Imperfect justice : Fritz Lang's Fury (1936) and cinema's use of the trial form

This essay examines Fritz Lang's portrayal and use of justice in his first Hollywood film, Fury (1936) a film in which the main character, Joe Wilson (played by Spencer Tracy) is mistakenly arrested for a crime he did not commit. Lang was one of many notable German émigrés who fled Nazi Germany for America and eventually Hollywood. He returned on several occasions to the theme of justice, which is my starting point for this article. Before analysing Fury in detail, in particular its final trial scene, the article compares the film briefly to other Lang films about the law such as Beyond a Reasonable Doubt. Lang's conception of justice differs from the dominant Hollywood view of the law, a realisation that is discussed in relation to other depictions of the law in Hollywood (such as Twelve Angry Men, To Kill a Mockingbird). In Lang's cinema, the law is not a fixed, stable and trustworthy institution, but rather one that is gullible and open to abuse. Lang places more faith in notions of personal moral justice, which win out in the end in Fury. This article also contextualises Fury and the work of Fritz Lang within existing discussions of the law and film, from which Lang is largely and notably absent

Rewriting Greek Tragedies as Immigrant Stories

In this piece originally published in the New York Times, Daniel Pollack-Pelzner writes about Mojada, Luis Alfaro\u27s adaptation of the Greek tragedy, Medea. Mojada is part of a trilogy from Alfaro that attempts to bring his Latino community into modern theater by writing them into classical plays

The Role of Schools in Assisting Children and Young People with a Parent in Prison – findings from the COPING Project

Children who experience parental incarceration are vulnerable to facing poor outcomes in terms of their mental health and education. Schools have the potential to provide a point of stability during a parent's prison sentence, thereby assisting children affected by parental imprisonment to remain resilient. This paper will present school related findings from COPING, a three year pan-European research project that investigated the impact of parental imprisonment on children in the UK, Romania, Germany and Sweden. It will focus on good practice points for schools regarding how they can most effectively support children of prisoners by drawing on the views expressed by young people and families affected by imprisonment, as well as professionals who work in a school setting. Young people placed a high value on support from trusted school staff that had a general awareness of issues relating to parental imprisonment as well as knowledge of their own particular situation. This paper will therefore stress the need for all school staff to be trained with regard to the impact upon children of parental imprisonment. The paper will also include a discussion of workshops involving young people in Secondary education that were designed to enable them to think about the impact of parental imprisonment

Women Prisoners in Odisha: A Socio-cultural Study

The study was designed to understand the reasons behind the rising criminal behaviour among women and also to learn about their life during imprisonment. Female crime is a crucial factor that disrupts family life and stability of the society. The nature of crime committed by them has changed from softer crime to heinous crime. The socio-economic factors behind committing their crime, their perception towards society and jail administration are analyzed by using primary data which are collected by interviewing 35 women prisoners of three jails of Odisha. The data were collected by using structured interview. The findings showed that lower socio- economic condition of the prisoners have compelled them to commit crime. Lack of health care, infrastructure and employment opportunities are the major problems faced by the prisoners in jails. Their perception towards the society and jail administration has significantly deteriorated. Results are interpreted in terms of current theories and implications for future are pointed out

Talk and Deterrence in Drug Markets

Despite a wealth of conceptual and empirical examinations, key processes occurring during each of the primary stages of deterrence remain poorly specified. Little is known about how potential offenders form their perceptions of rules or threats, and the relationship between these perceptions and fear has only received moderate attention. In addition, many questions remain regarding how offenders eliminate or reshape punishments after violating rules. In this dissertation I examine how various forms of talk shape these processes. More specifically, I investigate how gossip influences offenders’ perceptions of rules or threats, how humor and threats and promises moderate the fear stemming from these perceptions, and how accounts reshape the enforcement of rules. This examination is based on qualitative data gathered from interviews with, and observations of, 33 active drug dealers operating in and around the St. Louis metropolitan area

The Guide- A Brilliant Manifestation of Sub-continental and Universal Elements

Indianness and Narayan’s writings are almost synonymous. In fact, India with its landscape, culture, conventions and customs becomes picturesque in his writings including The Guide. Again to a large extent, the country India is an ideal representative of the sub-continent India. But universality in The Guide (1958) cannot be ignored because the country India and India as a sub-continent undoubtedly symbolize many features of the world. This paper attempts at examining Narayan’s creation of characters who represent both sub-continental and universal elements. Keywords: Sub-continental, Universal, Relationship, Beliefs, Values