Crime became a prevalent issue as London began to quickly modernize and grow in the 19th century. Though crime rates were down across the European continent, statistics still showed high crime rates within the cities themselves and officials were not quick to say that these dips came from effective policing. This also shows that it can be contested that urban growth and crime rates are not tied together. However, crime remained an issue that officials hoped to rid of as a modern nation. Crime rates in Britain remained anywhere from 98 to a staggering 174 in 1841, only dipping below 50 near the turn of the century. (McDonald 407) These numbers represent the swell of crime near the middle of the century, and its respective fall at the end. The two biggest concerns during this time were theft and prostitution, though such examples of Jack the Ripper cannot go unmentioned. Theft became such a concern in London that many began to write on the topic in hopes of personal policing. Charles Dickens wrote a whole section on theft entitled Householders, Hints to. Within this pamphlet he cautioned house owners on certain practices such as door locking and window sealing to prevent themselves from becoming the next victims of theft:

“Great care should be take in in the matter of fastenings to doors and windows. Nothing is easier or more common than for a thief to make his entrance into a house by way of the upper windows, or by, climbing the portico at a time when the household, is engaged at dinner, or when the general attention is otherwise averted.”

Prostitution was also considered to be extremely widespread throughout London, and became even more widely publicized with the case of Jack the Ripper. It came to be such a problem that Patrick Colquhoun claimed that “50,000 unfortunate females supported themselves chiefly or wholly by prostitution.” (Clark 123) Though his number included what he considered to be promiscuous women and not just prostitutes, this gives us incredible insight to the potential number of women who turned to prostitution when they were unable to find stable work in the low paying factories. Because policing of streetwalkers rather than customers proved ineffective for decreasing the amount of prostitutes, the 19th century saw a rise of ‘fallen houses’ for women to repent and reform their lives after holding careers as prostitutes as another option. (Clark 130) However, because it still disregarded the role of the customer the amount of prostitution saw no fall.

It can be seen that crime posed the greatest threat to the East End and southern areas of London in the 19th century. These areas were the districts in which the slums and boardinghouses were situated. The sheer amount of people crowded into these regions allowed crime to become rampant as it was easier to find a target as well as remain anonymous.

- Shannon Holland