The use of banishment in the 18th and 19th centuries
In the context of punishment, banishment means sending someone away from a country. It began to be used as a form of punishment in the 18th century.
Transportation
To send a convicted criminal to a prison camp overseas, such as in America or Australia. was an alternative to the death penalty. At the time of the The name given to the British legal system in the 18th century. It was called 鈥榖loody鈥 as many crimes were capital crimes. judges wanted to have a more lenient punishment than the death penalty. This form of banishment was considered a good punishment as the criminal was removed from the country, so they could no longer commit crimes that would affect the population.
Transportation was a cheaper option than prison. It also helped Britain to gain control of, cultivate and colonise the expanding British territories in the West Indies and North America. Transportation to North America had to be stopped in 1776, when access to it was closed off by the American War of Independence. However, transportation to other locations continued.
In 1770 Captain Cook landed on the Australian continent and it soon became the destination for transported criminals. Transportation was used as a method of providing labour to colonise the newly discovered land. Prisons and A disused warship that was used as a temporary prison. were used to keep prisoners waiting for transportation, as they only sailed when the ship was full to make the journey cost-effective. They quickly became very overcrowded. The First Fleet arrived in Botany Bay, near modern Sydney, in January 1787. Between 1787 and 1868, 160,000 convicts were transported to Australia.
Transportation was not a soft punishment:
- sentences were for 7 years, 14 years or life
- conditions for convicts on the journey and in Australia were harsh
- convicts were expected to work hard on the farms and building projects of the new colony
The authorities still hoped that transportation would be a deterrent, but also that convicts might be To make changes to something or someone, for improvement. by the hard work. This move away from execution showed a significant change in attitudes.
The end of transportation
Transportation ended as a form of punishment in 1868.
- Increasingly, attitudes were changing and punishment was seen to be about reforming and The process of educating and restoring an offender back towards being a non-offending member of society. criminals rather than banishing them.
- It also seemed unfair to be sending prisoners to Australia when increasing numbers of British people were paying to emigrate there to start a new life.
- The free colonists in Australia were becoming resentful at having thousands of criminals imposed on them.
- It was also becoming a very expensive punishment and prisons were becoming a cheaper method.