The Crime and Punishment Collections Network is an Arts Council England Subject Specialist Network. Our aim is to provide support to historic collections relating to crime and punishment – whether prisons, police or courts – through the creation of a network of like-minded members. Our members include universities, archives, libraries, heritage centres, museums and historic sites, in addition to staff from the prison, court and police services.
In July 2016 CaP were delighted to be awarded a grant of £30,262 from Arts Council England and supplemented with a grant from the Police History Society to fund the ‘Re-thinking CaP’ project. The network used the funding to create this website and its content. In addition, CaP surveyed collections of crime and punishment across the UK in order to map the current state, location and accessibility of CaP collections. The results of this survey now form the searchable database on this site which we hope will enable researchers to access both collections and the histories of individual institutions.
This really is an exciting time to join us. Following on from the Re-thinking CaP project, we have been working really hard to reinvigorate the group; re-writing our constitution, streamlining our membership application process, creating a new and exciting website and developing new resources to share.
Who Can Join?
- Individual membership holds no voting rights but members do have full access to all resources and services of the CAP network. To hold individual membership to CaP, the individual should represent specialist knowledge or collections within the Crime and Punishment subject field.
- Institutional membership will be offered to museums, libraries, archives and other related specialist groups. Institutional membership offers full voting rights to one named representative of an institution.
- Honorary Membership is offered to individuals that have carried out duties on behalf of CAP. These individuals will be selected at the discretion of the committee members.
Benefits of joining CaP
- Reduced rates for AGM and other events
- The opportunity to engage with curators and other heritage professionals working in crime, police and prison museums
- The opportunity to keep up-to-date with current academic research in the field
- Eligible to apply for a bursary / travel grant to CaP events and meetings
- Publicise your collection and events on the CaP website, newsletter, and blog
- Publicise your news and events via CaP’s social media channels and newsletter
How much does it cost?
- Institutional Membership £12 per annum
- Individual Membership £10 per annum
Joining CaP is easy. The Join button below will direct you to WebCollect through which you can apply for or renew membership and pay the annual subscription.