CRIM205: Criminological thought

• Terms Taught:
  • Full Year Course
  • Michaelmas Term Only
  NOTE: If you are studying with us for a Full Academic Year and you select a course that has full year and part year variants, you will not be allowed to take only part of the course. 
• US Credits:
  • Full Year course - 8 Semester Credits
  • Michaelmas Term Only - 4 Semester Credits
• ECTS Credits:
  • Full Year course - 15 ECTS Credits
  • Michaelmas Term only - 7.5 ECTS Credits
• Pre-requisites: At least two semesters of study in law and/or criminology

Course Description

The module aims to introduce to the main theoretical approaches in criminology from its origins to the present day. The module introduces and examines the main types of theory that have sought to explain crime, criminality and social control. It takes a critical philosophical approach that sees social order and crime as theoretical problems rather than social facts available for straightforward empirical investigation.

Educational Aims

By the end of the course students will:

• Understand the ways in which crime and control are constructed and contested concepts.
• Have an understanding of major criminological theories since the nineteenth century.
• Be able to critically evaluate the major criminological theories.
• Understand the uses of theory in contributing to the explanation of criminal behaviour and its definition.

Outline Syllabus

• Classical and positivist criminology
• Merton, anomie and strain theory
• Subcultural theories
• Labelling theory
• Control theories
• Environmental criminology
• Marxism and radical criminology
• Feminist criminology
• Left and right realism
• Globalisation and crime
• Foucault and Punishment
• The new punitiveness
• Crime and the risk society
• Neo liberalism and Criminal Justice

Assessment Proportions

Full Year students:

• 50% coursework (3,150 - 3,000 word essay)
• 50% online open book exam

Michaelmas Term Only students:

• 100% coursework

CRIM206: Crime and Popular Culture

• Terms Taught: Lent/Summer terms only
• US Credits: 4 Semester Credits
• ECTS Credits: 7.5 ECTS credits
• Pre-requisites: At least two semesters of study in law and/or criminology

Course Description

The world’s bestselling novelist, Agatha Christie, once stated that “Crime is terribly revealing.” This module traces the intersection of crime/deviance and popular culture/entertainment and examines what stories about crime can reveal about our culture. Each lecture or topic will begin with a key text (a film, a podcast, a TV show), and explore the knowledges produced, circulated, or questioned through the narrative. We will think about the impact the representation of crimes has on how we understand crime and the criminal justice system outside of fiction, analysing the production and consumption of cultural amusement as a potential site for reproducing or disrupting dominant discourses. This module is taught through a combination of lectures, workshops, and guided independent research.

Outline Syllabus

Topics may include crime and deviance in:

- TV drama (e.g. 'Line of Duty' and police corruption)

- Music (e.g. Tupak Shakur: rap, racism, and moral panics)

- Popular crime fiction (e.g. : More Murder Vicar?: Miss Marple & crime in the country)

- Young Adult fiction (e.g. Telling Trauma: disrupting the 'ideal' victim in YA fiction)

- Film (e.g. Pretty Women - sex workers and cinema)

- Tourism (e.g. Touring Cocaine in Columbia; the debate surrounding the Jack the Ripper museum)

- Fandom (e.g. Sexy Serial Killers: can fandom go too far?)

- Podcasts (e.g. Murder She Spoke: women and true crime podcasts)

Assessment Proportions

100% Coursework (3,150-3,500 words)

The single submission coursework is comprised of two parts: the production of a popular media text and a reflexive essay, analysing their text using concepts explored on the course.

CRIM211: Youth Justice

• Terms Taught: Michaelmas Term Only
• US Credits: 4 Semester Credits
• ECTS Credits: 7.5 ECTS Credits
• Pre-requisites: At least two semesters of study in law and/or criminology

Course Description

This module focuses on the criminal justice response to children in conflict with the law. The prevalence and nature of youth crime has been a persistent concern for society and is regularly subject to media and political debate. The module will examine trends in youth justice policy as well as the range of possible responses to youth crime. In particular, there will be a focus on the tension between conceptualising juvenile delinquents as 'children in trouble' or 'children in need', and an exploration of how this shapes youth justice policy and practice.

