The Criminal Spectre in Law, Literature and Aesthetics: Incriminating Subjects (Routledge Advances in Sociology)

This book analyses the legal and aesthetic discourses that combine to shape the image of the criminal, and that image's contemporary endurance. The author traces the roots of contemporary ideas about criminality back to legal, philosophical and aesthetic concepts originating in the nineteenth century. Building on the ideas of Foucault and Walter Benjamin, Hutchings argues that the criminal, as constructed in places such as popular crime stories or the law of insanity, became an obsession which haunted nineteenth century thought. The Nineteenth Century Was Haunted By Crime, By Its Signs, Stories And The Shapes Of Institutions Designed For Its Regulation. That Haunting Persists Today In A Popular Fear Of Crime That Shapes Political Agendas, And Through Images Presented In The Media. This Book Analyses The Legal And Aesthetic Discourses That Combine To Shape The Image Of The Criminal, And That Image's Contemporary Endurance. Peter Hutchings Examines A Variety Of Texts, From Literature, Photography, Cinema And Law, And Draws Material From A Spectrum Of Disciplines. He Maps The Evolution Of The Criminal Spectre Through The Discourses Of Phrenology, Criminology, Anthropometry And Psychology, And Traces This Spectre In The Law Of Criminal Responsibility And Forensic Evidentiary Techniques. Emerging From These Investigations Is An Important Theoretical Framework Concerning Formations Of Subjectivity That Builds On Foucault, Derrida And Walter Benjamin. This Book Will Be Of Essential Interest To Sociologists, Psychologists, Cultural Historians, Criminologists And Those Working In The Field Of Legal Studies.--jacket. 1. Introduction: This Subject Of Ghosts -- 2. Spectacularizing Crime, Ghostwriting The Law -- 3. Mad, Murderous And Dangerous To Know -- 4. The Feminine Phantom: Women, Crime And Fantasy -- 5. Modern Forensics: Photography And Other Suspects -- 6. The Genius Of Crime. Peter J. Hutchings. Includes Bibliographical References (p. [199]-211) And Index. Cover Title Page Copyright Page Table of Contents List of figures Acknowledgements 1 Introduction: “This subject of ghosts” 2 Spectacularizing crime, ghostwriting the law 3 Mad, murderous and dangerous to know 4 The feminine phantom: women, crime and fantasy 5 Modern forensics: photography and other suspects 6 The genius of crime References Index Ghostly, illusory powers; a pervasive taint of criminality: the nineteenth-century subject is haunted by crime, by its signs and stories and the shapes of institutions designed for its regulation.