Lexi's Adventures: London: Day 8: Policing Lecture, Clink Prison Museum, Platform 9 3/4

Today was another interesting day. I still have not gotten my sleep under control. I slept about 2.5 hours last night, but tonight looks like a promising night of sleep.

Today, we had an early morning lecture on policing. I could go into so much detail from the creation of constables, to the Bow Street Runners, to the river police, and then the advent of the Metropolitan Police force. Law enforcement has a lengthy history here in London. Their crimes rates are interesting to look at. They have very few murders each year in London, I believe she said under 100? About half of them are related to domestic violence, a significant number are from teenagers with knives. When asked why the rates were so low, the answer was that they do not have easy access to firearms. This method works well for England. I'm not sure that it would be so successful in the US. I was also intrigued that the smaller forces outside of London and their departments are called Constabularies. Not sure why this is so intriguing, but it is. Probably because in the US, they are all just called Police Departments.

During lunch, I went to the bookstore and gave in and bought two Sherlock Holmes book. It was worth it. And, hey, one of them is from the Museum of London, so it wasn't a complete waste to buy a book out here.

We took a trip down to the Clink Prison Museum where an old prison used to stand. Apparently this was a very notorious prison and completely ruthless. From what I saw on the inside, environments were awful and subpar, and everyone was essentially tortured. It was morbid to a certain degree. I'm glad to see that prisons have had some sort of reform and are a bit less inhumane. Especially because people were being tossed into the Clink for even petty crimes, like having a late payment on a debt (we're all guilty of that, aren't we?) or being falsely accused of crimes or stealing a small loaf of bread to feed your family. People starved in this prison, died of diseases... Something interesting I learned in the lecture. An arsonist who risked many lives got a severe punishment, by English standards. That being that he received 11 years in prison and he'll likely serve half. In the US, he likely would have received close to life in prison. And when individuals are sent to prison, they receive a lot of education and rehabilitation. This is quite a difference from our retributivist society in the US where little focus is placed on education, rehabilitation, and recidivism.

I then got on the train and we stopped by King's Cross St. Pancras station and found platform 9 3/4. I'm not a huge Harry Potter fan, but the experience was cool to have and why not, right? I'm out here, I might as well go do that. I bought my picture (just cost me 7.50 pounds) and a couple of souvenirs.

That was the end of my day, but it was still a fun day. Tomorrow we are going to tour the Inns of Court and have a lecture. Soon I think I will take a trip to Earl's Court Station and try to find the Tardis.