Outline Syllabus

Topics studied will typically include:

• Introduction: Perceptions of children and childhood
• A recent history of youth justice
• The current policy climate
• Resilience and desistance perspectives
• Girls, crime and the prospect of justice
• Children in care and the criminal justice system
• Youth Imprisonment
• 'Race' and youth justice
• Restorative Justice
• Child victimisation

Assessment Proportions

• 100% Coursework or 100% online open book exam

Students studying at Lancaster for the Michaelmas term only, must complete the coursework assessment

CRIM212: Contemporary Issues in Policing

• Terms Taught: Lent/Summer terms only
• US Credits: 4 Semester Credits
• ECTS Credits:  7.5 ECTS Credits
• Pre-requisites: At least two semesters of study in law and/or criminology

Course Description

This module introduces students to a range of topics and perspectives related to Contemporary Issues in Policing. The module will cover three key core areas: a) The role of the police in a contemporary and historical context, b) key policing concepts and c) contemporary issues related to policing in the UK, such as use of force, stop and search and Cop culture.

Outline Syllabus

• Introduction to module and policing in the UK
• The historical context of the police
• Policing and Mental Health
• Policing the Police - Cop Culture, corruption, and accountability
• Policing minority ethnic communities: Stop and search
• Police use of force
• Policing Protest
• Police surveillance

Assessment Proportions

100% coursework

CRIM217: Organised Crime

• Terms Taught: Michaelmas Term Only
• US Credits: 4 Semester Credits
• ECTS Credits: 7.5 ECTS Credits
• Pre-requisites: At least two semesters of study in law and/or criminology

Course Description

Organised crime has been prioritised as a major global problem by intergovernmental bodies such as the United Nations (UN) and European Union (EU), and individual nation states. There is particular concern about the increasing scale and complexity of the criminal activities carried out by organised crime groups, and the flexible nature of current organised crime as it evolves to exploit new opportunities and new technologies. This course critically analyses the concept of 'organised crime' and how it is used to describe particular groups and activities; examines various types of organised crime and the wider social, political and economic factors that shape them; and assesses the methods and challenges of policing transnational organised crime.

Outline Syllabus

• Definitions and models of organised crime.
• Methodological issues in researching organised crime.
• The nature and organisation of a range of illicit markets and various forms of 'crime for profit', typically including: the distribution of illicit drugs, cigarettes and alcohol; human trafficking/modern slavery; corporate crime and corruption; money laundering.
• The types of actors, networks and markets involved in these criminal activities, and the wider social, political and economic factors that shape them.
• The policy and legal frameworks governing transnational organised crime, and the institutions and methods involved in its policing (e.g. United Nations Convention against TOC, Europol, UK National Crime Agency).
• The challenges of policing transnational organised crime.

Assessment Proportions

• 100% coursework (3,150-3,000 word essay) OR 100% online open book exam

Students studying at Lancaster for the Michaelmas term only, must complete the coursework assessment

CRIM219: Cybercrime and cybercriminality

• Terms Taught: Michaelmas Term Only
• US Credits: 4 Semester Credits
• ECTS Credits: 7.5 ECTS Credits
• Pre-requisites: At least two semesters of study in law and/or criminology

Course Description

This module aims to provide students with knowledge and understanding of:

• The range, extent and nature of cybercrime in the 21st Century.
• The role of the Internet and other ICT in criminal networking, planning and communication for both cyber (online) and 'traditional' (offline) crime.
• The challenges inherent in responding to cybercrime and online aspects of traditional crime and criminality.
• Criminal justice and other (e.g. personal and private security) responses to cybercrime and criminality.
• The application of established criminological theories to cybercrime and online criminality.

Outline Syllabus

This module covers the phenomenon of cybercrime. Over the course of the term we cover the concept of ‘cyber’ and how it relates to criminal activities, hacker culture which drives some types of cybercrime, different types of cybercrime from fraud and malicious communications to cyberterrorism, response to cybercrime including how the police and prosecutors carry out cybercrime investigations and what technology platforms are doing to prevent it.

