Philip Ritson
philip.ritson@adelaide.edu.au

Upon completion of this course students will be able to:



1. display an understanding of the key themes in the history of crime and punishment;


2. have developed critical and analytical skills appropriate to upper-level university students, including the ability to read sources critically;


3. have developed research and communication skills relevant to the study of the humanities;


4. be able to bring historical knowledge to bear upon the understanding of present-day issues associated with crime and punishment.

X

A course reader and text book are required for this course and can be purchased from the Image and Copy Centre. It contains the texts which must be read before each tutorial.

ONLINE LEARNING

Please consult the Myuni pages for this course regularly for updates and additional resources.

The Myuni pages for the course also include links to very useful websites and will be used for e-submission of some assignments.

The university has access to databases of scholarly journals directly related to this course and has a rich collection of British history books so students will have no trouble locating sources upon which to base a research project or essay.

Face-to-face teaching for this course begins with lectures in Week One. There will be two hours of lectures each week and one tutorial. 

 
Attendance at lectures is strongly encouraged because they provide both essential subject matter for the course and the context for tutorial discussions. If you are unable to attend a given lecture or wish to review the material, the recorded lectures will be available via Myuni. The recordings are designed, however, to provide a back-up to (rather than substitute for) attendance in person. 


Some of the video material shown in the course may not be available in the library or on Myuni so it is important to attend so you don’t miss its invaluable (and often entertaining) perspective.

Tutorials and Workshops

Along with the lectures, the weekly tutorials comprise the core of this subject. You are expected to attend your tutorial each week, having read the material in the Course Reader and text book for that topic. Readings are provided in the Course Reader and text book for the tutorial topics, which you are required to read and think deeply about before class and then to discuss in class. 

Tutorials: tutorials for this, as for all History courses, are your forum and are designed to provide an interactive, collaborative learning experience.They provide an opportunity to share your ideas about the issues raised by the readings, to hear others’ ideas and to ask questions. In other words, they are an opportunity to partake in real intellectual debate about the ideas and events which shaped our world and current attitudes to crime and punishment: debates which are fundamental to both historical study and developing confidence and communication skills which will serve you well long after you leave university. When reading for your tutorial, keep the “Discussion Questions” in mind because they will provide the structure for our discussion. We may or may not discuss these questions in tutorials but they provide a good indication of significant issues associated with each topic.

Please note that participation in tutorial discussions and workshops constitutes 10% of your final mark. You must attend tutorials regularly, demonstrate adequate preparation for them and contribute to the discussion (see assessment information for more details). 

Tutorial Attendance

Participation in tutorials is compulsory and you must attend at least 80% of them if you expect to pass the course (unless medical documentation is provided). If you cannot attend your tutorial or workshop, please let the tutor know in advance – not only is this good manners but it might be possible to ‘make-up’ the class at another time later in the week.

The time commitment for this course is a standard minimum 156 hours, during over the semester. This comprises formal contact time: lectures, tutorials and individual study, research, reading and writing time and time spent online. The contact hours are up to:
 
2 hours of lectures per week and

1 x 1 hour tutorial per week.

Thus, it is expected that students will spend three contact hours on the course and a minimum of seven hours in individual study per week. Naturally, though, this will vary. In general, your weekly workload includes attendance at two lectures and one tutorial/workshop per week, carrying out the weekly readings, otherwise preparing to participate in your tutorials, and working on your assessment tasks.


Please note that it is the student’s responsibility to check the assessment tasks and organise their time effectively over the course of the semester.

A detailed lecture and tutorial progam will be available at the beginning of the semester when the Course Guide is Posted on MyUni.

Tutorials will be broken into three groups.  Each group will select a point in time at which the punishment for a crime changes and prepare a group presentation explaining why that penalty changed.  The presentation will be made in tutorials after the mid-semester break.

 
Book review (1,500 words)  25%


Research Essay (3000 words)  40%


SGD Presentation  5%


Class Test  20%


Tutorial Participation  10%

Book Review:

You are required to submit a 1,500-word review of a book, chosen from those listed below.

Elton, G. Star Chamber Stories. London: Methuen, 1958.

Foucault, M. Discipline and Punish: the Birth of the Prison. Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1997.

Ginsburg, C. The Cheese and the Worms: the Cosmos of a Sixteenth-Century Miller. Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1992.

MacFarlane, A. The Justice and the Mare’s Ale: Law and Disorder in Seventeenth-Century England. Oxford: Blackwell, 1981.

