Take 5

The Law: Crime and Punishment

This fascinating topic crops up surprisingly often on Museum of the Highland! It certainly helps that one of the featured museums is Cromarty Courthouse Museum.

1) For an eerie start to the topic, try out the ‘What’s the Noise?’ activity to listen to the sound of historic handcuffs. Will your students be able to tell what it is as they listen to the sounds heard by prisoners of the past?
NOISE-6 | Museum of the Highlands

Explore the handcuffs from Cromarty Courthouse Museum further.
Handcuffs | Museum of the Highlands

2) Next decide if your students could have survived prison in the past, with our fun quiz.
Prison in the Past | Museum of the Highlands

3) Discover the interactive story of Highland jewel thief Mary Marjorie Macdonald from Ullapool. How did the legal system treat this historic reoffender?
Mary Marjorie Macdonald | Museum of the Highlands

4) Shed light on a classic crime from the past, with the ‘smuggler’s measure’ from West Highland Museum.
Smuggler’s Measure | Museum of the Highlands

Then learn about how attitudes to punishing the perpetrators of crime have changed over time. To help with this, meet Lord Carloway, the Lord President, in one of five short videos exploring objects from Cromarty Courthouse Museum.
How have attitudes to punishments changed? | Museum of the Highlands

Another question he answers is ‘Why do judges wear wigs?’
Why do judges wear wigs? | Museum of the Highlands

5) Finally, explore the lives of any unfortunate Prisoners of War through a selection of objects, including the carved floral-design box at Strathnaver Museum and a marquetry box from West Highland Museum.
Prisoner of War Art | Museum of the Highlands
Marquetry Box  | Museum of the Highlands

Then learn about the daring escape from being Prisoners of War of three Ballachulish friends during World War Two. Discover if you students think they could survive in enemy territory in our exciting quiz.
In enemy territory? | Museum of the Highlands