Indicative syllabus (reflecting current staff expertise and research interests and the changing landscape of cybercrime):

1. Introduction to Cybercrime

2. Cyber Dependent Crime

3. Sex crimes in cyberspace.

4. Crypto-markets

5. Cyber-terrorism

6. Digital disobedience

7. Policing and preventing cybercrime

8. Encryption

9. Prosecuting cybercrimes

10. Looking forward: the futures of cybercrime

Assessment Proportions

• 100% online open book exam or 100% Coursework

Students studying at Lancaster for the Michaelmas term only, must complete the coursework assessment

CRIM303: Gendered Harm & Justice

• Terms Taught: Lent/Summer Terms only
• US Credits: 4 Semester Credits
• ECTS Credits: 7.5 ECTS credits
• Pre-requisites: At least three semesters of study in law and/or criminology

Course Description

This module introduces students to a range of topics and perspectives related to Gendered Harm & Justice, with a focus on those whose needs have been neglected, marginalised and overlooked within the fields of Criminology & Criminal Justice. The module explores how harm and injustice may occur in various ways, and at various intersections, as well as the often blurred boundaries between victimisation and criminalisation.

Outline Syllabus

• Women, crime and poverty in an age of austerity
• Injustice & dual-system contact for care-experienced women
• Domestic violence as a pathway to offending: Blurring boundaries between victims & offenders
• The experiences of Black and minoritized women in the criminal justice system
• Beyond the gaze of the community: The pains of women’s imprisonment

Assessment Proportions

100% coursework (3,150 - 3,500 words).

CRIM305: Crime, Time and Space

• Terms Taught: Lent/Summer terms only
• US Credits: 4 Semester Credits
• ECTS Credits: 7.5 ECTS credits
• Pre-requisites: At least three semesters of study in law and/or criminology

Course Description

This module aims to support students’ engagement with current academic debates on environmental criminology and crime prevention. The module will also provide practical knowledge and experience in applying different crime analysis methodologies through the use of specialised software, which will enhance students’ digital literacy skills. We will engage with fundamental criminological theories such as rational choice, routine activity and crime pattern theory. The module will delve into GIS crime mapping, where students will learn to produce thematic maps and conduct spatial point pattern analysis as well as hotspot analysis. The students will also learn to conduct time series analysis for crime forecasting and to develop crime scripts. Furthermore, the students will acquire a better understanding of crime prevention through environmental design by studying how police forces apply these theories and how designers create products to prevent crime.

Outline Syllabus

• Overview of environmental criminology and crime analysis
• Working with crime data
• Analysing temporal patterns of crime
• Rational choice perspective and crime scripts
• Routine Activity Theory
• GIS Crime mapping
• Crime Prevention through environmental design

Assessment Proportions

3,150 - 3,500 word coursework

CRIM310: Hate Crime

• Terms Taught: Michaelmas term only
• US Credits: 4 Semester Credits
• ECTS Credits: 7.5 ECTS Credits
• Pre-requisites: At least three semesters of study in law and/or criminology

Course Description

This module aims to promote knowledge and understanding of hate violence as a global phenomenon and focuses on:

• Different manifestations of violence on the basis of social identity, specifically: religious hatred; ‘racial’, ethnic and xenophobic violence, homophobic and transphobic violence; disablist violence, and; violence against women
• How social identities intersect in the victimisation involved in hate violence
• The impacts of hate violence on individuals, communities, and on intergroup relations
• The cultural foundations of hate violence viewed from a global perspective
• The motivations for acts of hate crime and hate violence
• Interventions to manage and prevent hate violence

Outline Syllabus

• 1. Analysing hate crime as a global phenomenon.
• 2. Religious hatred around the world.
• 3. Global 'racial', ethnic and xenophobic violence.
• 4. The global cultural foundations of homophobic and transphobic violence.
• 5. Understanding disablist violence as a global problem.
• 6. Conceptualising violence against women globally as hate crime.
• 7. The brutality of hate viewed from a global perspective.
• 8. Understanding the motivations behind hate crime: key themes from the international evidence.
• 9. Hate violence and emotion: key themes from the international evidence.
• 10. Global lessons in intervening against hate violence.

