About
Victoria Silverwood is a lecturer in criminology at the Hillary Rodham Clinton School of Law
Victoria Silverwood is a lecturer in criminology at the Hillary Rodham Clinton School of Law
The module reimagines sport as an important critical criminological field that can help us better understand how discourses and practices of crime and justice produce and reinforce social inequalities. The intersections of sport and crime have received much attention from scholars working predominantly in the areas of law and legal studies. For the most part, this body of research has documented cases of corruption, cheating, and illegal behavior that occurs away from the arena and in contexts that fall outside of the direct purview of sport. Criminologists add to this field by considering how crime, deviance, and punishment in the sporting world produce and reproduce social inequalities. This course investigates the myriad ways that ideas, representations, and messages about crime, violence, and punishment in sport mirror broader relations of power that exist outside of sport. Covering a broad range of legal, cultural and social issues such as corruption, cheating, drug-use, doping, violence, and power we consider the role of critical criminology in addressing some of the crimes and harms associated with sport and leisure.
The module explores the relationship between drugs, alcohol and the criminal law. Throughout the module, the ways in which the criminal justice system responds to the problems presented by drug and alcohol-related offending are critically assessed and both domestic and global perspectives (and practices) regarding policy and law development, enforcement and prevention are explored. Radical perspectives such as those relating to human rights and drug-related harm will also feature within this module.
The module consists mainly of a series of case studies of recent research in crime and criminal justice, presented by the people who actually did the research. The focus is on how and why the researchers chose the particular methodologies and strategies used; how these choices were influenced by ethical concerns and the interests of research subjects; what constraints and pressures were created by resource limitations or the expectations and agendas of research funders (for example, the Home Office); and, where relevant, how `impact¿ was defined and conceptualised within the research.
`Homicide: Criminalising Death and Dying¿ offers a critical exploration of homicide through a criminological lens. It assesses the cultural and legal parameters of killing by considering what constitutes homicide in contrasting contexts. The module focuses on a variety of forms of homicide, from politically motivated assassinations to corporate neglect and manslaughter. The spatial and temporal dynamics of homicide are examined with reference to debates on abortion and euthanasia. Collectively the lectures enable students to develop a comprehensive knowledge and theoretical understanding of homicide. The module explores homicide as a distinct criminological topic, whilst examining its relationship with criminology and criminal justice more broadly.