• Home
• Study
• Study Information
• Modules
• Module Information

Criminal Justice in Religious and Philosophical Perspectives

Module description

This optional module is designed to explore the connections between religion and criminal justice; to explore the implications of Christian doctrines such as justification for our understanding of the treatment of offenders; to familiarise you with the main lines of the contemporary debate about criminal justice; and to consider the ethics of present policies for dealing with offenders.

In addition to providing you with overviews of major issues in relevant jurisprudence, theology and ethics, the module gives you the opportunity to work from present-day issues in criminal justice, e.g., whole life tariffs, racial profiling, legalizing certain drugs, (over-)use of imprisonment as a punishment strategy, prison and the profit motive, whether restorative justice works. Where possible, we shall visit Exeter County Court and meet with people involved either professionally or in a voluntary capacity with the criminal justice system.

This module is particularly suitable for students with a philosophical, sociological or theological background.

Module aims - intentions of the module

This module aims to:

• enable you to think for yourself (in a supportive setting) about the relation between law, justice and ideology, how ‘crime’ is defined, the meaning of and justifications offered for punishments, running prisons for profit, whether ‘restorative justice’ is sentimentalised wishful thinking, how the Churches have/should contribute to dealing with crime.
• equip you with sufficient knowledge of relevant literature in the field to be able to develop a critical and constructive approach to present-day issues in criminal justice.
• introduce you to leading research and controversial views on present-day issues in criminal justice.
• enable you to understand and critique the contribution of theology to the historical development, as well as present-day understanding(s) and practice of criminal justice in the UK today.

Intended Learning Outcomes (ILOs)

ILO: Module-specific skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

• 1. Demonstrate knowledge of theological influences on the main theories of crime and punishment
• 2. Relate knowledge of current debates about dealing with offenders
• 3. Apply those debates to particular cases
• 4. Demonstrate awareness of the theological and ethical issues involved in those debates

ILO: Discipline-specific skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

• 5. Demonstrate awareness of aspects of Christian theological contributions to debate in the public arena about justice
• 6. Make appropriate use of a variety of complementary methods of study: theological, social scientific, and ethical
• 7. Evaluate and analyse, with limited guidance, a diversity of primary and secondary sources, including materials from different disciplines

ILO: Personal and key skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

• 8. Shape information into a coherent account, with some guidance
• 9. Demonstrate consistency in method and argument
• 10. Make thorough use of selected written sources, with some guidance
• 11. Communicate clearly in written and oral forms
• 12. Participate appropriately in a learning group

Syllabus plan

Whilst the content may vary from year to year, it is envisioned that it will cover some or all of the following topics:

Part One: Law and Justice

• Law, Justice and Ideology
• Jurisprudence: A Brief Historical Overview including Christian Perspectives
• Theologies of Justification and Implications for Criminal Justice

Part Two: Crime and its causes

• What is Crime?
• Race, Ethnicity and Crime
• Women, Children and Crime

Part Three: Punishment

• Justifications of Punishment
• Punishment and the Profit Motive

Part Four: Reconciliation

• Restorative Justice and the Perspective of the Victim
• The Resettlement of Offenders
• The Church’s Contribution to Dealing with Crime
  
  

Learning activities and teaching methods (given in hours of study time)

Details of learning activities and teaching methods

Formative assessment

Summative assessment (% of credit)

Details of summative assessment

Details of re-assessment (where required by referral or deferral)

Re-assessment notes

Deferral – if you miss an assessment for certificated reasons judged acceptable by the Mitigation Committee, you will normally be either deferred in the assessment or an extension may be granted. The mark given for a re-assessment taken as a result of deferral will not be capped and will be treated as it would be if it were your first attempt at the assessment.

Referral – if you have failed the module overall (i.e. a final overall module mark of less than 40%) you will be required to submit a further assessment as necessary. If you are successful on referral, your overall module mark will be capped at 40%.

Indicative learning resources - Basic reading

• Emil Durkheim, The Rules of Sociological Method (1901).
• Timothy J.Gorringe, Crime (SPCK, 2004).
• Timothy J. Gorringe, God's Just Vengeance (Cambridge, 1996).
• H. L. A. Hart, The Concept of Law (Oxford, 1961).
• Liesbeth Huppes-Cuysenaer, Nuno, M.M.S. Coehlo, Aristotle and the Philosophy of Law: Theory, Practice and Justice (Springer, 2013).
• Amy Levad, Redeeming a Prison Society: A Liturgical and Sacramental Response to Mass Incarceration (Fortress, 2014).
• Andrew Millie, Ed., Criminology and public theology: hope, mercy and restoration (Bristol, 2021).
• Willard M. Oliver, Catholic Perspectives on Crime and Criminal Justice (Lexington Books, 2008).
• R. Williams, R., & A. Liebling, Do prison cause radicalisation? Order, leadership, political charge and violence into maximum security prisons. British Journal of Criminology, 63(1), (2023) 97-114.

Key words search

Crime, Punishment, Justice, Theology, Ethics