Assessment Proportions

• 100% Coursework or 100% online open book exam

Students studying at Lancaster for the Michaelmas term only, must complete the coursework assessment

CRIM314: Sex Crimes and Sexual Offending

• Terms Taught: Lent / Summer Terms Only
• US Credits: 4 Semester Credits
• ECTS Credits: 7.5 ECTS Credits
• Pre-requisites: At least three semesters of study in law and/or criminology

Course Description

This module introduces you to a range of sexual crimes and forms of sexual offending as defined by UK and international laws. The module will cover a number of key areas:

• the types of sexual crimes governed by UK and international laws – what constitutes a particular sexual crime, how it is sometimes committed, and the extent of such crimes;

• the ways in which sex crimes and offending behaviour is explained – considering who the perpetrators are and why they commit crimes of a sexual nature, as well as the wider social context which may help explain why some sexual crimes are defined by law and how new crimes emerge as the social context changes

• critically examine how the crimes are dealt with by the criminal justice system such as the laws and policies which surround these crimes, their implementation and how well they operate in practice in terms of treatments, support and punishments given to sexual offenders and their victims.

Educational Aims

On successful completion of this module students will be able to:

• Demonstrate a good understanding of some of the types of sex crimes defined by UK and international law, the ways in which they are committed and the prevalence of such crimes nationally and internationally.
• Critically evaluate and analyse complex laws, theories, concepts and information, drawing defensible conclusions.
• Demonstrate the knowledge and skills identified above, through their written communication skills in an examination (100%).

Outline Syllabus

• Sexual violence theory
• The nature and extent of sex crimes
• Responses to sex crimes/offending
• Male victims and female offenders
• Sex crimes and drugs
• Rape by fraud
• Child sexual exploitation and children in care
• Child sex grooming
• Key issues for the future

Assessment Proportions

• 100% online open book exam

CRIM315: Green Criminology: Environmental Crime and Ecological Justice

• Terms Taught: Michaelmas Term Only
• US Credits: 4 Semester Credits
• ECTS Credits: 7.5 ECTS Credits
• Pre-requisites: At least one semester of social science

Course Description

Green Criminology is the application of Criminological thought (methods, theories etc.) to environmental harm. It is a relatively recent addition to criminology, reflecting increasing awareness of the damage contemporary industrial society inflicts on the natural world - and the urgent need for effective responses and solutions to environmental problems. Drawing on established traditions of examining ‘crimes of the powerful’ and of focusing on a zemiological (harm-centred) perspective rather than legalistic definitions of crime. Green Criminology focuses on environmental harms whether or not subject to criminal control. With theoretical roots based in Ulrich Beck’s ‘Risk Society’, 'ecological Marxism;, and theories of criminalisation and crime control, Green Criminology focuses on a range of environmental harms and society’s attempts to control them.

Outline Syllabus

Topics covered may include:

• Green Criminology: Roots and rationale
• The Nature of Harm: Towards an environmental victimology
• The Extent of Harm: The social distribution of environmental risk
• Nonhuman Animals as Victims and the Animal Rights Debate
• Regulating Environmental Harms: Legislating to protect people, animals and the environment
• Preventing Environmental Harms: What can we learn from criminological theory?
• Green Movements and Environmental Activism
• Explaining Environmental Harm
• Constructing Green Crime: The role of the media
• Beyond Primary Green Crimes: Environmental harm as a cause of crime

Assessment Proportions

• 100% Coursework - 3,150 - 3,500 words

CRIM322: Crime and Media

• Terms Taught: Lent / Summer Term Only
• US Credits: 4 Semester Credits
• ECTS Credits: 7.5 ECTS Credits
• Pre-requisites: At least three semesters of study in law and/or criminology

Course Description

The aim of this course is to introduce students to the range of links between crime, deviance and media. This involves encouraging students to unpack the common sense view of the world and how the media constructs knowledge and facts about criminality, that we may take for granted in our everyday lives. In that sense, this module considers 'the media' as a tool of the state that enables certain political messages about certain social groups to be communicated, forming public opinion. It explores how we come to think about particular individuals or groups as deviant and non-deviants and the medias role in this process. As well as considering representations of crime, this module will also encourage students to think about the use of media in crime and criminal justice contexts.

