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ELECTIVE COURSE MANUAL

Critical Psychology of Law

Spring Semester

2020

Chetan Sinha

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CONTENTS

PART I

General Information…………………………………………………………………………

Page 3

PART II

a. Course Description……………………………………………………………………Page 4

b. Course Aims……………………………………………………………………………Page 5

c. Intended Leaning Outcomes ……………………………………………………....... Page 6

d. Grading of Student Achievement…………………………………………………... Page

PART III

a. Keyword Syllabus…………………………………………………………………….. Page

b. Course Policies…………………………………………………………………………Page

PART IV

a. Course Contents …………………………………………………………....... Page 14

b. Exam details …………………………………………………………………… Page 16

c. Readings………………………………………………………………………… Page 19

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PART I

General Information

The information provided herein is by the Course Coordinator. The following information

contains the official record of the details of the course.

Course Title:

Critical

Psychology of

Law

Course Code:

Course

Duration: One Semester

No. of Credit

Units: 4

Level: 3

Medium of

Instruction: English English

Pre-requisites:

Introductory level understanding of

psychology, law, foundations of social sciences

Pre-cursors:

Equivalent

Courses:

Exclusive

Courses:

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PART II

a. Course Description

b. Legal domain sometime bewitches itself between social construction of normality and non-

normality. As it is easy to diagnose insanity so much it is difficult to diagnose normality.

Few experiments showed people faking the psychological symptoms and got diagnosed as

abnormal according to the set criteria dominant and prevailing in the given period of time

in the mainstream psychiatry. Is there any objective point where normality and abnormality

meets? This is difficult to say philosophically but in the legal domain this division or

antinomy are made clear with the burden of proof. The proof about someone being insane

and someone being normal in the ordinary circumstances is conventionally clear. So, under

the ordinary circumstances how we become conscious of law, morality and social

conventions? Why therapeutic psychology common in legal domain is toxic and

unrepresentative? How much insane is insanity? How legal domain resolve and gets out of

its own narcissism as discipline and acts as an anchoring point of intersection between

society and justice? It is important to connect to the critical psychology of law which helps

in the understanding of metatheory involved in creating an interdisciplinary picture,

whether it is an integration between biology and law, social science and law or humanities

and aesthetic and law. It is about being critically conscious of how we see the world and

get swayed by our own prejudices. The prejudice we hold1 is more harmful and sometimes

are causal factor behind the statistically reported crimes. It is necessary to make law

understood from the eye of subaltern rather than corporate capitalism. It was estimated

from the clinical desire to understand the insanity among the general population and it was

found that African American who were free were considered more insane than those who

were in bondage. This directly showed also, how minority identity was directly correlated

with insanity and those who demanded freedom and were dissenting considered as insane.

The automatic and implicit biases towards any group no doubt sway the legal decision, at

the same time insanity nevertheless become more pronounced. Common sense justice can

be populist and majoritarian based on the uncritical platform of human psyche. How judges

1 Banaji, M., & Greenwald, A. (2013). Blindspot: Hidden biases of good people. Penguin.

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and other legal agents become critically conscious of diverse and minority experience and

go beyond the individualized sense of personal responsibility only. The idea is to empower

the self of all the legal agents and go beyond the neoliberal shaping of law and society to

the more communitarian form. The carrying of false consciousness of justice based on

narrowly defined forensic methods, legal categories and populists’ ideologies give the

impression of justice towards insane only, though the attached stigma go unattended. Law

is not limited but transformative and it matters for the liberation and rehabilitation. The

standards of legal domain are appreciated and the avenues of engagement with the legal

agents and peoples are explored through dialogues on the metaphysics of psychopathology,

abnormality or insanity, at the same time looking into the matter of psychological diseases

taken as fixed, despite our everyday engagement with the banality of social constructions

of these diseases. How law integrates with the discourse on insanity and how the rising

debates into the same make the legal domain more grounded and empathetic, which

anyway it always strives towards.

