With the vast amount of good land and the shortage of laborers, plantation owners turned to lifetime enslavement of African peoples who worked for their keep but were not paid wages and could not easily escape. Enslaved Africans had some legal rights (it was a crime to kill an enslaved person, and a few whites were hanged for it.) Generally, enslaved Africans developed their own family system, religion, and customs in the slave quarters with little interference from owners, who were only interested in work outputs.