Philosophy, Culture, Law & Criminology Research Unit (PCLC)
The Philosophy, Culture, Law & Criminology (PCLC) Research Unit takes a distinctly philosophical or cultural perspective on issue of relevance to law and criminology. Members of the Research Unit have strengths in the following areas:
Aesthetics and aesthetic criminology
Music and crime
Narrative criminology
Philosophical criminology
Theology
Urban interventions, such as graffiti, yarn bombing or skateboarding
The Philosophy, Culture, Law & Criminology Research Unit welcomes applications for postgraduate study at MRes and PhD. For informal discussions please contact Dr Eleanor Peters or Professor Andrew Millie and to apply visit Edge Hill’s Graduate School page.
“Gangs and child criminal exploitation: A case study of Merseyside”
Supervisors: Professor Andrew Millie and Dr Eleanor Peters
Jan Adams
“Everyday morality and anti-social behaviour”
Supervisors: Professor Andrew Millie and Dr Leon Culbertson
Research projects
Narrative justice
Project funder: British Society of Aesthetics, 2019, £TBA
Dr Rafe McGregor
A two-day conference funded by the British Society of Aesthetics was held at Edge Hill University 5-6 March 2019 on the topic of narrative justice. The purpose of the conference was to: facilitate mutually-beneficial exchange between the humanities and the social sciences, draw attention to the overlap between the disciplines of philosophical aesthetics and theoretical criminology, and explore the interdisciplinary potential of subjects such as the imaginary of justice, narrative counter-terror, and the representation of crime in popular media.
The use and abuse of music: Criminal records
Project funder: Edge Hill Research Investment Fund, 2019, £TBA Dr Eleanor Peters
Music is generally seen as a positive thing, but there is a darker side to its use. There are inequalities in whose music is heard and whose is suppressed. The use of music as a weapon in war and conflict or as punishment in the criminal justice system takes something society generally perceives as intrinsically ‘good’ and subverts it. Music (and sound) has been used as a method of torture in conflict situations. It is also used to punish or repel the least powerful in society – unwanted groups of young people or others perceived as ‘deviant’. A monograph was published in 2019 entitled ‘The Use and Abuse of Music: Criminal Records’
Criminology and public theology: On justice, mercy and forgiveness
Project funder: British Society of Criminology, I4P and Edge Hill Research Investment Fund, 2018, £2,830 Professor Andrew Millie
The project brought together leading criminologists and theologians, initially for a seminar held at Edge Hill University in April 2018. It was the first time in nearly 40 years that the two disciplines had met in this way. At that time the context was a ‘coming penal crisis’. Today the penal crisis appears permanent, with prisons often in a poor state, understaffed and overcrowded, experiencing high levels of violence and drug use, and suffering low levels of rehabilitation. The seminar and a resulting edited collection to be published by Bristol University Press, come at an important time to challenge criminal justice orthodoxy.
Challenging acceptable urban aesthetics: Urban intervention and transgression
Project funder: Edge Hill Research Investment Fund, 2013-2015, £1,675 Professor Andrew Millie
The project looked at conceptions of agreeable urban aesthetics by exploring the views of those that challenge conventional ideas of what is acceptable through what have become known as ‘urban interventions’. Focus was on the activities of yarn bombers and guerrilla gardeners in the North West of England. The project has resulted in a peer-reviewed journal article on yarn bombing and aesthetic criminology (2019), published in the British Journal of Criminology.
Research in action
Members of the Philosophy, Culture, Law and Criminology Research Centre are involved in important and innovative research on a range of topics.
