The criminal class was seen as a violent, immoral and dissolute
sub-section of Victorian London's population. Making their living
through crime and openly hostile to society, the lives of these
criminals were characterised by drunkenness, theft and brutality. This
book explores whether this criminal class did indeed truly exist, and
the effectivenessof measures brought against it.
Tracing the notion of the criminal class from as early as the 16th
century, this book questions whether this sub-section of society did
indeed exist. Bach discusses how unease of London's notorious rookeries,
the frenzy of media attention and a [word deleted here] panic
among the general public enforced and encouraged the fear of the
'criminal class' and perpetuated state efforts of social control. Using
the Habitual Criminals Bills, this book explores how and why this
legislation was introduced to deal with repeat offenders, and assesses
how successful its repressive measures were. Demonstrating how the
Metropolitan Police Force and London's Magistrates were not always
willing tools of the British state, this book uses court records and
private correspondence to reveal how inconsistent and unsuccessful many
of these measures and punishments were, and calls into question the
notion that the state gained control over recidivists in this period.