Crime in the City ─ Kilkenny in 1845

This book investigates crime and sentencing at petty sessions, quarter sessions, and assizes in Kilkenny city in 1845. It begins with an examination of life in the city in the period immediately prior to the Famine, outlines the structure of the justice system at the time, and continues by looking at the role and development of the courts. Through a review of existing sanitary accounts, the census and records of local and central government, levels of unemployment, housing, and population density, this study aims to determine if living conditions were factors in levels and types of crime. In addition, a thorough account of crime and sentencing is presented along with possible reasons for particular types of crime given. This account reveals that recidivism - the act of repeat offending - was harshly punished, as was the theft of personal property, which resulted in five individuals being sentenced to transportation. Vagrancy, petty crime, and drunkenness were rife, but overall the city was in a very peaceable condition immediately prior to the devastation of the Famine in the remainder of the decade.