Crime and Law Enforcement in the Colony of New York, 1691-1776 - by Douglas S Greenberg (Paperback)

About the Book

This book examines the court system in colonial New York, the demography of criminal prosecution, the character and social position of accused criminals, the social forces that led to criminal behavior, crime rates, and the the court system.

Book Synopsis

The winner of the first New York State Historical Association Manuscript Award, this book is a fascinating attempt to show how criminal behavior fits into the society in which it occurs. Through a computer-assisted analysis of some 5,300 eighteenth-century court cases, Douglas Greenberg explores larger problems of social change and development in what was considered the most fractious of all Britain's North American colonies: New York.

Greenberg describes the court system in New York and considers such issues at the demography of criminal prosecution and judgment, the character and social position of accused criminals, the social forces that led people into criminal behavior, crime rates, and the effectiveness of the court system. He concludes by placing his findings in a comparative framework and relating them to the coming of the American Revolution. "Crime and law enforcement were central experiences for early Americans," he writes, "and the ways in which they dealt with these problems have much to tell us about their view of the world in which they lived."

Review Quotes

Greenberg expertly demonstrates how social developments affected the pattern of law enforcement in colonial New York, and thus he aids scholarly understanding of the relationship between legal and social change. He also shows that colonial New York, at least, was no 'peaceable kingdom.'.

Greenberg tells of illiterate judges, sheriffs afraid to arrest criminals, and a jailer for the City of New York who was described as 'among other things--an idiot, a glutton, a drunk, a frog, a fool, and an ignoramous.' This book offers important insights and information for those who wish to understand the phenomenon of crime. It also will be of interest to colonialists, urbanist, social historians, and legal historians.

Greenberg's most striking argument is that New York's law enforcement machinery did not work, and this debility suggests that political development was running far behind economic and social development.

About the Author

Douglas Greenberg is Professor of History and Executive Dean of the School of Arts & Sciences at Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey. He is coauthor of A Concise History of the American People and coeditor of Colonial America: Essays in Political and Social Development.