A Study On Women Crime In Early Modern England

In early modern England,the problem of crimes has become more and more serious.Female crimes have also emerged in various kinds and have their own distinct feminine features.The reason is that England experienced huge social revolution in early modern time.A large number of women were facing embarrassing economic problems,especially single women.They may either become maids with poor salary,or become prostitutes with thieves and rogues.Married women,on the other hand,often encountered problems such as domestic violence.Coupled with the imperfections of the English marriage system at that time,women could not escape from their husbands' abuse through legal channels.Various reasons forced women to embark on the criminal road in early modern England.Facing with more serious feminine crimes than before,people of early modern times thought it as heresy,a chaos of female behavior itself.Under the influence of patriarchy in early modern times,women's crimes were reformed,especially violent crimes.The laws of early modern England permeated all aspects of life: marriage,litigation,property,inheritance,debt,and poverty.People got a habit of respecting the law.Facing of increasingly prominent female crimes,the English government had taken a positive response.From prevention at the early stage to punishment at the later stages,the government acted better and better.The experiences of governing female crime affected the subsequent perfection of the legal system and the reform of prison.