The Romans had different ways of dealing with crime, depending on the severity and type committed. The first recorded Roman laws were the Twelve Tables. These were written around 450BC. Over the years, laws expanded and grew to help the safety of Roman society.
Roman policing, was non-existent so often led to further violence and crime. There was no police force within the walls of Rome therefore it was within the hands of Roman citizens to catch the criminal and punish as deemed appropriate. However, this led to further crime because many felt the appropriate punishment to be more extreme than necessary. Therefore, this system could be considered an unfair law because they were not given a trial if caught by those only seeking vengeance so this meant that an inappropriate punishment would be given.
For more serious cases the major crime system was introduced. For Roman trials three basic principles were followed. These were; any Roman citizen could bring a case to court, the defendant was innocent until proved guilty, the defendant had the right to present evidence. Therefore, Roman trials for major crimes could be seen as a fair system of law and order because the accused was never pre-judged and was entitled to a sincere argument on their behalf.
Certain punishments were a little extreme considering the crime committed. The main purpose of Roman punishment was to deter potential criminals by increasing the severity of the punishment. For example, if convicted of stealing farm animals it’d be punishable by death. Therefore Roman punishments were seen to be excessive and unjust because some crimes were not as equally cruel
