Puritan Crime Rates

[Ryan&Amber2013]

I've searched Google but couldn't find anything satisfying on the subject. Do any of you know what the crime rates were during Puritan America? I'm wondering how much the rules and Bible made a difference in the communities? How much better was life in regards to crime?

I'm trying to figure out what culture at what time in history most resembled Heaven in it's morality.

 

[KMK]

Does slavery count as a crime?

 

[Taylor]

Does slavery count as a crime?

For the purposes of the OP, I would say no. It wasn’t illegal in colonial law, and it’s not illegal in biblical law.

 

[Edward]

Well, the Mayflower landed in 1620, and they didn't have their first execution in Massachusetts until 1630. (John Billington - hanging). His wife (widow) was sentenced to the stocks and whipped for a different crime in 1636. Those Mayflower folks sound like they would have been lovely neighbors.

 

[hammondjones]

The first half of Day 6.

 

[Edward]

Does slavery count as a crime?

No, since it is still constitutionally permissible in limited circumstances.

 

[Charles Johnson]

From the data I found when googling, murder rates in America and England declined throughout the seventeenth century, hitting their lowest point following the glorious revolution and remaining low through the 1840's.