Georgian criminal justice operated under the so-called Bloody Code, a legal regime with many capital offences. Theft, forgery, highway robbery, smuggling and other crimes could bring severe punishment. Trials, executions, transportation and prisons were public features of the age.
This mattered because law shaped the lives of poor people, servants, apprentices, debtors and anyone without protection. Mercy, patronage, gender, reputation and money could affect outcomes as much as formal guilt. The criminal justice system was both spectacle and social control.
Antonia Hodgson’s Thomas Hawkins series is a strong example of Georgian crime fiction using prisons, courts and London danger. Laura Shepherd-Robinson also uses crime and investigation to expose slavery, gender and power in Georgian society. Series set in this world can follow thief-takers, magistrates, prisoners, lawyers, servants, hangmen, informers and families facing ruin.