NCJ Number
177694
Date Published
1997
Length
365 pages
Annotation
Based on a highly profitable fur trade, the 17th century Dutch criminal system in the Upper Hudson River Valley of New York regulated the community with an eye toward not only maintaining peaceful social relations but also preserving the economic system that allowed the community to survive.
Abstract
The Dutch social welfare system, reflecting practical humanism in the 17th century, guided officials as they intervened in the lives of needy and potentially troublesome citizens. The Dutch valued balance and good order and relied on certain social control measures to preserve those qualities. Punishment practices of the Dutch are analyzed to illustrate the workings of the Dutch criminal justice system, based primarily on data from court minutes for the 1648-1685 period. Punishment practices during the 17th century are examined, as well as changes that occurred in these practices amid fluctuations in the fur trade and after the English conquest of New Netherland in 1664. The historical review shows that punishment practices were integrally linked to the economic status of communities and, after English conquest, to the introduction of English law. References, notes, and figures