Outline Syllabus

• Theorising Media and Crime
• Constructing crime news stories
• Creating Moral panics
• Celebrity sex crimes, grooming, and paedophilla
• Representations of female offenders and co-offending teams
• Race(ism), crime and media

Assessment Proportions

• 100% Coursework - Media Portfolio (3,150 -3,500 words)

Students are required to do a ‘critical media analysis’ on a topic of their choice. This topic must have been explored during the module or agreed with the module tutor. Topics could include female offending, sexual or domestic violence, violence online, image-based sexual abuse, youth crime and child sex offences. This portfolio will include two core parts.

• Part 1: 1,500 word literature review.
• Part 2: 2,000 word critical media analysis

CRIM337: Drugs, Crime and Society

• Terms Taught: Michaelmas Term Only
• US Credits: 4 Semester Credits
• ECTS Credits: 7.5 ECTS Credits
• Pre-requisites: At least three semesters of study in law and/or criminology

Course Description

The principal aims of this module are to support students' engagement with current academic debates on illegal drugs including the emergence of novel psychoactive substances (NPS). Together we will explore illegal drug use, supply, trafficking and manufacture in both local, national and international contexts You will develop a critical understanding of key criminological and sociological perspectives on illegal drugs, analyse past, present and emergent trends in drug use, and explore academic, policy and popular representations of drugs and drug users within a range of historical, socio-economic and cultural contexts. The module is taught through a combination of lectures, seminar discussions, independent directed critical reading for seminars, films, documentaries and video clips, and selective internet research.

Outline Syllabus

• Historical overview of drugs and society
• Measuring and researching drug use
• Theories of drug use
• Normalisation of drug use
• Rave and clubbing culture
• UK vs. Dutch drug policy
• Drugs and crime
• Drug markets
• Policing drug markets

Assessment Proportions

Full Year Students:

• 100% online open book exam

Michaelmas term only students:

• 100% coursework

CRIM342: Crimes and Harms of the Powerful

• Terms Taught: Michaelmas Term Only
• US Credits: 4 Semester Credits
• ECTS Credits: 7.5 ECTS Credits
• Pre-requisites: At least three semesters of study in law and/or criminology

Course Description

Criminological theory and research has traditionally prioritised the crimes of the powerless over and against the crimes of those that make laws, wield influence and capital or authorise State violence. This course focuses on the crimes that power makes possible. It introduces students into theory, research, and case studies on corporate and white-collar crimes, as well as State crimes like genocide and torture.

The course is arranged in two blocks, each anchored by two case studies and three films to stimulate classroom discussion.

Educational Aims

The broad aim of the course is to introduce students to some key theoretical debates and empirical material relating to the crimes of the powerful. Students will become familiar with the key concepts in this area of study as well as being able to recognize and evaluate some of the complex moral, policy and legal issues associated with white-collar crime, corporate crime and state crime.

It aims to promote the general knowledge and understanding of:

• the importance of human rights and civil liberties in understanding and evaluating state activities.
• the importance of mechanisms for justice and accountability with respect to corporate and state crime.
• the relevance of status, power and class dynamics in the construction of crime and its prosecution.

