Introductory description

By looking at the relationship between justice, social control and punishment, this module seeks to critically explore how societies respond to crime. We will explore key concepts in criminology and criminal justice, and attempt to understand what punishment is, whether it works, how and what consequences it has for those who experience it and for societies. We will focus on key debates in prison sociology and criminology to question whether imprisonment—both as a crime control measure and as an institution of rehabilitation—is successful. We will investigate why the prison is a core feature of liberal democracies, while it is also a source of much controversy and debate. Particularly as prison populations in England and elsewhere remain unprecedentedly high, and as technologies of punishment, regulation and control extend well beyond the physical boundaries of prison walls, and are consistently affecting those who are most disadvantaged in society, the stakes of these debates are high.

The module aims to situate the modern prison within its broader social, historical, political and economic context, and it will end by exploring key social and legal issues arising from punishment by evaluating challenges of prison reform; and exploring alternatives to incarceration but also alternative perspectives in ‘doing justice’.

Module aims

Outline syllabus

This is an indicative module outline only to give an indication of the sort of topics that may be covered. Actual sessions held may differ.

Part 1 - Conceptual Reflections on Punishment

1. Introduction to the concepts of Punishment and Justice: Justifying Punishment
2. Punishment, Justice and Emotions: The Psychosocial Function of Punishment
3. The Penal Subject: inequality, discrimination and criminalisation
4. The lived experience of punishment and the ‘pains of imprisonment’
   Part 2 - Historical and Political Framework
5. Putting the Penal Crisis in Perspective: Historical Overview of Punishment by
   Imprisonment
6. Mass Imprisonment and the Crisis of Penality: Understanding the Contemporary Carceral
   Landscape
7. Neoliberalism, Privatisation and the Prison Industrial Complex
   Part 3 - Beyond Punishment: Critical Perspectives
8. Alternatives to Imprisonment: The Reform versus Abolition Debate
9. Restorative Justice, Transformative Justice and Structural Change

Learning outcomes

By the end of the module, students should be able to:

• Illustrate an understanding of the key principles, values and practices of contemporary criminal justice in England and Wales;
• Demonstrate an appreciation of the diversity and range of punishment and alternative justice approaches available in a global context;
• Present an awareness of issues of punitiveness, crime control, social exclusion, and criminalisation;
• Illustrate an appreciation of the insights that sociological thought brings to the study of crime, justice and punishment;
• Develop an understanding of the historical, political, and colonial origins of the modern prison;
• Critically analyse the social, legal, political, and economic impacts of punishment;
• Analyse and evaluate the tensions between perpetrator accountability, community support and victim healing;
• Identify the role of inequalities and differences in experiences of imprisonment;
• Compare and evaluate different theories and logics of imprisonment and justice;
• Assess empirical evidence on the successes and failures of imprisonment as a crime control mechanism;
• Demonstrate an understanding of key problems, issues and debates within penal policy;
• Develop skills in accessing and evaluating relevant literature for seminar discussion, presentations, independent study, research and essay writing.

Indicative reading list

Some Background Reading

1. Durkheim, É. (1893 [2014]) The Division of Labour in Society. (New York: Free Press). 2. Durkheim, É. (1975) “Two Laws of Penal Evolution.” Economy and Society, 2(3): 285–308. 3. Durkheim, É. ( 2013) “The Rules of Sociological Method.”, extracted In S. Lukes and A. Scull (eds), Durkheim and the Law , edited by S. Lukes and A. Scull. (eds), ( London: Palgrave Macmillan). 4. Elias, N. (1994/2000) The Civilising Process. (Malden: Blackwell). 5. Ericson, R. (2007) Crime in an Insecure World. (Cambridge, UK: Polity Press). 6. Foucault, M. (1975) Discipline and Punish: The Birth of the Prison. (New York: Vintage Books). 7. Garland, D. (2001) The Culture of Control. (Oxford: OUP). 8. Liebling, A., and S. Maruna, S. (2005.) The Effects of Imprisonment. (Devon, UK: Willan). 9. Loader, I. and Walker, N. (2007) Civilizing Security. (Cambridge: CUP). 10. Maguire, M., Morgan, R. and Reiner, R. eds. (2012) The Oxford Handbook of Criminology. 5th ed. (Oxford: OUP). 11. McLaughlin, E. and Muncie, J. eds. (2013) Criminological Perspectives. Essential Readings. 3rd ed. (London: Sage). 12. Pratt, J. (2002) Punishment and Civilization, (London: Sage). 13. Reiner, R. (2007) Law and Order: An Honest Citizens Guide to Crime and Control. (Cambridge: Polity). 14. Wacquant, L (2004) Punishing the Poor: The Neoliberal Government of Social Insecurity. (Durham NC: Duke University Press).

View reading list on Talis Aspire

Research element

Students taking this module will need to engage actively with empirical research on prisons and criminal justice and will need to be able to interpret official and other crime data. As part of the module, students also practice interviewing skills by having a chance to collectively interview a former prisoner who will visit as a guest.

Interdisciplinary

The module draws from criminology, penology, sociology, law, philosophy, psychology and politics.

International

The module focuses on the UK criminal justice system but regularly offers comparative examples from other jurisdictions too.

Subject specific skills

1. Demonstrate an understanding of the key principles, values and practices of contemporary criminal justice in England and Wales
2. Demonstrate an appreciation of the diversity and range of punishment and alternative justice approaches available in a global context
3. Demonstrate an understanding of the historical, political, and colonial origins of the modern prison.
4. Analyse and assess tensions between perpetrator accountability, community support and victim healing
5. Critically analyse the social, legal, political, and economic impacts of punishment
6. Identify the role of inequalities and differences in experiences of imprisonment
7. Compare and evaluate different theories and logics of imprisonment and justice
8. Assess empirical evidence on the successes and failures of imprisonment as a crime control mechanism
9. Demonstrate an understanding of key problems, issues and debates within penal policy

Transferable skills

students will have demonstrated:
-a systematic understanding of key aspects of prison sociology and penology, including acquisition of coherent and detailed knowledge, at least some of which is at, or informed by, the forefront of defined aspects of criminology
-an ability to deploy accurately established techniques of analysis and enquiry within sociology and criminology
-conceptual understanding that enables the student:

• •  to devise and sustain arguments, and/or to solve problems, using ideas and
    techniques, some of which are at the forefront of sociology and criminology
• •  to describe and comment upon particular aspects of current research on punishment, prisons and criminal justice more generally
• the ability to manage their own learning, and to make use of scholarly reviews and primary sources (for example, refereed research articles and/or original materials appropriate to criminology).

-the ability to apply the methods and techniques that they have learned to review, consolidate, extend and apply their knowledge and understanding, and to initiate and carry out projects

• the ability critically evaluate arguments, assumptions, abstract concepts and data (that may be incomplete), to make judgements, and to frame appropriate questions to achieve a solution - or identify a range of solutions - to a problem
• to communicate information, ideas, problems and solutions to both specialist and non-specialist audiences.
• the qualities and transferable skills necessary for employment requiring:
• •  the exercise of initiative and personal responsibility
• •  decision-making in complex contexts
• •  the learning ability needed to undertake appropriate further training of a
    professional or equivalent nature.