“The question is, am I a monster, or am I myself a victim? And what if I am a victim?” One hundred and fifty years since Dostoevsky’s masterpiece, Crime and Punishment, we’ll be talking about our enduring obsessions with transgression, retribution and justice. What purpose does punishment play in society? Is punishment good for you? And what is the connection between punishment, justice, catharsis and redemption?

The answers to these questions depend on who you ask. Facilitator Madeleine Morris will be joined by former Pentridge Prison chaplain Peter Norden, female inmate advocate Debbie Kilroy, actor Uncle Jack Charles and theatre maker J R Brennan. Brennan’s work, The Chat, is co-devised by artists and ex-offenders and is showing at Arts House in July.

For this Insight-style forum, we’ll also hear from a range of other guests who are invested in these issues, from ex-offenders to criminologists to prison officers to dominatrixes to risk managers.

Themes of crime and punishment have preoccupied Australians since 1788. Join us for a vigorous discussion of deeds and deserts.