- Academic Registry
Course & Unit Catalogues


SP52085: Core issues in crime and criminal justice

[Page last updated: 15 August 2024]

Academic Year: 2024/25
Owning Department/School: Department of Social & Policy Sciences
Credits: 10 [equivalent to 20 CATS credits]
Notional Study Hours: 200
Level: Masters UG & PG (FHEQ level 7)
Period:
Semester 2
Assessment Summary: CWES 80%, CWRA 20%
Assessment Detail:
  • Critical review of core criminological issue (CWES 80%)
  • Critical reflection on learning (CWRA 20%)
Supplementary Assessment:
Like-for-like reassessment (where allowed by programme regulations)
Requisites:
Learning Outcomes: 1. Critically assess the intersections of crime, criminal justice, and different kinds of inequality
2. Compare and evaluate competing concepts and explanations of crime and harm
3. Identify and explain accounts of alternative contexts and sites for crime and criminal justice
4. Identify and assess contemporary challenges around crime and the criminal justice system


Synopsis: Explore key issues in crime, harm, and justice responses.

You will examine how multiple dimensions of inequality intersect with crime and justice; highlight and stretch competing conceptions of crime, harm, and social order; and explore alternative and less visible sites of crime and criminal justice response. You will also critically consider the prospects of criminology, crime, and criminal justice in the twenty-first century.

Content: The unit contains four strands.
The first explores theoretical and empirical approaches to crime cases and criminal justice as each intersects with other forms of inequality, such as class, racism, gender, and disability.
The second strand considers competing ideas around the impact of crime, the making of social order, and appropriate responses thereupon.
The third strand examines alternative conceptions and sites of crime, such as environmental and ecological harm, and the geopolitical contexts of crime.
The final strand centres the question of criminological futures: what challenges do rapid technological, social, and political change mean for crime and criminal justice?

Course availability:

SP52085 is Compulsory on the following courses:

Department of Social & Policy Sciences

Notes:

  • This unit catalogue is applicable for the 2024/25 academic year only. Students continuing their studies into 2025/26 and beyond should not assume that this unit will be available in future years in the format displayed here for 2024/25.
  • Courses and units are subject to change in accordance with normal University procedures.
  • Availability of units will be subject to constraints such as staff availability, minimum and maximum group sizes, and timetabling factors as well as a student's ability to meet any pre-requisite rules.
  • Find out more about these and other important University terms and conditions here.