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CRIME AND PUNISHMENT
History 480

This course is a seminar on the history of crime and punishment in Western Europe and America during the 18th and 19th centuries. The course will examine the incidence and typology of crime in different societies at different times to assist students in formulating how and why definitions of "crime" have changed over time. The course will also explore the evolution of state mechanisms for dealing with crime, especially police andprison systems. Other topics will include the longstanding criminological debate between environmentalism and heredity, the representation of crime in literature and the popular media, and crime as a political issue. The course will consist primarily of class discussions based on weekly reading assignments. Students will also write a series of interpretive essays based on the assigned readings and conduct an independent research project on a topic of their own choosing.
Readings:
  • M. Foucault, "Discipline and Punish
  • H. Fielding, "Jonathan Wild
  • P.D. James, "The Maul and the Pear Tree
  • M. Hartman, "Victorian Murderesses
  • A.C. Doyle, "Sherlock Holmes Stories
  • Photocopied handouts
Grade:
  • 3 topical papers 15% each
  • research project 25%
  • class discussion 30%
Week 1 Spectacle of the Scaffold
Reading: "Discipline and Punish , part 1 D. Hay, "Property, Authority and Criminal Law"
Week 2 18th Century Criminal Literature
Reading: "Newgate Calendar , "Lives of Remarkable Criminals, Daniel Defoe, "Jonathan Wild
Week 3 Dramatising the Criminal
Reading: Henry Fielding, "Jonathan Wild
Week 4 Transportation
Reading: Robert Highes, "The Fatal Shore
Week 5 Mercy, Justice and Community Values
Reading: V. Gatrell, "The Rape of Elizabeth Cureton"
(Paper 1 Due)
Week 6 The New Prison
Reading: "Discipline and Punish , parts 24
Week 7 Apprehending the Criminal
Reading: "The Maul and the Pear Tree
Week 8 The New Police
Reading: R. Storch, "The Plague of Blue Locusts"
Week 9 Underworld Crime
Reading: F. Engels, "The Great Towns" H. Mayhew, "London Labour and the London Poor
(Paper 2 Due)
Week 10 Upperworld Crime
Reading: D.M. Evans, "Facts, Failures and Frauds
Week 11 Women, Children and the Law
Reading: C. Conley, "The Unwritten Law, K. Chesney, "Prostitution"
Week 12 Nature vs Nurture
Reading: Cesare Lombroso, "Crime, Gina Lombroso, "Criminal Man, Charles Russell, "The Making of the Criminal
Week 13 Female Criminals
Reading: "Victorian Murderesses
(Paper 3 Due)
Week 14 Insanity and Crime
Reading: R. Harris, "Melodrama, Hysteria and Feminine Crimes of Passion," and "Murder Under Hypnosis"
Week 15 The Master Detective
Reading: Sherlock Holmes stories: "Silver Blaze," "Speckled Band," "Scandal in Bohemia," "Blue Carbuncle," "Red Headed League"
(Research Project Due)