issue instead of a moral

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Tongues pierced with hot irons, branded cheeks, and slashes from whips. What better way is there to snap criminals back into place? Jeff Jacoby, a columnist for the Boston Globe, promotes the reintroduction of torture, reviving the past days of heavy corporal punishment, in his article Bring Back Flogging. Jacoby uses shocking statistics and compares the effectiveness of Puritan punishment to today’s methods, However, his argument lacks acknowledgement to vast differences between societies, and fails to provide a solid plan for incorporating corporal punishment back into the penal system. The article begins by referencing accounts of the Puritan’s punishments of misdemeanors.

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In March 1630, John Winthrop led thousands of Puritans to the New World and selected Boston harbor as a settlement.(pur 46) Boston became an important place and was seen as a center of Massachusetts Bay colony, which attracted much more Puritans to migrate to Massachusetts later on. Overall, Englishmen migrations to the New World were sent by two different companies, which sent the migrants to the two different colonial areas, Massachusetts and Virginia, with the exception of the Mayflower

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The individuals from the Virginia Colony and the Massachusetts Bay Colony came to the new country for both very similar reasons, the main reason being so that they could have freedom within their colonies and to be free from the church and practice their own religion. The puritans and the pilgrims from the Netherlands but they wanted their children to keep the English traditions. The fishing and hunting conditions were not good in this area. Some colonists traded American Indians corn for beaver fur.

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They wanted a chance to practice their religion without interference and to make a better life out of themselves. The settlers of new england were puritans who left england during the great migration. The journey of the New World began with the puritans, who did not agree with the church of england so they decided to develop the massachusetts bay colony. This colony consisted of Unity and religion.

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Throughout the seventeenth century, religious freedom was essentially a key to the new forming colonies. Many pursued the “New World” looking to gain individual rights for their own personal beliefs- which we understand today as religious freedom. The main group seeking this freedom was the Puritans who came to the New World from England. When the Puritans had reached the land where they wished to settle they called it the Massachusetts’s Bay Colony. The colony was said to be a place where one could express their beliefs freely.

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Furthermore, Jacoby highlights the reduction in criminal sentences, if any. As a result of this insights “crime is out of control.” Jacoby continues by arguing how expensive the new practices are compared to the puritans. Additionally, Jacoby comes to an agreement that certain puritan practices are nothing less than torture. Therefore, he implies “why not sentence at least some criminals – say, thieves and drunk drivers – to a public whipping.”

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One of the most troubling aspects of the judges' role in the Salem Witch Trials was their reliance on spectral evidence as a determining factor of guilt or innocence. Spectral evidence, which is witness testimonies claiming to have seen the spirits of people accused of engaging in acts of witchcraft, was highly subjective and lacked any actual proveable basis. Despite the questionable nature of this evidence, the judges accepted it as valid proof of guilt, leading to numerous wrongful convictions and executions. The use of spectral evidence not only undermined the integrity of the judicial process but also contributed to the creation of fear, hysteria, and injustice in Salem during that tumultuous year. In addition to their reliance on spectral evidence, the judges of the Salem Witch Trials were also complicit in the use of coercive tactics to extract confessions from the accused.

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The main reasons were for economic and social advancement and religious freedom. The Puritans of England wanted a place of their own where they could escape religious prosecution. The indentured servants of England sought opportunity to work and be fed while they put in time to earn their freedom and eventually land of their own. The German Protestants also sought refuge in the New World from religious prosecution and most settled in Pennsylvania. The Scots-Irish also came to the New World by the thousands to escape English landlords sky rocketing rents.

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The most serious crime of all crimes for colonies was having a pact with the devil or Satan. This was a fear that was based on religion and with the fear of going against God. “And, what was conditional and relative was always subject to change and reform. Puritans, as well known, believed they discerned God ’s will (often in the Old Testament), and did not hesitate on that basis to purify an old society— or establish a holy commonwealth in the New World.

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The pursuit of religious freedom is not a contemporary idea. For centuries many have valiantly fought against oppression and persecution in order to worship freely without restraint and judgement. Some of the earliest immigrants who migrated to this country did so with the hopes of being able to worship in a manner than aligned most closely with their religious beliefs. Many of the principles that founded this nation are based on the premise of religious freedom and toleration. Undoubtedly one of the most influential and prominent religious factions to land on these shores in pursuit of this right, were the Puritans.

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The New England Puritans left England to seek freedom from religious persecution. They pursued this with The Massachusetts Bay Company during The Great Migration. They set up their colony on the basis of religious freedom, but they still answered to The Church Of England. They gained a sense of independence with the new world. The Puritans were able to create a type of church that coincided with government, keeping the two closely related.

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Thus, the penal system of the Puritan community is the quintessence of “corrupt”. The Puritan community established their penal system in order to protect and secure their religious beliefs. Any colonist who broke their sacred law would be hypocritically, strictly, and subjectively punished. The most highly respected man in the community was not fully obeying the system, which proves that is is also extremely corrupt.

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This means that unlike in the times of the Salem Witch Trials, accusations and witness testimony is not enough to convict, especially for a capital crime. The prosecution must prove that there is no other reasonable or logical conclusion for that has transpired other than the the accused has committed the crime in which they are accused. Similarly, and perhaps most important of all, in the modern criminal justice system one is considered innocent until proven guilty; whereas, during the Salem Witch Trials a presumption of guilt was almost immediate. Similar to the accused having to present evidence in their defense, the accused

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More than 80% of Americans have Puritan ancestors who emigrated to Colonial America on the Mayflower, and other ships, in the 1630’s (“Puritanism”). Puritanism had an early start due to strong main beliefs that, when challenged, caused major conflict like the Salem Witch Trials. Puritanism had an extremely rocky beginning, starting with a separation from the Roman Catholic Church. Starting in 1606, a group of villagers in Scrooby, England left the church of England and formed a congregation called the Separatist Church, and the members were called The puritans (“Pilgrims”).

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the New England settlers came a few years later and resided in present day Massachusetts. The New England settlers came for religious reasons. The settlers from Chesapeake bay differed from the New England settlers in family structure, living conditions, and economy. Eventually, both groups settled in and had a prosperous life that turned into what is now the United States of America.

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