Crime Prevention and Community Policing Coursework

Crime Prevention and Community Policing - Coursework illustrationWe will examine this topic, not just as a mutu bothy exclusive evolutionary make rather, we will examine it within the social context of the culture of the time in order to determine how law and order and formalised policing have developed.According to Wall (2002) one of the earliest formalised laws was the Asisze of Clarendon in 1166. This law required all citizens to report any suspicions about each other to the sheriffs people (part 12). As demonstrated by the vagueness of the above, there was much room for interpretation as to what was considered suspicious behaviour. It becomes easier to see that respective(prenominal) towns and closures had their own set of unwritten codes based on the social mores of the partnership to which the definition of crime was determined. However, the earliest forms of policing hind end be traced back to as early as the loom of King Alfred the Great who was monarch among 871 and 901 A.D with his introduction of the Kings Peace (Back, 2005). Acting on the dictum What ye will that other men should not do to you, that do ye not to other men, he compiled a series of flexible laws. Basically, in return for being allowed to reign and to expect their unswerving allegiance, he promised them peace and security (Back, 2005, screen 1).The early form of policing was known as the Frankpledge or Hue and Cry. The system was introduced by the Anglo-Saxons (Our history, 2006, screen 1). When villagers came upon someone breaking the law, they would literally shout out, therefrom the hue and cry. It became every citizens duty then to give chase and capture the offending party. In these 12th degree Celsius villages there was not formalised government as we understand it today. Alfreds great-grandson, Edgar, saw the benefit of such a system and made several changes which included dividing the country into shires. Local governance was based on broadly defined units of rule ca lled tything. These tythings were made up of a set of ten families (Back, 2005). Within each community the tything was made up several sets of families where their primary right was to ensure the laws were observed within the village. In effect, the last to arrest and take before the hook was basically a community decision (Wall, 2002, part1.2). Additionally it was the responsibility of the entire community to protect the village from groups or bands of criminals. When the hue and cry went out letting the village know that a gang of outlaws were breaking laws within the village, the men of the village would form a posse comitatus comitatus (Our history, 2006, screen 1). This posse would attempt to track down the offending parties and bring them to justice. The posse consisted of all able bodied men over the age of 12. As the weaponry became more lateised in the Middle Ages (i.e. archery), the age limit for all males required to take part in the posse comitatus was get down to s even (Back, 2005).Within the tything, one person was made responsible for taking the law breaker, when captured, before the court to exact their punishment. This person came to be known as a Tythingman. Unlike police in modern society, the Tythingman