Module Specifications..
Current Academic Year 2023 - 2024
Please note that this information is subject to change.
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Description Contemporary Irish society, like other societies around us now, and societies in the past, is fascinated to the point of obsession with crime. The related issues of punishment and justice have sometimes been afforded less attention. This module will examine the history of crime and punishment during the period 1750-1950, with a focus on the English-speaking world. Changing rates and patterns of crime, the development of modern policing, the changing role of the courts, evolving patterns of punishment, and the emergence of experts will all be explored. This will be conducted with due attention to the influence of ideology, social and economic change, and the growth of the power of the state, while the importance of class, gender, youth, ethnicity, political protest, and popular representations of crime will be assessed. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Learning Outcomes 1. Identify major trends in the history of crime and punishment for the modern period. 2. Interrogate the social, economic, political and ideological contexts in which the definitions of crime and approaches to justice and punishment have evolved. 3. Compare approaches to crime and punishment between jurisdictions and analyse the extent to which ideas and strategies about crime and punishment were shared among emerging groups of ‘experts’ and the mechanisms of this transfer. 4. Assess the impact of categories including class, gender and youth uponLO definitions of crime and criminal justice systems. 5. Demonstrate an ability to analyse a range of primary sources related to crime and punishment, including state records, legal texts, criminological studies, literary texts, newspapers, and visual art. 6. Apply knowledge of international trends in the study of crime and punishment to the study of crime and punishment in Ireland. 7. Argue and reference coherent arguments about aspects of the history and crime and punishment. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
All module information is indicative and subject to change. For further information,students are advised to refer to the University's Marks and Standards and Programme Specific Regulations at: http://www.dcu.ie/registry/examinations/index.shtml |
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Indicative Content and Learning Activities
CrimeThe students will examine the definition and measurement of crime from the mid-eighteenth century. They will assess the changing forms and perceptions of crime that came with increasing urbanisation and the consequences of the increasing association, in public discourse, of crime and the urban poor. Terms such as ‘the criminal classes’, ‘degeneration’ and ‘organized crime’ will be examined. Those forms of crime associated with women, juveniles, migrants and ethnic minorities will be also investigated to reveal broader societal attitudes towards vulnerable groups.PolicingThe students will assess the increasing tendency for the state to watch and control its subjects/citizens during the nineteenth century. In particular, they will investigate the shift from local – municipal – policing toward national police forces and associated bureaucracies. What were the implications of the professionalising of policing? They will consider the use of police to manage political dissent, in particular during times of political crisis.The CourtsThe students will consider the expansion of courts systems and the interactions of the populace with this manifestation of the law. Who appeared before the courts? Who represented people in courts and how were their roles defined and professionalised? How has the role of judges and magistrates evolved? How has the role of ‘experts’ evolved within the criminal justice system?PunishmentThe students will probe changing patterns of punishment from punishments largely inflicted upon the body – flogging and execution – to convict transportation and on to the dominance of the modern prison. The evolution of modern prisons into modern prison systems and the associated development of prison regimes will be scrutinised as will the development of specialist penal institutions such as the borstal for juvenile offenders.Representations of Crime and PunishmentThe role of the popular press, popular fiction and cinema in shaping popular perceptions of crime and punishment will be investigated. Popular culture phenomena such as the ‘detective’ and the ‘serial killer’ will be examined. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Indicative Reading List
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Other Resources 0, Online, 0, Online, https://www.oldbaileyonline.org/, 0, Online, 0, Online, https://www.digitalpanopticon.org, | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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