Crime and Criminal Justice
Dr Fabio Tartarini and Dr Hannah Marshall
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 course will introduce students to criminology, theories of crime and relevant issues regarding trials and sentencing. It will primarily focus on criminal justice in the UK and the US, but students will be encouraged to use experience and knowledge from other countries to contribute to the debates.
Please be aware there will be some content overlap with the Forensic Psychology course.
Course Objectives
This course will enable students to understand the causes of crime, and the impact crime has on individuals, communities and the wider society. They will further be able to critically assess criminological theory, and the operation and challenges of the criminal justice system. This will lead students to form a theoretically informed understanding of criminal justice. The course will provide students with the analytical skills necessary to engage in contemporary debates surrounding policies and practices in criminal justice.
Intended Audience
This course is aimed at students with a broad interest in criminology and criminal justice issues. This encompasses, but is not limited to, those majoring or minoring in sociology, psychology, law and/or politics-based courses.
Previous Knowledge
This course does not require specific previous knowledge; however, an ability to critically analyse and discuss the course topics in an open-minded fashion is required.
Transferable Knowledge and Skills
This 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 by 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 their communication skills and ability to marshal arguments lucidly, coherently and concisely. Academic writing skills will be developed through the assessment framework.
Dr Fabio Tartarini
Dr Fabio Tartarini is a chartered psychologist in Italy with a deep interest in wellbeing, social psychology, and self-empowerment. He is a PhD Candidate at the University of Cambridge, exploring the effects of imprisonment on prisoners' definition of a good life and how this affects their life goals and ambitions (i.e., Human Flourishing). Fabio is contributing to the evaluation of the effects that Virtual-Reality based interventions (based on mindfulness and art therapy) have on the wellbeing, anxiety, and depression of the general population and prisoners.
Dr Hannah Marshall
Dr Hannah Marshall is the Lumley Research Fellow in Criminology at Magdalene College, University of Cambridge, and an affiliated lecturer at the Institute of Criminology. Hannah’s research interests include child criminal exploitation; county lines drug dealing; critical victimology; and qualitative, feminist, and participatory methods.