Crime, law enforcement and punishment in Dublin, 1780-95

Abstract

The findings presented in the thesis are based on research carried out at Trinity College, Dublin, in the Department of Modem History under the supervision of Dr. David Dickson from August 1989 to September 1992. The aim of the study was to undertake a quantitative and qualitative study of crime, the police and justice in Dublin in the eighteenth century. The first step was to uncover a source that would most closely approximate contemporary crime reports and court records (the 1922 fire at the Public Record Office in Dublin destroyed such records). Several sources were examined and rejected before a satisfactory one was obtained. This was the Hibernian Journal, a legal-minded newspaper which was published three times a week in Dublin.