Chapter 3: Method and Methodology

Before outlining the method used in this research study, this chapter will provide an overview of the theoretical lens through which this research study has been carried out. Leading on from this, there will be a brief discussion of the historical criminological discipline, followed by the development of life-course analysis as a method. There will be a comparison of the different approaches of the traditional, largely American, method and the historical, archival method, which has now become an established approach in the United Kingdom. While the former has a longer history, these approaches exist on a spectrum without a clear cut off between the two. The chapter will then address the methods used in this book. To understand and interpretate historical records, there needs to be an understanding of the context and period under study (Bosworth, 2001). As such, in accordance with Yeoman’s (2019) call for more historically sensitive criminology, this research study plays close attention to historical context, individual and collective lives, and social structures. Institutions and practices, whether through the criminal justice system or another form of social control, need to be comprehended before they can be challenged. In accordance with this, this research study will reveal historical practices in order to “destabilise their apparent immutability” (Bosworth, 2001, p. 439).