HIS 216LEC—Crime and Punishment in America

In colonial America, practicing witchcraft was against the law. Beating your wife was not. Convicted wrongdoers faced hanging, flogging, even branding - but not prison. There has always been crime and punishment in America, but just what counts as crime, which crimes are committed, which are especially dreaded, how people accused of crimes are prosecuted, who they are and what kinds of penalties they face has changed from century to century. USH