KS2 History Unit – Crime and Punishment Through Time
Resource Bundle
Resources included (1)
This fully resourced 8-lesson unit explores how crime, punishment and justice have changed in Britain from Roman times to the modern day. Pupils develop key historical enquiry skills while comparing fairness, rights, evidence and attitudes across different time periods. Perfect for Upper KS2.
Lessons Included:
Lesson 1 – What is Crime and Punishment?
Introducing key concepts, matching crimes to punishments, fairness debates, and moral reasoning.
Lesson 2 – Crime and Punishment in Roman Britain
The Twelve Tables, courts, lawyers, harsh class-based punishments, gladiators, exile, and courtroom role-play.
Lesson 3 – Crime and Punishment in Anglo-Saxon Times
Hue and cry, tithings, wergild, trial by ordeal and historical source interpretation.
Lesson 4 – Crime and Punishment in Tudor England
Public punishment, devices, shaming, social control, and scenario-based tasks.
Lesson 5 – Crime and Punishment in the Stuart Period
Witch trials, testimonies, bias, superstition, and dramatic courtroom role-play.
Lesson 6 – Crime and Punishment in Georgian Britain
Highwaymen, travel safety, emerging law enforcement, roads and horse patrols.
Lesson 7 – Crime and Punishment in Victorian Britain
Early prisons, hard labour methods, transportation declining, police development, and prison reform.
Lesson 8 – Crime and Punishment: Then and Now
Modern courts, policing, rights, rehabilitation, CCTV, fairness, and Venn diagram comparison.
What’s included:
8 editable lesson PowerPoints
Retrieval practice tasks linking prior eras
Discussion, debate and reasoning questions
Scenario cards, source analysis sheets and ranking tasks
Knowledge notes to support retention
Opportunities for writing, evaluation and comparison
Historical vocabulary development (e.g. wergild, ordeal, rehabilitation)
Key learning progression:
Pupils explore:
How/why punishments changed
The role of religion, fear, status and power
Evidence vs. superstition
Rights and fairness across time
The development of courts, police and prisons
Continuity and change
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£12.00