Sociology of punishment
SOCI2047
Unavailable this year
Lecture venue
Lecture time
Offer semester
The course aims to explain the elementary aspects of punishment in a comparative and historical context. The social institution of punishment is a central object of social theory and in many ways a mirror of society and its norms. Punishment, in other words, is far more than a technical, pragmatic problem linked to the practices of certain institutions of crime control and prevention.
The course will look at the different functions of punishment, like retribution, deterrence, incapacitation, rehabilitation, and restoration, but will also focus on punishment in a historical and cultural context. There is a vast difference in how America, the UK, Hong Kong or China view and practice punishment. The issue of punishment is both a normative and a rational issue.
After completing this course, you should be able to:
Examine the notions and practices of punishment from a comparative and historical perspective;
Grasp how punishment has been analyzed by major social theories;
Explain the different functions of punishment in different contexts;
Appreciate the plural ways in which punishment is viewed and practised across time and place;
Reflect on the nature of punishment as both a normative and rational issue.
Tasks
Weighting
Coursework
50%
Examination
50%
Terance, D. Miethe, Hong Lu, Punishment. A Comparative Historical Perspective, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 2005.
Adams, R. The Abuses of Punishment, London, MacMillan, 1998,
Bakken, B. “Moral Panics, Crime Rates, and Harsh Punishment in China”, in The Australian and New Zealand Journal of Criminology, Vol. 37, Supplement 2004, pp. 67-90
Braithwaite, J. Restorative Justice and Responsive Regulation, Oxford ; Oxford University Press, 2002.
Brooks, T. Punishment , Abingdon, Oxon ; New York, NY : Routledge, 2012.
Duff, R.A. and Garland, D. “Introduction: Thinking about punishment”, in Duff, A. & Garland, D. A Reader on Punishment, Oxford Readings in Socio-Legal Studies, Oxford, Oxford University Press, 1994, pp. 1-28.
Foucault, M. Discipline & Punish. The Birth of the Prison, Translated from the French by Alan Sheridan, Vintage Books, New York, 1979,
Hood, R. The Death Penalty. A World Wide Perspective (3rd edition), Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2004, Chapter 7, The Question of deterrence, pp. 208-232.
Melossi, D. (Ed.) The Sociology of punishment: socio-structural