In summary, this book is an interesting introduction to the history of criminal justice and the way the system worked prior to the formation of the court of criminal appeal, and by focusing on the letters appealing for clemency, it offers an original insight into the social conditions of the past.

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Crime Review

Historians often use court and Home Office records to reconstruct the key events of a crime and perpetrators through this official documentation yet they are unable to understand the lives of people involved. The documents used to research this book, however, reveal in great detail the personal circumstances of the criminal and their families. This allows the reader to understand the prisoner as an individual, opening up a level of detail of the crimes committed and the life of what was often the ordinary working man and women.

Police History Society

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Family Tree, January 2018

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Surrey Constabulary History Journal

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Sussex Local

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Lil's Vintage World, YouTube

This well-researched book reveals the details of a selection of petitions from the 1820s and 1830s.

Who Do You Think You Are? Magazine, November 2017 - reviewed by Angela Buckley

Alison's examination of the criminal justice system in Great Britain in the early years of the nineteenth century makes for a fascinating read. If only some of the penalties were still available to the judges and magistrates today! Sometimes I feel that the prison reformers have erred too far on the side of the miscreants... a superb book.

Books Monthly

Fascinating piece of research, all from official sources and presented in an accessible way. Easy to dip in and out of, but each time making you want to return and learn more. Just how people survived back in those days is a mystery, with the poverty and horrendous punishments, sometimes for trivial crimes that were the only option people had for survival. Highly recommended.

Mike Epstein