Hitchcock, Tim and Turkel, William J (2016) The Old Bailey Proceedings, 1674–1913: text mining for evidence of court behavior. Law and History Review, 34 (4). pp. 929-955. ISSN 0738-2480

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Abstract

This article uses text and data mining methodologies to explore the distribution of text among the 197,000 trials published as part of the Old Bailey Proceedings, 1674-1913. By testing how the Proceedings report trials that resulted from different charges and pleas it argues that historians need to be wary of their use as evidence for eighteenth-century court behaviour. It also demonstrates that the Proceedings give a much fuller account of nineteenth-century trials, and provides evidence derived from the distribution of words between trials for the early and growing importance of “plea bargaining” in the nineteenth century, resulting in a significant transformation in the character of the criminal trial.

Item Type:	Article
Keywords:	Old Bailey, crime, data mining, text mining, Proceedings
Schools and Departments:	School of History, Art History and Philosophy > History
Research Centres and Groups:	Sussex Humanities Lab
Subjects:	D History General and Old World > D History (General) D History General and Old World > DA History of Great Britain > DA020 England > DA090 Antiquities. General works D History General and Old World > DA History of Great Britain > DA020 England > DA129 By period > DA300 Modern, 1485- > DA498 1714-1760 D History General and Old World > DA History of Great Britain > DA020 England > DA129 By period > DA300 Modern, 1485- > DA505 George III, 1760-1820 D History General and Old World > DA History of Great Britain > DA020 England > DA129 By period > DA300 Modern, 1485- > DA550 Victorian era, 1837-1901
Depositing User:	Timothy Hitchcock
Date Deposited:	03 Jan 2017 15:50
Last Modified:	11 Sep 2017 06:35
URI:	http://srodev.sussex.ac.uk/id/eprint/66000

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