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A Dangerously Empty Space: Crime and Punishment on English Wastelands

Lookup NU author(s): Dr Sarah CollinsORCiD

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Abstract

This article examines instances of criminal activity and capital punishment occurring on English wastelands, such as commons, heaths, moors, and forests, between 1730 and 1830. A broad range of information drawn from newspaper reports, assize records, court proceedings and local histories enables comparison of human experience on wastes when encountering criminal activity and/or any resulting punishments. Detailed accounts of crime and punishment on historic wastelands are sparse, with the majority of information relating to public perceptions concerned with safety and place-making. This article considers the extent to which those perceptions were accurate, identifying entanglements between three discrete processes: elite desires to ‘improve’ wastelands; the use of wastes to reinforce ritualised punishments; and increased media reporting of crime that was often coupled with sensationalism. Examination of the sources above demonstrates a variable and highly localised place-making founded on negative emotions, which popularised tropes of wastelands being places of fear and lawlessness.

Publication metadata

Author(s): Collins S

Publication type: Article

Publication status: Published

Journal: Landscapes

Year: 2022

Volume: 23

Issue: 1

Pages: 48-66

Online publication date: 16/11/2022

Acceptance date: 07/09/2022

Date deposited: 15/06/2023

ISSN (print): 1466-2035

ISSN (electronic): 2040-8153

Publisher: Taylor & Francis Group

URL: https://doi.org/10.1080/14662035.2022.2144256

DOI: 10.1080/14662035.2022.2144256

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