The debates during the election campaigns have received a lot of media attention. Security was an important topic. More police or cutting down on security costs? How did authorities deal with criminals in the past?
As long as men have walked the earth, criminals have existed. After the Romans withdrew from the Netherlands in the early Middle Ages, the country had no strong central power to punish criminals. Laws did exist, but the survival of the fittest was the predominant one. If you had committed a crime you had to pay a fine to the victim or the victim’s family. But only if you were caught in the act. There was no police to track down criminal offenders.
Corporal punishment or prison?
When population and employment grew in the 13th century, people started living closer to each other. Cities arose and there was a growing need for the protection of the public order. The profession of bailiff was born and this keeper of the public order actively looked for criminals, arrested them and had them punished in a central place. The carrying out of the punishment or death sentence was announced by the city’s town crier. This way, residents would know what the offender’s crime was and when they could attend the execution. There was no such thing as imprisonment. Detained delinquents were only locked up to await their punishment.
The worse the crime the more painful the payback: an eye for an eye. This could mean receiving a beating with a stick, being put in the pillory or on the breaking wheel or even ending up on the gallows. The body of a hung criminal would be put on display at a specially designated field. This would serve as a warning to any passer-by with bad intentions. For small crimes such as blasphemy or shouting abuse, the offender would get a heavy piece of wood strapped to his leg for a day. Passers-by were allowed to throw dirt such as horse droppings at the reprobate. A good reputation was very important back then and this public sentence was considered shameful and humiliating. Definitely something you should prevent from happening.
Sink or swim
In the seventeenth century detention came into fashion, the idea behind it being the reeducation of criminals and drifters. Heavy physical labor was the instrument of rehabilitation. Poor people who got arrested for stealing bread were no longer a part of God’s creation. These tramps were held responsible for their own misery because of their laziness. Working hard during their imprisonment would be good for them. The prisons where they were kept were called correctional facilities. The most famous one was located in Amsterdam and even attracted tourists. If you paid an entrance fee you could have a look at the men working on wood and the women spinning wool. This correctional facility was also known for its flooded basement. Disobeying prisoners that ended up here had a choice: sink, or swim. That would teach them how to make an effort. Unfortunately for the poor, bribing the bailiff was the only way to stay out of the correctional home. And money was just that one thing they didn’t have…
Napoleon creates the police force
The police force as we know it now was created in the nineteenth century. King Louis Napoleon replaced the local bailiffs and night guards with a local police force. He also installed a huge undercover police force to track down opponents to the regime. After the definitive downfall of the French empire in 1813 William I of Orange became the new Dutch king. He liked the system of the police forces and maintained them. Imprisonment was a more and more common sentence and in 1854 corporal punishment was abolished: way too barbarian.
The Chessmen Museum covers a lot of ground and so it also owns a police chess set. This set was made in the United States and represents the police force and the fire department. The chess pieces wear the characteristic American uniforms.
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