Crime and Criminal Justice

Professor Loraine Gelsthorpe, Jake Phillips, Esther van Ginneken, Bill Schmidt

Crime affects most people at some point in their lives yet there is ongoing debate in academia, politics and the public about what causes it, and how best to deal with it. This course explores both the concept of crime and the criminal justice system which exists to deal with crime. The Criminal Justice System is a multifaceted system which encompasses a variety of aims, some of which are competing – in this sense, the course aims to disentangle what the system tries to do. This will lead students to form a theoretically informed understanding of criminal justice. Crime has become increasingly politicised over the last thirty decades and the course discusses the implications of this on victims, offenders, politicians and the ‘law-abiding public’. The course is primarily focused on developments in Britain (and the US by comparison) but students will be encouraged to use experience and knowledge from other countries to contribute to the debates.

This course is aimed at: Students with a broad interest in criminology. This encompasses those majoring or minoring in sociology, psychology and/or politics based courses.

Pre-requisite knowledge required: None especially; an ability to critically analyse and an open mind are required.

Transferable Knowledge and Skills: The course will develop students’ critical reading skills through engagement with a variety of readings on crime and criminal justice issues. Students’ intellectual skills will be enhanced through having to extract key elements from complex information, identifying opposing theories and engaging in lateral thinking. Seminars will be focused on student discussion and thus will develop the ability to marshal arguments lucidly, coherently and concisely. Students will be invited to give presentations on what they have read to develop their communication skills, which will also be developed through the assessment framework.

Core reading

You will be given specific readings for each lecture/seminar session in advance of the respective lecture/seminar. Students should also read the following before the course begins:

• Newburn T (2007) Criminology. Cullompton: Willan. Chapter 1: Understanding Crime and Criminology
• Jones S (2009) Criminology. Oxford: OUP Chapter 1: Introduction—Criminology: its origins and research methods

The core textbook for this course is:

• The Oxford Handbook of Criminology (4th Edition) by M. Maguire, R. Morgan and R. Reiner.

Students are encouraged to purchase their own copy. Note that the 5th edition will be out in forthcoming months. Either the recommended 4th edition or the 5th will be suitable

Assessment:

• 1 Final Exam: 45%
• 1 Final Essay: 45%
• Participation, progress and attendance: 10%

Lecture hours: 12 x 1 hour 15 minutes (total 15 hours)

Seminar hours: 8 x 1 hour 15 minutes (total 10 hours)