This volume brings together experts of ancient Near Eastern, Greek, Roman, and Chinese law to explore understandings of crime and mechanisms of criminal enforcement in a variety of cultures in the period from the 3rd Millennium BCE to 800 CE. The topics addressed--ranging from sex crimes in ancient Rome to policing in Ptolemaic Egypt to punishment in ancient China--are aimed at highlighting key features of ancient approaches to crime. Can we discern broad similarities in the legal systems of multiple ancient societies that set them apart from modern legal systems? Conversely, are there some aspects of criminal enforcement that varied widely across ancient societies, helping to define a culturally distinctive approach to these offenses? The book considers how 'crime' was understood and categorized at different times and in different places, how different societies understood the causes and nature of criminal offending, what informal and formal mechanisms and institutions were used to enforce criminal laws and norms, punishment practices in different societies, and how crime, criminals, policing, and punishment were presented and represented for the 'public' in the various forms of media available at different times. The authors explore these questions through a cultural historical lens, examining literary as well as legal texts, and examine how law and legal institutions affected the lives of both marginalized and elite members of ancient societies.

From “an eye for an eye” to debates over capital punishment, humanity has a long and controversial relationship with doling out justice for criminal acts. Today, crime and punishment remain significant parts of our culture, but societies vary greatly on what is considered criminal and how it should be punished. In this global survey of crime and punishment throughout history, Mitchel P. Roth examines how and why we penalize certain activities, and he scrutinizes the effectiveness of such efforts in both punishing wrongdoers and bringing a sense of justice to victims. Drawing on anthropology, archaeology, folklore, and literature, Roth chronicles the global history of crime and punishment—from early civilizations to the outlawing of sex crimes and serial homicide to the development of organized crime and the threat today of global piracy. He explores the birth of the penitentiary and the practice of incarceration as well as the modern philosophy of rehabilitation, arguing that these are perhaps the most important advances in the effort to safeguard citizens from harm. Looking closely at the retributions societies have condoned, Roth also look at execution and its many forms, showing how stoning, hemlock, the firing squad, and lethal injection are considered either barbaric or justified across different cultures. Ultimately, he illustrates that despite advances in every level of human experience, there is remarkable continuity in what is considered a crime and the sanctions administered. Perfect for students, academics, and general readers alike, this interdisciplinary book provides a fascinating look at criminality and its consequences.

Crime and punishment, criminal law and its administration, are areas of ancient history that have been explored less than many other aspects of ancient civilizations. Throughout history women have been affected by crime both as victims and as offenders. Yet, in the ancient world customary laws were created by men, formal laws were written by men, and both were interpreted and enforced by men.

First Published in 2004. Punishment was an integral element of the Roman justice system and as controversial as it is today. Bauman examines the mechanics of the administering of punishment and the philosophical beliefs from which attitudes to penalty were born. The emphasis is placed on crimes against the public during the Republic and Principate with less discussion of either civil cases or issues. Special reference is made to changes in attitudes concerning the death penalty.

"The History of Crime and Punishment: Readings and Documents in Criminal Justice is the first anthology devoted to the history of crime and punishment and designed for the college classroom. It offers a number of documents and articles devoted to crime, criminality and punishment throughout history, including the ancient and medieval eras and colonial through 21st century American history. This book is an ideal supplement for the various textbooks used to teach the history of criminal justice at every level. Readers will be engaged and enthralled by the range of topics presented in this text, including America's first famous serial killer, eyewitness descriptions of executions, the Code of Hammurabi, and the experiences of Theodore Roosevelt as New York City Police Commissioner. " Mitchel P. Roth (Ph.D., University of California, Santa Barbara) is a professor of criminal justice at Sam Houston State University in Huntsville, Texas, where he teaches the History of Criminal Justice and a variety of other courses. Roth is one of only a handful of historians teaching in a criminal justice department in the United States. He is the author of 13 books, including the widely used textbook Crime and Punishment: A History of the Criminal Justice System (Second Edition, Wadsworth/Cengage), Historical Dictionary of Law Enforcement (2001), Global Organized Crime (2010), and Encyclopedia of War Journalism (2010). He has also authored numerous articles and book chapters, and he is in the process of writing Global History of Crime and Punishment.

A World History of War Crimes provides a truly global history of war crimes and the involvement of the legal systems faced with these acts. Documenting the long historical arc traced by human efforts to limit warfare, from codes of war in antiquity designed to maintain a religiously conceived cosmic order to the gradual use in the modern age of the criminal trial as a means of enforcing universal norms, this book provides a comprehensive one-volume account of war and the laws that have governed conflict since the dawn of world civilizations. Throughout his narrative, Michael Bryant locates the origin and evolution of the law of war in the interplay between different cultures. While showing that no single philosophical idea underlay the law of war in world history, this volume also proves that war in global civilization has rarely been an anarchic free-for-all. Rather, from its beginnings warfare has been subject to certain constraints defined by the unique needs and cosmological understandings of the cultures that produce them. Only in late modernity has law assumed its current international humanitarian form. The criminalization of war crimes in international courts today is only the most recent development of the ancient theme of constraining when and how war may be fought.