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

David J Hayes, 'Are Rape Myths "Myths"?' (2024) Oxford Journal of Legal Studies 1-25. Online first, DOI: 10.1093/ojls/gqad029