a. Course Aims

a. To make a case for the importance of critical psychology of law and in what way

critical psychology can make law meaningful and emancipating

b. To understand sanity-insanity dichotomy and how legal domain draw a line

c. To look critically and understand the social construction of madness in our society

and how law generally do justice

d. To understand the psychology of punitive justice

e. To offer a critical platform for law and brain integration

f. To understand how law can be better connected to legal psychological research

g. To critically understand the emerging mainstream view of mental health and how

law can develop a gaze to view the issues of social class and gender

h. Overall, the aim is to adopt a method to decolonize mental illness and

psychopathology dominantly. Here we will look into the few critical perspectives

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in psychology and law approaches (e.g. Szaszian approach to the myths of mental

illness) and the critical positioning on ideology and insanity. The mental illness has

long been dominated by the psychiatry, which no doubt had played an essential role

in the cure and progressiveness of the idea of insanity (e.g. M’Naughten test) but

also dehumanised humanity in a subtle way which was uncritically taken by the

legal domain.

b. Intended Learning Outcomes

Course Intending

Learning Outcomes

Weight Teaching and

Learning Activities

Assessment Tasks/

Activities

By the end of the

course, students

should be able to:

Be engaging with the

critical psychology of

law. It will add to

their legal approach,

the ability to critically

analyze through the

suitable

methodological

underpinnings,

debates and dialogues

to understand the

reality of the term

insanity as

20% Explanation and

discussion of various

concepts prominent

in the Critical

psychology of law

Logical thinking and

active engagement to

remove the

conceptual errors

dominant in the

organizational

context may be

promoted

Term Paper,

Presentation of cases

and debates

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dominantly

understood by legal

domain.

Also, students shall

get the real time

information about

how experts deal with

various challenges in

the critical integration

of law and

psychology

It is important for the

students to do writing

exercise and

expressions of idea in

a scientific and

professional way.

Students will

assessed through the

critical, analytical,

descriptive and

premise based

questions to test their

ability and motivation

to understand the

essence of this

course.

20% In- class case

discussion

Written Test

Discipline and

attendance

10% Regularity and

collegiality

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c. Grading of Student Achievement

To pass this course, students must obtain a minimum of 50% in the cumulative aspects of

coursework, e.g. tutorials, moot, and final examination. End of semester exam will carry 50

marks.

The details of the grades as well as the criteria for awarding such grades are provided below.

Letter

Grade

Percentage

Of marks

Grade Definitions

O 80% and above Outstanding Outstanding work

with strong

evidence of

knowledge of the

subject matter,

excellent

organizational

capacity, ability to

synthesize and

critically analyse

and originality in

thinking and

presentation.

A+ 75 to 79.75% Excellent Sound knowledge

of the subject

matter, thorough

understanding of

issues; ability to

synthesize

critically and

analyse

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A 70 to 74.75% Good Good

understanding of

the subject matter,

ability to identify

issues and provide

balanced solutions

to problems and

good critical and

analytical skills.

A- 65 to 69.75% Adequate Adequate

knowledge of the

subject matter to

go to the next level

of study and

reasonable critical

and analytical

skills.

B+ 60 to 64.75% Marginal Limited

knowledge of the

subject matter,

irrelevant use of

materials and poor

critical and

analytical skills.

B 55 to 59.75% Poor Poor

comprehension of

the subject matter;

poor critical and

analytical skills

and marginal use

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of the relevant

materials.

B- 50 to 54.75% Pass “Pass” in a pass-

fail course. “P”

indicative of at

least the basic

understanding of

the subject matter.

F Below 50% Fail Fails in the subject

PART III

a. Keyword Syllabus

1. The critical perspective in law-psychology research- Critical Psychology, policy and

law, Challenging System Legitimacy, What is mental illness and insanity?-Myths and

markers, Critical Psychology of social justice, Decolonizing insanity in law

b. Course Policies

Cell Phones

Cell phones to be kept away from the desk, except under the instruction of the faculty, inside the

bag in switch off or silent mode. If any student is found with cellphone in hand during the running

of the class, the cellphone will be confiscated from the student immediately and given at the end

of the class.

Laptops and Similar Gadgets

No laptop to be used unless instructed by the faculty. In case of notes writing, the faculty will

check the notes from time to time inside the class. If the student is found doing something else

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during class time on his/ her laptop, laptop will be confiscated for the class. Disciplinary actions

may be taken if the student does not comply with this policy.

