2026/04/03 by Tim Hitchcock, Robert Shoemaker · 1 voice
Arts and Humanities · Economics, Econometrics and Finance · Social Sciences · #Crime and Detective Fiction Studies #Historical Economic and Social Studies #Historical and Cultural Archaeology Studies
paper · doi:10.1080/03071022.2026.2629165
openalex publication_date 2026/04/03 · openalex created_date 2026/05/07 · openalex updated_date 2026/06/15
This article examines the changing geographical distribution of crimes prosecuted at the Old Bailey (1720–1820) using the mapping facilities on the website Locating London’s Past. By assessing the impact of the reform of the night watch, the creation of new ‘rotation offices’ and the development of forms of proactive policing, it argues that changing patterns of prosecutions reflect changes in policing and access to justice rather than the incidence of crime. The evidence presented here suggests, first, that improvements to the night watch made little difference to patterns of prosecution; second, that the rotation offices had a limited but measurable impact; and, third, that the development of investigative policing transformed the level and geographical distribution of prosecutions in the latter half of our period of study. A pattern whereby prosecutions were heavily concentrated in the West End in the early eighteenth century was replaced by a more even distribution (with the exception of the City), mapping closely onto the distribution of changes in policing. The article expands our understanding of the significance of new forms of professional justice and policing, and highlights their role in disrupting social relations in London by removing criminal accusations from the community.