Harsh mercy: Criminal law in seventeenth-century Massachusetts Bay

As the first sustained study of crime in Massachusetts Bay from the founding of the colony in 1630 until the Salem Witchcraft trials this dissertation demonstrate the changes in colonial criminal law admiration and dispel some of the misconceptions about criminal law in the Massachusetts Bay colony. The colonists of Massachusetts Bay began to alter the Common Law of England to their own ends as soon as they arrived in North America. The colonial Puritan leaders sought to make a godly society on earth, in order to achieve this they attempted to implement Biblical law in their society. However, this proved not to be entirely possible because of the harshness that would emerge from the proscribed punishments being inflicted and the general lack of criminal procedure in the Bible. In creating their new legal code they sought to establish certainty in punishment, but instead the Body of Liberties lead to an increase in defendant's rights and greater leniency in punishment, but not to certainty. The replacement of this code combined with disturbances in the colony resulting from the English Civil War and Restoration led to an increase in the harshness of punishments under the Laws and Liberties. Finally, the Revolution of 1688 was not an unproblematic event in the colony, contributing to the rigid application of the Common Law during the Salem witchcraft trials.