Law and Literature of Crime, University of Connecticut

This seminar explores several fundamental issues in the theory of criminal law using literary examples and insights. The first topic is the question of what should be criminalized; the question of when a private act becomes a matter of urgent public concern. Secondly, we assess the adequacy of the legal picture of the human mind and experience, using what we know about the complexity of psychological states. We also consider ethics in the context of trial practice and modes of punishment. Among the authors included in the course are Camus, Hawthorne, Kafka, and Burgess. This information has been collected for the Post-Discipline Online Syllabus Database. The database explores the use of literature by schools of professional education in North America. It forms part of a larger project titled Post-Discipline: Literature, Professionalism, and the Crisis of the Humanities, led by Dr Merve Emre with the assistance of Dr Hayley G. Toth. You can find more information about the project at https://postdiscipline.english.ox.ac.uk/. Data was collected and accurate in 2021/22.