During the middle ages, also known as the medieval period and the dark ages lasted from 476 to 1455CE, crime and punishment of serfs, freeman and nobles changed to a large extent according to the severity of punishments and types of punishments criminals receive today. This can be seen through the analysis of key features of everyday life, the effect of social class on punishment and the punishments given to people today.
The daily lives of serfs and freeman varied depending on the requirements of their lord and whether it was their working day or not. Whereas nobles had more freedom. Serfs and freeman possessed land which was owned by a lord. They worked approximately three days a week however during ploughing …show more content…
The social class of a person today has the biggest impact on the severity of their punishment. For example "Celebrities have a huge advantage over the average Joe," (ABC News, 2017, Harvey Levin). Celebrities have more money allowing them to afford a good lawyer, celebrities are more likely to be respected by the public and jury because of their social class. Punishments given to higher class people are rarely based on facts, but are based on often based on opinions on the person on trial, for example Mark Wahlberg was arrested for assault however served no time in jail as the judge based the sentence on opinions he already had on Mark and his social status. Compared to medieval times, crime and punishment today is much less severe. For example death penalties occur only in a few countries such as Indonesia, china and Iraq. Death sentences are more often given to those who have committed heinous crimes such as serial killings. Whereas for the death penalty in medieval times a person would have committed adultery or treason (Addison, P, 2012 –Crime and Punishment). This is much more severe than modern day punishments as adultery today doesn’t lead to any punishments. Crime and punishment today varies depending on a person’s culture, social class or gender. Social class still has the biggest impact on punishment today, much the same as in medieval times. In comparison to medieval times punishments today are much less