Forging the agenda: the 1819 select committee on the criminal laws revisited

Abstract

This article revisits a crucial episode in the early nineteenth century criminal law reform debate: the appointment and report of the 1819 House of Commons select committee on capital punishment. This committee, which helped shape the reforms of the 1820s and 1830s, has traditionally been interpreted as the result of the campaign for penal reform in parliament over the preceding decade. This article argues that its origins and significance can only be understood by reference to the political circumstances of 1819 and the scandal surrounding the crime of forgery. This contextualized reading suggests new ways of approaching and understanding the early nineteenth century penal reform discourse.