Module Information
Course Delivery
| Delivery Type | Delivery length / details |
|---|---|
| Lecture | 16 x 1 Hour Lectures |
| Seminar | 3 x 1 Hour Seminars |
Assessment
| Assessment Type | Assessment length / details | Proportion |
|---|---|---|
| Semester Assessment | Essay 2000 words required in week 12 | 100% |
| Supplementary Assessment | Essay 2000 words | 100% |
Learning Outcomes
On successful completion of this module students should be able to:
Investigate historical material and critically analyse, within its historical contexts, the development of a body of knowledge which becomes known as "criminology". The characteristics of that body of knowledge and the merits of its claims to be a "discipline" will be investigated, and several key theories will be examined and discussed with relation to broader developments in science and society.
Brief description
The search for the origin of the 'science' of criminology has produced a number of possible progenitors, mostly within the nineteenth century. This course examines the subject's claim to be a science and traces the development of bodies of knowledge, often competing and contested, to explain criminal behaviour. It charts, and offers historical explanations for, the movement away from locating wrong in notions of (universal) sin and vice to a more specific and selective belief in criminality as a mark of individual and/or social pathology.
Aims
To consider the important developments in the development of criminological thinking. A critical approach to the historical specificity of knowledge claims should inform more basically the student's reflection on more recent and contemporary theory in this field.
Content
Early 'empirical' doctrines: Physiognomy and Phrenology
British empiricism: The work of Henry Mayhew and others
Lombrosian Positivism and its critics
Eugenic theory
Early environmental and 'sociological' theories: Carpenter, Tarde, Durkheim. Political theory and criminology.
The development of Criminal psychology
Criminality and public opinion Some historical case studies
Notes
This module is at CQFW Level 6