Bringing the Prisoner into View: English and Welsh Census Data and the Victorian Prison Population

Williams, Lucy and Godfrey, Barry ORCID: 0000-0002-4119-5137 (2016) Bringing the Prisoner into View: English and Welsh Census Data and the Victorian Prison Population. AUSTRALIAN HISTORICAL STUDIES, 47 (3). pp. 398-413.

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Official URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/1031461x.2016.1208258

Abstract

The 1881 England and Wales census is now available as a fully-searchable electronic file. What can this source of big data tell us about the shape of the late-Victorian prison population? This article explores how the 1881 census compares to other sources of prison population data, and examines how the census can be analysed to reveal the demographic structure of the prison population in England and Wales. We argue that the census enables us to bring breadth of information about incarcerated individuals, identifying the ‘typical’ and ‘atypical’ prisoner, to a depth of information already available through small-scale qualitative research. In doing so, census data provides both quantitative and qualitative data essential for bringing context and scale to social and personal histories of crime.

Item Type:	Article
Additional Information:	peerreview_statement: The publishing and review policy for this title is described in its Aims & Scope. aims_and_scope_url: http://www.tandfonline.com/action/journalInformation?show=aimsScope&journalCode=rahs20
Depositing User:	Symplectic Admin
Date Deposited:	03 May 2018 06:52
Last Modified:	19 Jan 2023 06:34
DOI:	10.1080/1031461X.2016.1208258
Related URLs:	Author Publisher
URI:	https://livrepository.liverpool.ac.uk/id/eprint/3020851