The Anglo-Jewish establishment were gravely embarrassed by the misdeeds of their fellow Jews. In an era when the great battles for political freedom were still being fought, the badge of criminality could only do damage to the cause. Whatever numbers were actually involved at any point in crime or shady dealings, casually or otherwise, the community at large was labelled. Even though Jews were very rarely implicated in crimes of violence, the one celebrated case that did involve Jews - the Chelsea murder case in 1771 - was used to taunt Jews routinely for decades afterwards.

Community leaders did all they could to stop the problem. They encouraged their community to turn in wrongdoers to the authorities. They threatened criminals with excommunication, and the denial of rights to Jewish burial. These would be very powerful sanctions to a committed believer, but, for those living on the margins of society, they probably meant little.

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