Thompson, E. P. Whigs and Hunters: The Origins of the Black Act. Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1977.

The principal aim of this exercise is to encourage the critical reading of an important text in its entirety. In the review you will be expected to:

briefly explain the subject-matter and principal conclusions of the book;


discuss the ‘approach’ of the author (i.e. what he/she intended to do and how the work is informed by particular ideas and/or previous work in the area);


evaluate the book’s success as a contribution to knowledge in the area.


Research Essay:

Choose any of the essay questions: there is one per tutorial topic, as listed below. You will be able to begin researching the subject from the bibliography listed for that week. However, this is a research essay so you must move beyond the reading list provided. You must do more than merely summarise the available secondary literature. You will need to consult and evaluate primary sources and present your own, informed, opinion. Assessment will be based upon your research skills, your interpretation, and how convincingly you argue your case.

Worth 40% of the grade for the course, it is essential that you begin work on the essay early in the semester.

Please also see the ‘Brief Guide to Writing a Research Essay’ on Myuni.



Primary Sources for the essay: a starting point

British Parliamentary Papers (Shannon, Ireland: Irish UP). (Hundreds of volumes, including 19th- century parliamentary reports on the administration of criminal law and policing.)

British Trials, 1600-1900 English criminal trials, mainly for the 18th and 19th centuries.

Cobbett, William (ed.). A Complete Collection of State Trials (London: 1812), many volumes of important criminal trials (available via University Library catalogue and Justis database).

The English Reports (Edinburgh, 1900-32), 178 volumes. Includes reprints of virtually all published English trial reports as compiled by contemporary lawyers, but mainly civil cases, and hard to use unless you know what you are looking for (available via University Library catalogue and HeinOnline database).

Old Bailey Proceedings: Pamphlets on trials at the Old Bailey, mainly 18thcentury, and compiled for sale to the public (available online at http://www.oldbaileyonline.org).

 
Class Test:

There will be a 50 minute test held in the final lecture session. Students will be required to answer four or five questions with answers of about half a page to a page in length. The questions will be based largely upon the tutorial topics, although some material covered in lectures will be included. You will not be permitted to write an answer on the topic you have already covered in your course work essay.


Tutorial Assessment:

Weekly tutorials form the core of this course and your attendance is compulsory. Please note that assessment of your preparation for participation in class discussion constitutes 10% of your final grade. In order to gain those marks you must attend tutorials regularly, demonstrate adequate preparation and be willing to contribute to the discussion. You must also help to lead the discussion for the tutorial which relates to your Research Essay. The criteria for assessing tutorial participation are listed below.

Fail: You have said nothing each week, or you have only once or twice participated. Note that attendance is not part of this grade, you must have read for the topic and contributed to the discussion.

Pass: You read the “essential reading” material each week and contributed a few words to most discussions on the basis of your reading.

Credit: You read the “essential reading” material each week and participated regularly in discussions, demonstrating an effort to come to terms with the topic.

Distinction: You read the “essential reading” material and participated substantially each week. You demonstrated a conscientious effort to come to terms with the topic every week and relate it to the course as a whole.

High Distinction: You read the “essential reading” material each week and contributed substantially to the discussion. You worked hard to integrate your reading for tutorials and lectures into an overall understanding of what each topic was about, and how it related to the course as a whole. You made informed and thoughtful contributions which helped others in the class to understand the topic.

Please note that your contribution to the discussion is expected to be informed by the assigned readings. Students who are vociferous each week but whose participation is based upon their general knowledge rather than careful reading of the documents and texts cannot expect to receive a high mark.

Online Submission of Assignments (e-submission) via MyUni

All assignments are to be submitted electronically via MyUni - this is a two-step process. The assignment needs to be electronically submitted for marking via the ‘Assignments’ link in the course menu. It then needs to be submitted separately to Turnitin, which is also done via the MyUni site. Marked assignments will be returned to the student in printed form.

(This means that you DO NOT have to submit hard copies of your assignments.) 


Extensions
Students wishing to apply for an extension need to submit the relevant form available at http://www.adelaide.edu.au/student/exams/mod_arrange.html to the school office at least 5 days prior to the due date for the assignment.

Exceptions to the Policy

If one of the following criteria is met, an informal extension can be organised with the course coordinator or tutor:

small extension – 2 days or less;

assessment item is worth 20% or less;

student is registered with the Disability Office (need to attach a Disability Access Plan – DAP).

All work submitted late without an extension will incur a penalty of 2% per day including weekends.

Normally written work will be returned a fortnight after submission.