Crime and Punishment in Victorian London

Crime looms large in the minds of Victorian Londoners. Burglaries are rife, and people fall victim to all kinds of ingenious swindles. Pornographers proliferate and an estimated 80,000 prostitutes operate on London's streets.   

Criminals caught by London's new police force are sentenced to prisons with experimental regimes or sent to the hulks moored in the Thames. The condemned provide gruesome theatre for the crowds on hanging days.

Discover Victorian London's grimy rookeries, home to thousands of the city's poorest and most desperate residents. Explore the crime-ridden slums, flash houses and gin palaces from a unique street-level view and meet the people who inhabited them. 

This book gives some interesting accounts of how individuals became involved in crime in London. We tend to draw our perceptions of Victorian life from Charles Dickens' novels; this book offers a readable perspective that supplements our knowledge in a style that is neither too academic nor too fiction-based.

Alan Moss, Verified Customer

This is an interesting overview of crime and punishment in the mid-Victorian era. The author draws heavily on Henry Mayhew's work. Good, basic bibliography.

Verified Purchaser, USA.

Lots of interesting stories and information. Well written and seemingly well researched. A bit gory at times. The ending comes too soon.

Verified Purchaser

Easy reading, informative, entertaining. The reading went fast, and each chapter focused on a different part of the history.

L. Stephen, Verified Customer

Great book for criminology foundation level.

Tanya Jones, Verified Customer