Crime and Punishment during World War Two

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Watch the video to find out about crime and punishment in Britain during World War Two.

World War Two was fought between 1939 and 1945.
It was a time of great hardship for many.
Children in the cities were evacuated to the countryside.
During the war the number of reported crimes in England and Wales rose.
The government had introduced new rules such as blackouts, air raid warnings and rationing.
This meant that much of the country, including cities, had no lights at night and so crime increased.
In many cities, lots of houses and shops were bombed and so looting and robbery became more common.

During the war, British Double Summer Time was temporarily introduced.
This meant the clocks went forward two hours from Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) rather than one hour.
This was done to increase the nation's productivity and help the war effort.

There were police forces in Britain during the war.
Their usual tasks included keeping the peace, dealing with criminals and making sure that the traffic flowed freely in towns and cities.
The Police also had new wartime duties. They had to make sure people obeyed the wartime blackout rules, help the rescue services during and after bombing raids and search for soldiers who had deserted (run away) from the army.

Many police were called blackout bobbies because they had to make sure that no light from houses and shops could be seen outside. This was to protect buildings from German bombers flying overhead.
There were not many women police officers.

Looting was a big problem. The number of bombed properties provided a big temptation to looters. Many were given fines or short prison sentences.
Black market: Many items were sold on the black market without a ration card. If caught selling on the black market then the punishment could be a fine and imprisonment.
Murder rates increased dramatically during the war. Air raids killed so many people, it was often impossible for the police to investigate all deaths and criminals took advantage of this. Murder carried the death penalty.