Academic Integrity and Honesty

Learning and knowledge production of any kind is a collaborative process. Collaboration

demands an ethical responsibility to acknowledge who we have learnt from, what we have learned,

and how reading and learning from others have helped us shape our own ideas. Even our own ideas

demand an acknowledgement of the sources and processes through which those ideas have

emerged. Thus, all ideas must be supported by citations. All ideas borrowed from articles, books,

journals, magazines, case laws, statutes, photographs, films, paintings, etc., in print or online, must

be credited with the original source. If the source of inspiration of your idea is a friend, a casual

chat, something that you overheard, or heard being discussed at a conference or in class, even they

must be duly credited. If you paraphrase or directly quote from a web source in the examination,

presentation or essays, the source must be acknowledged. The university has a framework to deal

with cases of plagiarism. All form of plagiarism will be taken seriously by the University and

prescribed sanctions will be imposed on those who commit plagiarism. If students are found

cheating during examinations or in post-examination reviews, appropriate actions will be taken by

the faculty at his jurisdiction. No argument regarding the decision will be entertained.

Disability Support and Accommodation Requirements

JGU endeavors to make all its courses accessible to students. All students with any known

disability needing academic accommodation are required to register with the Disability Support

Committee dsc@jgu.edu.in. The Committee has so far identified the following conditions that

could possibly hinder student’s overall well-being. These include: physical and mobility related

difficulties; visual impairment; hearing impairment; medical conditions; specific learning

difficulties e.g. dyslexia; mental health.

The Disability Support Committee maintains strict confidentiality of its discussions.

Students should preferably register with the Committee during the month of June/January as

disability accommodation requires early planning. DSC will approve of and coordinate all

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disability related services such as appointment of academic mentors, arranging infrastructural

facilities, and course related requirements such as special lectures, tutorials and examinations.

All faculty members are requested to refer students with any of the above-mentioned conditions

to the Disability Support Committee for addressing disability-related accommodation

requirements. If any student has disability issue, a mail should be dropped to the Faculty within

the first 7 days after the start of the class. Slow learners should also volunteer for the same through

personalized mails directly to the faculty. These mails will be kept as confidential and undisclosed.

Safe Space Pledge

This course may discuss a range of issues and events that might result in distress for some

students. Discussions in the course might also provoke strong emotional responses. To make sure

that all students collectively benefit from the course, and do not feel disturbed due to either the

content of the course or the conduct of the discussions. Therefore, it is incumbent upon all within

the classroom to pledge to maintain respect towards our peers. This does not mean that you need

to feel restrained about what you feel and what you want to say. Conversely, this is about creating

a safe space where everyone can speak and learn without inhibitions and fear. This responsibility

lies not only with students, but also with the instructor.

Plagiarism

No plagiarism of others idea. Proper acknowledgement to other ideas should be given

which shows the integrity and grit of the student.

STM (Student-Teacher Meeting)

Students can meet me without any hesitation with prior appointment. Though, there will

be a specific slot for Student Teacher meeting which is scheduled on every Monday from 7.30 – 8

pm. Students/ Academic council/ class representative are requested to come on this day and the

time mentioned to discuss issues of any form with the Faculty.

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Attendance

No student of any degree shall be allowed to take the end semester test in a subject if the

student concerned has not attended a minimum of 70% of the classes held in the subject concerned

as also the moot courtroom exercises, tutorials and practical training conducted in the subject taken

together.

Provided that if a student for any exceptional reasons fail to attend 70% of the classes held

in any subject, the Dean of the University or the Principal of the Center of Legal Education, as the

case may be, may allow the student to take the test if the student concerned attended at least 65%

of the classes held in the subject concerned and attended 70% of classes in all the subjects taken

together. The similar power shall vest with the Vice Chancellor or Director of a National Law

University, or his authorized representative in the absence of the Dean of Law.

It will be displayed in the class. Check immediately whether you have been marked present.

No requests of wrong attendance given will be entertained later. You have to be present in the

class when your name is called out or till the time the attendance is taken. Late comers after the

attendance is over will not be given attendance. All contingency absentees will come within the

30% attendance levy given to you.

Breaks: After one hour, fifteen minutes followed by attendance

Disclaimer: It is a 2 hour class, so interested students wanting to know more should meet the

faculty at designated time.

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PART IV

a. Course Content

S.

