Judicial Spectacle Events as Reality and as Fiction

Spielmann, Guy

doi:10.5235/175214811796219763

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“…Thus the question asked at the start of Measure for Measure —how do you conduct legal reforms while preserving the reputation of the government?—is answered at the end of the play: “theatricality.” You stage justice working as it is supposed to work, not because staged justice is real justice, but because it gives people the impression that it is, and they then proceed under the assumption that justice is back in town. In Measure for Measure —and, as Guy Spielmann (2011) has discussed, in modern society as well—the theatricality of the justice system is both an opportunity and a liability, a source of both support and suspicion, support because it allows the justice system to manufacture public sentiment, but suspicion because there will always remain the skeptical critics who recognize the artifice of such events.…”

Section: Shakespeare’s Criminologymentioning

confidence: 99%

Shakespeare and criminology

Wilson

2014

Crime, Media, Culture

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This paper suggests that Shakespeare's plays offer an embryonic version of criminology, and that they remain a valuable resource for the field, both a theoretical and a pedagogical resource. On the one hand, for criminology scholars, Shakespeare can open up new avenues of theoretical consideration, for the criminal events depicted in his plays reflect complex philosophical debates about crime and justice, making interpretations of those events inherently theoretical; reading a passage from Shakespeare can be the first step in building a new theory of criminology. On the other hand, for criminology students, Shakespeare can initiate and sustain an intellectual transition that is fundamental to their professionalization, namely the transition from what I call a "simplistic" to a "skeptical" model of criminology. For this reason, I recommend that criminologists try what the Shakespearean scholar Julia Reinhard Lupton has called "thinking with Shakespeare." Thinking with Shakespeare is particularly valuable for criminologists because Shakespeare coded ancient philosophical ideas about crime and justice into the words and deeds of his characters: interpreting the drama takes us into the philosophy, and the philosophy provides us with the conceptual equipment for a better criminology.Shortly after receiving my PhD in English, having written a dissertation on Shakespeare, I was hired to teach rhetoric and writing classes in-of all places-a Department of Criminal Justice. Writing had recently become a priority in the department, I was told, because employers in our area wanted their workers to be better writers. There were, I came to understand, two key reasons for this request. First, writing was probably not the sexy, sensational, highly televised aspect of the field that inspired students to pursue a career in criminal justice, but it would be a major part of their jobs, a skill set without which they would be simply unemployable, whether they saw themselves working out on the street, in an office, or on a campus. Second, given the always intricate nature of crime and justice, our cops, officers, agents, counselors, advocates, lawyers, and criminologists need to know how to interpret complex problems, and academic writing is, at its

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Section: Shakespeare’s Criminologymentioning

confidence: 99%

Shakespeare and criminology

Wilson

2014

Crime, Media, Culture

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

Judicial Spectacle Events as Reality and as Fiction

Cited by 1 publication

References 2 publications

Shakespeare and criminology

Shakespeare and criminology

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