Crime and Punishment in Istanbul, 1700–1800 (review)

Zarinebaf’s Crime and Punishment in Istanbul, 1700–1800 is another addition to the small but growing number of works that have been shedding light on the history of the Ottoman Empire during the eighteenth century. Until recently, the eighteenth century was considered only in relation to the preceding or following periods—seen either as a continuation of the period of decline that preceded it or the beginning of the era of reform and modernization that defined the following century. By looking at the eighteenth century from the vantage point of the administration of justice in Istanbul, Zarinebaf shows that far from being stuck between competing trends, the Ottoman state managed to improve its effectiveness in important ways during this tumultuous period in its history.

Zarinebaf considers both big “crimes,” such as violent upheavals and rebellions, and everyday crimes, such as prostitution and petty theft. She shows that the growth of both forms in the eighteenth century was closely related to broader forces that affected not only the Ottoman Empire but also the other societies in the region and beyond.

By dealing simultaneously with macro- and micro-trends from a broad and comparative perspective, Zarinebaf provides an unusually rich and textured picture of what Istanbul was like and how it functioned as a social unit in the eighteenth century. She shows how the rebellions that shook the Empire’s foundations were planned, why they occurred, how the state responded to them, and how the culprits were apprehended and punished. On a more local level, she discusses the factors that contributed to the growth of prostitution, elucidating how authorities managed, and even tolerated it, as a necessary evil.

Crime and Punishment in Istanbul also includes careful analyses of the legal bases for the definition of crimes, as well as detailed discussions of court procedure and the meting out of punishment. Zarinebaf argues that on the level of both large-scale political rebellions and petty transgressions, the idea of what constituted criminal activity was by no means self-evident or fixed in the Ottoman Empire. What emerges from this study is a system of justice that was flexible, dynamic, and constantly evolving in response to rapidly changing circumstances. Zarinebaf shows that by utilizing its juridical instruments on the imperial and local level, the Ottoman state actually improved the effectiveness of its surveillance precisely at a time when many scholars consider it to have been in chaos and decline.

Zarinebaf’s broad, cross-regional, and theoretical reading, combined with archival research, also reveals the nature of punishment in the Ottoman Empire. Her vivid descriptions of those who were banished or condemned to galleys for various crimes, as well as those who were publicly and violently punished for participating in rebellions, brings their drama to life.

Rarely does a study succeed with equal brilliance on both the large and small scales of analysis. Ottoman historians and generalists interested in a holistic account of early modern Europe will find Crime and Punishment in Istanbul, 1700–1800 a useful and accessible study.