Course

Crime and Punishment in Historical Perspective - CRIM2041

Faculty: Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences

School: School Humanities & Languages

Course Outline: School of Humanities & Languages

Campus: Sydney

Career: Undergraduate

Units of Credit: 6

EFTSL: 0.12500 (more info)

Indicative Contact Hours per Week: 3

Enrolment Requirements:

Prerequisite: 30 units of credit at Level 1

Equivalent: HIST2820

Excluded: GENT0911

CSS Contribution Charge: 1 (more info)

Tuition Fee: See Tuition Fee Schedule

Further Information: See Class Timetable

View course information for previous years.

Description

Subject Area: Criminology
This course can also be studied in the following specialisation: History

This course examines the development of important institutions and procedures of criminal justice, and the debates they provoked. The focus is primarily on England with some consideration of criminal justice practices in other parts of Europe, especially France. The time-frame ranges from the late 17th century to the 19th century, although the course presupposes no prior knowledge of European history in this period. At the outset we aim to establish the major features of England’s criminal justice system: Why were so few criminals prosecuted and convicted in the 17th and 18th centuries? Why did punishments in this period – even for apparently minor crimes – seem to be so brutal and bloodthirsty? Why were executions carried out in public? Why were there more capital crimes in England than the number of executions? We then consider some of the ways in which “reforms” were introduced during the 18th and 19th centuries: Why was the policy of transportation developed? What were the prison hulks? What changes were implemented in England’s prisons? How could the French Revolution’s famous innovation – the guillotine – be considered humane? Why did it take so long for the British to develop a professional police force?

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