No.

Topic Month

1. The critical perspective in law-psychology research 2

a. Doing Psychology and Law:

i. Forensic Psychology,

ii. Legal Psychology and

iii. Psychological Jurisprudence

b. Critical Approaches to Psychiatry, Psychology and law

c. Critical Psychology, policy and law

February, 2019

2. Challenging System Legitimacy

a. Procedural justice, substantive justice and false

consciousness

b. Law, capitalism and distributive justice

c. Law, Psychology and Morality3

d. Psychology of power and law

February, 2019

2 In Bruce A Arrigo (ed)(2004). Psychological Jurisprudence: Critical explorations in law, crime, and society. State University of New York Press. See David Canter and Rita Zukauskiene (2008). Psychology and Law: Bridging the gap. England: ASHGATE See Bruce Arrigo and Dennis Fox. (2009). Psychology and the law: The crime of policy and the search for justice. In D. Fox and I. Prilleltensky (eds.), Critical Psychology: An introduction. Sage 3 Kenworthey Bilz and Janice Nadler (2009). Law, Psychology, and Morality. http://www.law.northwestern.edu/faculty/fulltime/nadler/Bilz_Nadler_Law.pdf

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3. What is mental illness and insanity?

a. The self-divided and politics of experience: R D

Laing’s approach

b. Madness: Biological or constructed4

c. Insanity defense

d. Myths of mental illness and the future of therapeutic

psychology5in law

March, 2019

4. Critical Psychology of social justice6

a. Engaging with some of the oppressed social categories

b. Critically understanding the duality between

individualism and social

c. Inequality and Oppression: The Role of Ideology

d. Intention and Consequence: The Trap of Neutrality

e. Neoliberalism, psychiatry and law

f. The Scope of social change and law through political

action

March-April,

2019

5. Decolonizing insanity in law: Cultural perspective April-May,

2019

4 In Ian Hacking (1999). The social construction of what? Harvard University Press 5 Nikolas Rose. (2018). Are mental disorders “Brain Disorder? In Our Psychiatric Future. Polity Press 6 Dennis Fox, Isaac Prilleltensky, and Stephanie Austin. (2009). Critical Psychology for Social Justice: Concerns

and Dilemmas. In D. Fox and I. Prilleltensky (eds.), Critical Psychology: An introduction. Sage

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a. The meaning of indigenous knowledge

b. Deconstructing evidence and new avenues

Writing Exercises and role plays

b. Exams:

a. Mid-Sem will be based on:

i. Term Paper submission (15 marks)-March 15

ii. Presentations (15 marks) and

iii. class test (20 marks)-

b. End-Sem: Take home exam (50 marks)

Reading: Some books listed below and articles in the aforementioned foot notes

1. R. D. Laing: The divided self. Pelican

2. R. D. Laing: The politics of experience.

3. Derek Hook: A Critical Psychology of the Postcolonial: the mind of Apartheid:

Routledge

4. Erving Goffman: Stigma: Notes on the Management of Spoiled Identity: Penguin

5. Erving Goffman: The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life: Penguin

6. Franz Fanon: Black Skin, White Mask: Pluto

7. Franz Fanon: The Wretched of the Earth: Penguin

8. John Shotter: Images of Man in Psychological Research: Methuen & Co Ltd

9. Michel Foucault: The Birth of the Clinic: Vintage

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10. Nikolas Rose & Joelle M. Abi-Rached: Neuro: The new Brain Science and the

Management of the Mind: Princeton University Press

11. Nikolas Rose: Our Psychiatric Future: Polity Press

12. Paulo Freire: Pedagogy of the Oppressed: Continuum

13. Peter Zachar: A Metaphysics of Psychopathology: The MIT Press

14. Rom Harre: Physical Being: Blackwell

15. Sigmund Freud: Civilization and its Discontents: Penguin

16. Thomas Franck: The Empowered Self: Law and Society in the Age of Individualism:

Oxford University Press

17. Thomas Szasz: Ideology and Insanity: Penguin

18. Thomas Szasz: The Myth of Mental Illness: Harper Perennial.

19. Rollo May. The discovery of being. W. W. Norton & Company

20. Oliver Sacs. The man who mistook his wife for a hat. Picador