Subject Area: Criminology

This course provides an introduction to penology. It begins by considering the growing use of prisons across the developed world and is then constructed around three main themes: theorising the prison; perspectives for reform; and contemporary issues in Australian penal policy. The elective is designed to give students some insight into the frameworks used by social theorists to analyse imprisonment, with a view to examining contemporary issues such as ‘supermax’ prisons, deaths in custody, immigration detention, the civil rights of prisoners and prison privatisation. The experience of the New South Wales prison system following the 1978 Royal Commission into New South Wales prisons provides an immediate context for studying such issues and an opportunity to examine the complexities and limitations of prison reform.
The course intends to focus on the wider sociological implications of imprisonment and to introduce students to the various perspectives on punishment and the prison system offered by social theorists. It is designed to encourage both a basic understanding of the core literature and the ability to apply different penological perspectives to original research.
A student who has successfully completed this course should be able to:
understand some of the main themes within penology; understand the relationship of penology to criminology; appreciate the wider instrumental role of the prison in the criminal justice process; and contribute to more informed policy debate about prisons and punishment.