Grenville Group Project Commentary
To start off, I just wanted to say how much I enjoyed the Grenville group’s project. From the content to the visual aspects, all aspects of the project were very easy to view and the color scheme was simplistic, but it wasn’t too little at the same time. Overall, the final site was very easy to navigate, and each of the sections were interesting to read. Learning about the prison conditions in 18th century London was very interesting to me and one thing that was compelling to learn was the difference of being wealthy and poor in the prison system. It completely relates to life today because those with money in the prison system are able to make bail, but those without are stuck without any assistance. The quote included by Ben Johnson was very sad to read, but true and it embodies the feelings and experiences of a prisoner. I also enjoyed learning about Grand Larceny and I enjoyed learning how the jurors would purposely under assess the value of stolen goods to avoid the death penalty. Making connections between William Thornhill and these laws was great, and I enjoyed learning about The 1776 Criminal Law Act. Lastly, I liked reading the last section titled “Different Trial Processes for Different Classes.” Reading about the conflict of interest regarding the repointing companies telling fabricated stories was very fun to learn. Learning that 1 in every 7,000 citizens in London are killed in court was very devastating, but eye opening at the same time.
I'm glad you liked the project! When researching for the project, I too found it interesting that jurors would purposely under assess the value of stollen goods. I think this goes slightly against one of the arguments made by "The Secret River" which was trying to show the unfair realities of London's criminal justice system in the 18th century but I still think that London's criminal justice system at the time was severely unjust.
ReplyDeleteI also really enjoyed the visual aspect of their project. It was very user-friendly and easy to follow, but at the same time it had a lot of information and pictures. Very good example for planning out future Omeka projects
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