Crime, Gender and Social Order in Early Modern England [Paperback]

The first study of how masculinity and femininity informed criminal behaviour in early modern England.This is the first study of how masculinity and femininity informed criminal behaviour and the fates of men and women before the courts of early modern England. Dr Walker shows that women were not treated lenient ly by the courts and that ideas about gender and order impacted on real legal outcomes. She also demonstrates that the household had as much to do with the nature of criminality as the individual in this period. Challenging hitherto accepted views, this book illuminates the complexities of everyday life in the early modern period.This is the first study of how masculinity and femininity informed criminal behaviour and the fates of men and women before the courts of early modern England. Dr Walker shows that women were not treated lenient ly by the courts and that ideas about gender and order impacted on real legal outcomes. She also demonstrates that the household had as much to do with the nature of criminality as the individual in this period. Challenging hitherto accepted views, this book illuminates the complexities of everyday life in the early modern period.Garthine Walker reveals that women were not treated leniently by the courts and that beliefs about gender and order impacted on real legal outcomes in early modern England. She demonstrates that the household role had as much to do with the nature of criminality as the individual in this period. Challenging hitherto accepted views regarding gender stereotyping, this book illuminates the complexities of everyday English life in the early modern period.1. Introduction; 2. Men's non-lethal violence; 3. Voices of feminine violence; 4. Homicide, gender and justice; 5. Theft and related offences; 6. Authority, agency and law; 7. Conclusion. ...Walker has produced an impressive and important piece of scholarship that will be required reading for historians of disorder, crime, and the courts in early modernlS.