1. On completion of this module, you will be able to show that you have undertaken independent and study into issues covered by the course core curricula
Enquiry
Knowledge and Understanding
Learning

2. On completion of this module, you will be able to communicate your findings and disseminate them in an accessible manner, that shows not only knowledge and understanding of the topic and shows an ability to write in a clear, accessible manner using appropriate expression and grammar, following academic conventions expected in subject area.
Communication

3. On completion of this module, you will be able to make practical recommendations based on the issues and topics that you have investigated, making a clear critical analysis and present your findings. Analysis
Problem Solving

1. Single independent research project that can be presented in one of three ways

1. As a written piece of work/project report - 4,000 words


Or

2. As a Podcast episode - 15 Mins (recorded audio file to be submitted

Or

3. As a (recorded) Academic Presentation - (15 Mins presentation with PowerPoint slides)


The module is assessed by a single piece of assessed work, but participants can elect what they produce and how they deliver the assessment to meet the learning outcomes.

Contemporary Issues in Criminology and Criminal Justice will consider and explore core pertinent issues that are emerging at present and which shape the contours of criminal justice and crime, both as academic subjects, but also as systems of regulation that touch on human lives in the criminal justice system.

Academic criminology, if it has any value, must not simply be an abstract discipline but one which offers well considered, well understood critique and intervention based on the array of cogent empirical subjects which inform it, and offer solutions, critique and commentary that is relevant to both policy and praxis. This module seeks to empower participants to do just that. It begins with an extremely comprehensive introduction to some core aspects of contemporary criminal justice providers.

Crime, disorder, and justice are increasingly pressing concerns across the globe. Fear of crime and proliferating global threats contribute to an increasing sense of insecurity. Local concerns – for example violent street crime such as moped muggings or acid attacks – are now accompanied by twenty-first century global concerns about human trafficking, cyber-crime, terrorism and human rights violations to name but a few. These ‘threats’ have implications for justice, as the boundaries between crime control and civil liberties are being increasingly redrawn, with this in mind, the second part of the module moves to consider some of the most pertinent issues that are often presented as the crime threats to contemporary criminal justice.

The module culminates in assessment that seeks to encourage students to think about how types of crime impact on the former (Criminal Justice agencies) as they independently research and explore in detail key contemporary debates in criminal justice policy and practice (within their historical, social and political context) relating one of the crime areas to the contemporary criminal justice providers, considering the real-world changes and challenges to criminal justice today that this nexus creates. It therefore offers an advanced understanding of the criminal justice system, as well as the individuals and groups making up the system, particularly offenders, victims and the public that is relevant to the debates of today and builds across the universities eight learning outcomes equipping participants to be the criminological commentators and practitioners of the future.

All modules except the Dissertation are delivered via blended learning, combining some two-hour teaching workshops on campus with distance learning activities (e.g. online reading, discussion board, webinars). Classes frequently use case studies as the focus for discussion. Lecturers provide key overviews of each topic. Students use classroom or online group discussions and questions-and-answers to explore topic. Where appropriate, experienced practitioners and external academics will join the session as visiting guests.

All modules are supported by the virtual learning environment (Blackboard), which allows students to access learning materials remotely, participate in discussion boards and webinars, and access lists of recommended readings. The vast majority of the latter are available through the Library in electronic form and can be retrieved remotely.

• Christie, N. (2004). A Suitable Amount of Crime, London: Routledge
• Cohen, S. (1989). Against Criminology, Brunswick: Transaction.
• Cohen, S. (1985). Visions of Social Control, London: Polity.
• Cooper, V. and Whyte, D. (2017) The Violence of Austerity, London: Pluto Press
• Ericson, R. (2007). Crime in an Insecure Age, Cambridge: Polity Press.
• Fassin, D (2013) Enforcing Order. An Anthropology of Urban Policing, Cambridge: Polity Press,
• Felson, M. (2003). Crime and Everyday Life, Los Angeles: Sage.
• Gash, T. (2017). Criminal: The truth about why people do bad things, London: Penguin
• Garland, D. (2000). Culture of Control, Oxford: Oxford University Press.
• Hillyard, P., Pantazis, C., Tombs, S. and Gordon, D. (eds) (2003). Beyond Criminology: Taking Harm Seriously, London, Pluto Press
• Lynes, A and Treadwell, J. (2018). 50 facts everyone should know about crime and punishment in Britain, Bristol: Policy Press
• Pratt, J., Brown, D., Brown, M., Hallsworth, S. and Morrison, W. (Eds) (2005) The New Punitiveness: Trends, Theories, Perspectives Cullompton: Willan.
• Simon, J. (2007). Governing Through Crime, Oxford, OUP.
• Young, J. (2011). The Criminological Imagination, London: Polity.
• Reiner, R. (2007). Law and Order: An Honest Citizen’s Guide to Crime and Control, Cambridge: Polity.
• Reiner, R. (2016). Crime, the Mystery of the Common-Sense Concept Cambridge: Polity.
• Wacquant, Loic (2009). Punishing the Poor: The Neoliberal Government of Social Insecurity. Duke.

• The library
• PCs with standard suite of University software providing access to e-mail, the internet, word processing, etc.
• Lecture rooms with access for disabled students, and suitable for group work
• The Blackboard virtual learning environment
• Full text journals database for Criminology (Sage)

None

Contemporary Issues in Criminology and Criminal Justice module looks at controversial issues facing the criminal justice system today. It looks at how transforming understandings of crime have created wider pressures that sit alongside the socio, economic, political, cultural and technological changes that set the context for crime and frame criminal justice agencies responses to it.

Staff at Staffordshire University are regular commentators on crime and criminal behaviour, and we have numerous academic staff who have worked in the criminal justice system and continue to use their knowledge and understanding of criminal justice in an applied manner.