Overcriminalisation and the Mythic Functions of Criminal Law
Grant details
Leverhulme Research Fellowship (Leverhulme Trust), £48,840 over 18 months
Project start and end dates
1 August 2022 to 31 January 2024
Research team members
PI: David Hayes
Background and aims of the project
The project explores the cultural drivers of excessive use of the criminal law as a solution to social problems. It explores the socio-cultural functions of myths (i.e. symbolically-laden folk narratives invested with substantial cultural significance) play in studies of various (modern and other) human societies, and argues that law in general, and criminal law in particular, plays a number of these functions. In particular law, criminal law: serves existential needs for clarity and security in an uncertain world; establishes and reinforces social and political identities, both within and between communities; and communicates moral and other messages within and between generations. By looking at law as performing similar functions to myth, the causes of contemporary over-reliance on criminal law can be thrown into sharp relief, making it easier to identify meaningful solutions to the problems posed by over-criminalisation.
Methods
A theoretical study relying on library-based research
Project publications to date
Online first, DOI: 10.1093/ojls/gqad029