Blood money and the bloody code: the impact of financial rewards on criminal justice in eighteenth-century England

Abstract The introduction of rewards for the conviction serious criminals fundamentally transformed English criminal justice. prospect totalling up to £140 encouraged additional prosecutions, more full (as opposed partial) guilty verdicts, and death sentences. In process, in a series largely unintended consequences, two fundamental pillars early-modern justice were undermined: reliance on public prosecute, penalty deter crime. Policing agents began play much important role apprehending criminals, while high level executions contributed growing doubts about efficacy capital punishment.