Terribly Torturous Times!

Does the punishment fit the crime? In Year 4, we have been finding out about the punishments for crimes in the past. We used secondary sources to research and found out lots of gruesome punishments for different crimes and some were rather minor crimes. Were they just too harsh in the past?

Did you know?

• The Maya civilisation used to shave the heads of people who had committed more minor crimes.
• The guillotine was invented in France and only ceased being in use in 1981 when the death penalty was abolished!
• A scold's bridle was used when women nagged their husbands too much. This had a spike that prevented the tongue moving.
• There was a lot of punishment which involved torture and humiliation such as screws through the fingers, lifting a hot pole which burned the hands, branding with an iron and putting people in the stocks.

The children were very pleased that attitudes towards this have changed now.

Punishments