Outline Syllabus

• Edwin Sutherland and the Problem of White Collar Crime
• "Just Add White Collar Crime and Stir": Traditional criminology and WCC
• Crime, Corporations and Trust
• Corporate Advantage in Criminal Proceedings
• Insider Trading, Fraud and Ponzi Schemes
• Searching for Justice: Punishment or Regulation?
• The Crimes of the State and the State of Exception
• Torture, Rendition and Executive Power
• Guantanamo: Preventative Indefinite Detention and Indeterminancy
• Surveillance in the National Security State

Assessment Proportions

• 100% coursework OR 100% examination

CRIM402: Crime and Criminal Justice in the 21st Century

• Terms Taught: Michaelmas Term Only
• US Credits: 5 Semester Credits
• ECTS Credits: 10 ECTS Credits
• Pre-requisites: Must have completed 3 years undergraduate study in Criminology or a related subject i.e. Law, Psychology, Sociology or other social science or humanities subjects

Course Description

This module introduces students to the nature and extent of crime and criminal justice policy in contemporary society. Students gain an overview of crime and criminal justice statistics, with a critical understanding of how such statistics are socially constructed. They also gain an overview of current and recent trends in criminal justice policy, and an in-depth understanding of some of the key social dimensions of crime and justice (e.g. age, gender, race, social class) and some key criminological challenges for the 21^st century (e.g. Cybercrime, Corporate Crime, Environmental Crime).

Educational Aims

The module aims to:

• Develop a critical understanding of the concepts (for instance, ‘crime’, ‘offender’ and ‘victim’) central to criminological study and their relationships to each other;
• Foster a critical awareness of the role of power (including individual, corporate and political power) in defining crime, developing policies to deal with it and in labelling offenders and victims;
• Identify, debate, analyse and understand emerging patterns of crime and criminal justice that look to characterise and dominate the early 21st century;
• Critically study contemporary bases of crime and criminalisation and its intellectual and historical antecedents.

Students gain knowledge and understanding of crime and justice statistics and how they are constructed; criminal justice policy and its formation and execution; key social dimensions to the ‘crime problem’ and; some contemporary and likely future challenges for crime and justice policy.

Outline Syllabus

Seminars are places where discussions about ideas and concepts are held. The aim of the seminars for this course is to test your understanding of the concepts and theories covered in the reading materials. You must come to seminars adequately prepared and ready to discuss relevant issues based on the set readings. Readings for the seminars have been chosen with a view to expanding your knowledge further and allowing you to develop analytical and critical skills.

Please note that you may be asked to read a number of sources each week. The readings are selected to be challenging and to encourage you to read original works. When you attend the seminar you will be expected to be able to play an active part in discussions.

Core text:

Liebling, A., Maruna, S. and McAra, L. (eds.) (2017) The Oxford Handbook of Criminology (6th edn.) Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Assessment Proportions

• Coursework: 100%

CRIM403: Criminological Theory

• Terms Taught: Michaelmas Term Only
• US Credits: 5 Semester Credits
• ECTS Credits: 10 ECTS Credits
• Pre-requisites:   Must have completed 3 years undergraduate study in Criminology or a related subject i.e. Law, Psychology, Sociology or other social science or humanities subjects.

Course Description

This module provides students with knowledge and understanding of the key concepts and theoretical approaches that have been developed, and are continuing to develop, in relation to crime, victimisation and responses to crime and deviance. The module gives students the opportunity to further develop the critical, analytical and written skills necessary to conceptualize and explain criminological problems – as well as the evaluative skills necessary to assess and put criminological theories into operation through research.

Educational Aims

• To provide students with knowledge and understanding of the key concepts and theoretical approaches that have been developed, and are continuing to develop, in relation to crime, victimisation and responses to crime and deviance.
• To give students the opportunity to further develop the critical, analytical and written skills necessary to conceptualize and explain criminological problems— as well as the evaluative skills necessary to assess and put criminological theories into operation through research.

Outline Syllabus

Seminars are places where discussions about ideas and concepts are held. The aim of the seminars for this course is to test your understanding of the concepts and theories covered in the reading materials. You must come to seminars adequately prepared and ready to discuss relevant issues based on the set readings. Readings for the seminars have been chosen with a view to expanding your knowledge further and allowing you to develop analytical and critical skills.

Please note that you may be asked to read a number of sources each week. The readings are selected to be challenging and to encourage you to read original works. When you attend the seminar you will be expected to be able to play an active part in discussions.

