The book discusses the criminal and administrative duties of the major officers and bureaucrats of the Florentine court-police force. Subsequent chapters explore the Otto's expenditures and highlights the role of incarceration as an essential element of control in the city. The analysis covers the trial procedure and the criminal justice process from the discovery of the crime to the acquittal or punishment of the defendant. The Otto gradually evolved as part of the centralization of criminal justice within the Tuscan state. The final chapter discusses some important aspects of economic, social, and political change in Tuscan society during this historical period, and focuses on the definitions of crime and changes that occurred in the treatment of violations in a context of radical social change. 4 appendixes