1. Identify and explain key concepts and contemporary issues in criminal justice.

Knowledge and Understanding

2. Analyse and evaluate arguments relating to a contemporary issue in criminal justice.

Analysis

3. Communicate arguments effectively in an appropriate formal academic written style.

Communication

4. Reflect on the development of or changes to your viewpoints in response to an argument.

Reflection

Students will read an assigned piece of academic writing and will summarise, analyse, and evaluate the writer’s main arguments and findings. (LOs 1 –3)

As a result of this analysis, students will be enabled to reflect on the development of their views on an issue (LO2 – analysis; LO4 - reflection).

The resultant commentaries which students produce must be written in an appropriate formal academic written style and having adopted the appropriate referencing style (LO3 – communication).

On this module, though the primary focus will be on the jurisdiction of England and Wales and western-centric notions of crime and justice, there is scope to consider wider, more global, views of criminality. Particularly in the weeks in which the focus will be hate crime, crime and the media, defining crime and justice, and public order offences, time can be spent observing BAME offenders, media portrayal of black offenders and victims, as well as the definitions of crime in other regions such as the Middle East, Africa and Asia.

Key themes include:

Defining Crime and Criminal Behaviour
Crime and Punishment/Statutory Aims of Sentencing
Drugs, County Lines, and New Psychoactive Substances
Hate Crime and Communications Offences
Cyber Crime and Organised Crime
Sexual Offences and Child Sex Offences
Violence Against Women and Girls/Gender Based Violence
Public Order Offences – Peaceful Protests or Panic in the Streets?
Youth and Gang Crime and Offensive Weapons/Knife Crime
Terrorism and Atrocity Crimes (War Crimes, Genocide)
Serial Murder

How do we define notions of crime and justice? Are they universally accepted legal terms with a singular definition? Or are they social constructs which can change and adapt according to our environments, our moral and political compasses, even our religious beliefs? The criminal justice system as we know it today faces many issues – racial inequality and injustice, the role of the media, the evolution and development of technology in creating new types of crimes. How does the criminal justice system deal with these issues? The answer to these questions and more is contained within this module.

This module will be of interests to students who have criminal law and/or justice career ambitions. With an emphasis on analysis and problem solving, the module seeks to provide you with the necessary skills to gain employment in the many agencies that make up the criminal justice sector.

Each week students will attend the following learning sessions:
1-hour lecture.
2-hour workshop.

In these sessions, students will be presented with engaging and accessible activities which will provide multiple opportunities for students to develop their skills of critical analysis, evaluation, and reflection. The planned activities will also promote active learning, self-directed study, and growth mindsets. Students will be encouraged to consider alternative opinions, perspectives, and viewpoints thereby promoting equality, diversity, and inclusion and a healthy and collaborative learning environment.

Various activities will also be planned to promote accessibility and will be tailored to meet the needs of all learners, taking into account their differing capabilities and considering any additional needs, difficulties or support the learner may require.

This module will adopt a structured building-block approach whereby learners will be afforded time to develop and hone their skills, as well as reinforce and consolidate the learning that has taken place.

Learners will be provided with opportunities to perform a close reading and analysis of various academic texts – from journal articles, textbook chapters, case reports, academic commentaries, and official reports – to best prepare them for their summative assessment.

Digital skills will be embedded throughout the module through use of Blackboard, Teams and online activities such as ‘You Be The Judge’.

This module will be interdisciplinary to accommodate students from both law and non-law courses (such as International Relations, Criminology, Policing, and Forensic Investigation)

Case, S., Johnson, P., Manlow, D., Smith, R. and Williams, K. (2021) The Oxford Textbook on Criminology. 2nd edn. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Finch, E. and Fafinski, S. (2023) Legal Skills. 9th edn. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Both texts are available via the Oxford Law Trove and access is free via the university’s subscription.

Sentencing Council website: Sentencing – Sentencing Council

Sentencing Council – Sentencing Children and Young People: Sentencing children and young people – Sentencing (sentencingcouncil.org.uk)

YouTube – What is crime? Steven Case talk – OUP: (3) What is crime? - YouTube

YouTube – What is crime? Dr David Scott talk – Open University: (3) What is crime? - YouTube

You Be The Judge: You be the Judge - A guide to sentencing (justice.gov.uk)