Assessment Proportions

• Coursework: 100%

CRIM404: Criminological Research in Practice

• Terms Taught: Lent/Summer terms Only
• US Credits: 5 Semester Credits
• ECTS Credits: 10 ECTS Credits
• Pre-requisites:   Must have completed 3 years undergraduate study in Criminology or a related subject i.e. Law, Psychology, Sociology or other social science or humanities subjects.

Course Description

This module presents cutting-edge research to provide students with insights into the realities of criminological research in practice, the process of research from inception of idea through development of theory and knowledge. Lectures showcase individual research projects, highlighting methodological (including practical and ethical) difficulties and how they are overcome, and the relationship between the research process and expanding the body of knowledge within the field of criminology.

Educational Aims

To pass this module, students must be able to demonstrate:

• The ability to identify relevant funding sources and construct applications for funding.
• An awareness of and compliance with institutional ethical procedures.
• The capacity to analyse and apply a range of academic and non-academic sources for learning.
• Oral presentation skills.
• Strong written and oral communication.
• Critical appraisal of a range of source material.
• Problem solving skills.
• Analytical skills in devising arguments, use of relevant evidence and forming judgements.
• Time management skills through working to deadlines.

Assessment Proportions

There are two assessments for this module.

• Assessment one: Dissertation proposal 60%; an abstract, a section describing the academic relevance of the chosen theme, including a set of research questions, a literature review indicating the gaps in the field related to the chosen research topic, research methods and planning.
• Assessment two: a 15-minute group presentation 40%; in response to one of the 8 showcase lectures (weeks 2-9), in a standard conference format, students should be able to talk for 15 minutes on a cutting edge area of criminological research.

CRIM406: Criminologies of Violence

• Terms Taught: Lent /Summer terms Only
• US Credits: 5 Semester Credits
• ECTS Credits: 10 ECTS Credits
• Pre-requisites: Must have completed 3 years undergraduate study in Criminology or a related subject i.e. Law, Psychology, Sociology or other social science or humanities subjects.

Course Description

This module will provide you with the core conceptual and theoretical approaches that have been developed to explain the problem of violence within criminology. You are given the opportunity to further develop the analytical, critical and written skills required to assess, explain and conceptualize the impact and prevalence of criminal violence on contemporary society. Topics typically include:

• Violence and Civilization
• Violence and the Great Crime Decline
• Violence and Gender
• Violence and the Domestic Sphere
• Violence and Nonhumans
• Drugs and Violence
• Violence and Hooliganism
• Violence and Hate
• Violence and Youth
• Media, Violence and Crime

Assessment Proportions

• Coursework 100%

CRIM409: Ethnography and Criminal Justice

• Terms Taught: Michaelmas term only
• US Credits: 5 Semester Credits
• ECTS Credits: 10 ECTS Credits
• Pre-requisites: Must have completed 3 years undergraduate study in Criminology or a related subject i.e. Law, Psychology, Sociology or other social science or humanities subjects.

Course Description

Ethnography is a unique form of research because of its dual character. It is both a mode of inquiry and a way of representing human experience and practice. Over the last thirty years, ethnographies focusing on the work of criminal justice practitioners, as well as of those on the receiving end of the justice system or its edges, have proliferated in Criminology. These accounts have documented the everyday experience of illicit drug markets, the sex trade, human smuggling networks, police work, prison life and more. They provide a unique perspective on the similarities, differences and tensions involved in the practice of justice in different cultural and national contexts. How do ethnographers understand and engage with the ethics and politics surrounding "criminality" or "criminal justice work"? In what ways does ethnography make otherwise neglected or marginalized justice cultures and criminological contexts accessible and intelligible? What distinctive advantages and disadvantages does ethnography-as-method provide scholars of criminal justice?

Topics covered may include: Law, Order and Police Culture; Policing the City; Crimmigration and Global Crime; The Courts and the Everyday Life of Law; Prison Ethnographies: the Guard's View; Desistance, Re-entry and Post-Incarceration

Assessment Proportions

• Coursework 100%