Examination of the history of criminal justice in the modern
world. Topics of study will include law codes and the legal
profession, patterns of criminal activity, and the policing of
crime, detention and incarceration, torture and rehabilitation,
and the evolution of an international system of campaigns,
organizations, and laws aimed at establishing what is commonly
referred to as “human rights."
Athena Title
History of Crime Punishment
Equivalent Courses
Not open to students with credit in HIST 3775H
Prerequisite
One course in HIST or ENGL 1101 or ENGL 1101E or ENGL 1101S or ENGL 1102 or ENGL 1102E or ENGL 1102S or POLS 1101 or POLS 1101E or POLS 1101H or POLS 1101S
Grading System
A - F (Traditional)
Student Learning Outcomes
By the end of this course, students will be able to arrive at conclusions about the history of crime and punishment by gathering and weighing evidence, logical argument, and listening to counter argument.
By the end of this course, students will be able to write stylistically appropriate papers and essays. Students will be able to analyze ideas and evidence, organize their thoughts, and revise and edit their finished essays.
By the end of this course, students will be able to identify how the history of crime and punishment shaped diverse social and cultural attitudes toward crime and criminality, punishment and rehabilitation, and ethics and morality, encouraging them to understand diverse worldviews and experiences.
By the end of this course, students will be able to apply appropriate methodological approaches to their analysis of primary sources and to organize their evidence to show historical continuities and discontinuities.
Topical Outline
1. Interpreting law codes
2. Crime and punishment before 1700
3. Judicial systems of the 18th century
4. The Enlightenment and human rights
5. Democratic revolutions and legal reform
6. The “birth” of the penitentiary
7. Industrial crime and punishment
8. Political exiles
9. The romance of the suffering prisoner
10. Global comparisons of “backward” and “progressive” justice
11. The goal of rehabilitation
12. War conventions & changing ideas of bodily pain
13. The first concentration camps
14. The new science of criminology
15. Crime and mental illness
16. The political prisoner
17. Criminal justice under dictatorships
18. Human rights from the League of Nations to the United Nations
19. Life after dictatorship
20. Police states and carceral regimes
21. New democratic movements to reform justice
Institutional Competencies
Analytical Thinking
The ability to reason, interpret, analyze, and solve problems from a wide array of authentic contexts.
Communication
The ability to effectively develop, express, and exchange ideas in written, oral, interpersonal, or visual form.
Critical Thinking
The ability to pursue and comprehensively evaluate information before accepting or establishing a conclusion, decision, or action.
