Evangelicalism and Penal Law Reform

Abstract

William Wilberforce was among the first to endorse Romilly’s campaign for criminal law reform. A group of between twenty and thirty Evangelical members of Parliament followed him.1 These famous ‘Saints’ have been remembered best for their antislavery campaigns. They shared many political views, including a dislike of party and concern for voting according to one’s conscience. They have sometimes been mislabeled Tories’, but the Saints were far more interested in reform than such an appellation allows. Detailed study has revealed that the Saints were a minority of the Evangelical MPs in Parliament, but they were very active, exercising an influence out of proportion with their numbers. Other Evangelical MPs associated more openly with the Tory leadership, especially after Spencer Perceval became Prime Minister; a few others were strongly committed Whigs. Contemporaries often saw Wilberforce as a spokesmen for the Evangelical laity in the Church of England, but while Wilberforce certainly shared many convictions with his fellow Evangelicals, not all agreed with him on how to apply their faith to public life. Perceval was the most striking contrast. As Prime Minister, Perceval opposed criminal law reform. Though he agreed that the laws as written were harsh, he believed the practice of the courts sufficiently mitigated their rigor, and that changes ought not to be made in a time of war and social unrest.