Everyday offending in Plymouth

A team led by Professor Kim Stevenson is currently working on a pilot project examining the policing and moral regulation of everyday offending and crime in Plymouth 1880-1920 utilizing archival material and local newspaper reportage and also exploring the institutional heritage - police, prison, courts - associated with offending.

The intention is to broaden out the chronological reach up to the present day and potentially to secure funding to enable large scale comparative studies with other non-Assize towns where there have been no significant studies of everyday or minor offending.

The project utilizes a genuinely interdisciplinary approach with researchers drawn from law, history and criminology. We are working in collaboration with Bodmin Prison Museum. The project also encourages Research Partnerships with Students with a team of student volunteers from across the three disciplines.

For further information please contact Kim Stevenson or visit the project website.

Everyday Offending in Plymouth

As a maritime city Plymouth has a unique heritage as until 1914, when there was a need to combine resources to respond to the threat of the Great War, it was not one but Three Towns.

Plymouth and East Stonehouse were the oldest, with Devonport, formerly known as Plymouth Dock, evolving in the early 18th century to serve the expanding naval defence base.

The Everyday Offending in Plymouth research team based in Plymouth Law School, are now developing a research project that will examine the incidence, policing and prosecution of everyday offending and minor crime in the Three Towns 1850 -1920.