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Module BEYOND THE PRISON: NORMS, PRACTICES AND SYSTEMS OF CONTROL IN CONTEMPORARY SOCIETY

Module code: LW274
Credits: 5
Semester: 2
Department: LAW
International: Yes
Overview Overview
 

Modern democratic states often rely on practices of detention and incarceration in order to demonstrate the power of the rule of law and social control. As a result, security and detention spaces like refugee camps, migrant detention islands, jails and for-profit prisons, war prisons, border checkpoints, and protest camps are no longer the only places where we see security practices and systems. The concepts and practices developed in these spaces are now utilised in an ever-expanding number of spatial, legal, and political contexts. Through diverse means, including contemporary surveillance technologies, we see the securitization of people in the health care system, public private partnerships, urban spaces generally, in rural areas, at mega events (e.g., Olympics), and more. In this course we will explore the way that prison regimes, practices, and systems have moved into other spheres and engage in a detailed historical and theoretical investigation of the complex and often-contradictory processes that produce them. Globalization, as an economic process and spatial practice, is often associated with movement, speed, and dynamism. However, with increasing regularity, spatial isolation is called on to preserve or secure these spaces of movement and exchange. Moving beyond simple walls and cages, detention spaces are increasingly intertwined with the cross-border flows of people, goods, and capital that have come to describe global modernity. This course builds on and compliments much introductory criminology theory but extends our understanding of crime and security in contemporary contexts. In the Irish context, prisons were for many years underused forms of punishment while other forms of coercive confinement such as Magdalen Laundries, Mother and Baby Homes, Industrial Schools and County Homes confined tens of thousands of the population. These forms of confinement were underpinned by state, religious and social moralities to control and punish sections of the population and enacted through their networks of power and technologies. These are not exclusive to Ireland and are reflected in other jurisdictions in various forms. This historical context sets the scene for understanding how we negotiate state power in the contemporary context. Despite the reduction and/or demise of some of these institutions in the intervening years, newer developments in punishment and social control have emerged in contemporary societies which are enabled through modern advancements in technologies of punishment and surveillance.

Open Learning Outcomes
 
Open Teaching & Learning methods
 
Open Assessment
 
Open Autumn Supplementals/Resits
 
Open Timetable
 
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