In Moll Flanders, Defoe uses satire to make social commentary on the criminal justice system in Britain in the 17th century. As someone who experienced Newgate Prison firsthand after being convicted of seditious libel—as well as someone who was in and out of various debtors’ prisons—Defoe knew this subject well and had a lot to say about it.
Defoe’s satirical critique of the criminal justice system comes across in his decision to have Moll be arrested for simply stealing fabric after years and years of much more harmful and large-scale crimes. In other words, he is showing how ineffective the justice system in Moll’s time was—she was able to outwit citizens and the law for decades (as a con artist, prostitute, and thief of sizable items like horses) before finally being charged with petty theft. In this way, Defoe is highlighting how the law is not there primarily to keep people safe but to punish people for being poor, as most people stealing scraps of fabric are likely doing so to survive.
Defoe also satirizes the criminal justice system in his decision to have all three convicts exported to the American colonies (Moll’s mother, Moll, and James) end up happy and prosperous. While English courts saw this as a punishment equal to death, transportation to the colonies also allowed impoverished people to have the chance at a better life than they would have in England. Further, as evidenced by Moll and James moving back to England near the end of the novel, their forced immigration did not stick—there were still ways for ex-convicts to go around the courts and end up in England once again. Overall, Defoe is using satirical humor to show how the criminal justice system in England at the time was contradictory and ineffective.
