Questions on crime and imprisonment
Instructor: Dr. Anke Allspach
Winter Semester 2020
Length: 2 hours
Aids not Permitted
Please answer ONE of the following questions in essay style.
- Question: Describe how Bentham’s panopticon operates as an architectural type inside prisons. Explain how Foucault (1977) has taken up the idea of the panopticon to explain the shift to three different forms of power operating in modern liberal societies. Use the media as an example to explain how disciplinary power operates as a panoptic and a synoptic function (Mathieson).
- Question: Outline the key aspects of what statistics can and cannot contribute to our understandings of crime. Why is it difficult to accurately measure crime statistically? Explain in detail some of the pitfalls in data collection procedures and provide detailed reasons emerging from each difficulty/sensitivity that contributes to produce the ‘dark figure of crime’.
You will be evaluated according to these criteria:
- Your detailed theoretical knowledge and
- Definition and Explanation of key concepts
- How well you apply theories and key concepts to one topic.
- Clarity and organization of writing.
Good luck!