The central purpose of this core module is to enable students to understand criminology as a permanently contested collection of historically and geographically varied ways of knowing and reasons for seeking to know about ‘crime’, and so to contribute towards the core programme aims of providing students with advanced understanding of:

•The historical, political and cultural contexts within which key strands of criminological thought emerged and have developed, including the relationship between criminological ideas and research and the development of criminal justice systems around the world.
•The relevance of social and economic divisions, social diversity, and inequalities of wealth and power to understanding criminology and criminal justice studies.
•Alternatives to mainstream criminological thinking and their associated intellectual, theoretical, and political projects

The module aims to:

•Provide students with knowledge of the ways in which criminological thinking is shaped by broader social, cultural, economic and political conditions, societal norms and values.
•Engage students with a range of commentaries on and debates about the nature, purpose, strengths and limitations of criminological thinking, including debates about how criminology intersects in various significant ways with extant social divisions and inequalities.
•Support students in applying their understanding of these debates to critically appraise specific case studies of contemporary criminological research.

(LO1) At the end of this module students will be able to critically analyse the social, cultural, and political assumptions underpinning different perspectives on what it means to think criminologically

(LO2) At the end of this module students will be able to demonstrate originality in contextualising different examples of criminological research through reference to the wider social, cultural, political and economic backdrop against which the research has been produced

(LO3) At the end of this module students will be able to interrogate the relevance of social divisions and inequalities for understanding the shape, character and complexity of the criminological field

(LO4) At the end of this module students will be able to critically appraise different approaches to doing criminological research and their potential real-world applications

(S1) Social, political and practical awareness of the criminological research context.

(S2) Verbal and visual communication skills, including presentation skills, listening and questioning and engaging in constructive group discussions.

(S3) Teamwork – cooperating with other members of their class to prepare a group presentation.

(S4) Written communication skills – in preparing and producing a written critical appraisal of a case study of criminological research.

(S5) Be able to make critical judgements of the merits of existing research and literature.

(S6) Time management and prioritisation skills by working to deadlines.

(S7) Develop their skills in reading, analysing and synthesising different viewpoints and presenting their findings/conclusions in clear, comprehensible, structured format, with detailed argumentation where appropriate.

(S8) Be able to make a critical judgement of the merits of particular arguments and make a reasoned choice between alternative solutions or arguments.

The module will introduce students to a range of commentaries on and debates about the nature and purpose of criminological research and thinking. Set readings and workshop discussions will engage students with ideas about how broader social, political, cultural and economic contexts have formed the backdrop to the emergence and development of criminological knowledge production and continue to shape the field today. Students will reflect on the contexts in which criminological knowledge is produced and shaped, and the influence of this knowledge. Sessionssessions will focus on engaging with texts and ideas about the criminological field, whilst encouraging students to apply this more abstract thinking to specific case studies of criminological research in action.

The learning outcomes for the module allow space for the syllabus to flex and develop as the nature of the expertise within the department and the character and priorities of the criminological field change over time . Possible topics/thinkers/texts/theories likely to be discussed in initial sessions include:

•Work on the politics and political economy of criminological thinking and the development of criminal justice (e.g. Dario Melossi’s “Controlling Crime, Controlling Society”; Stan Cohen’s “Against Criminology”
•Debates about public criminology, “administrative criminology” and the emergence of so-called “Crime Science”
•The zemiological challenge to criminology, emergence of social harm perspectives
•Emergence of different perspectives in and on criminology including Peacemaking Criminology, Southern Criminology, Green Criminology, Digital Criminology
•Colonialism and neocolonialism
Case study-focused sessions will draw on staff expertise in different areas of criminological research to encourage students to situate specific research topics within the criminolog ical field more broadly. Examples include:

•Alcohol and drug-related offending and offending in the leisure economy
•Gender-based violence
•Terrorism and extremism
•Wildlife crime
•State/corporate crime
•Cybercrime

The case study sessions are supposed to demonstrate how empirical research on a specific topic is situated in, and advances, the criminological field more broadly.

Teaching Method 1: Workshop

Scheduled Directed Student Hours: 20

Description: Weekly 2-hour workshops will provide a structured learning environment where students will discuss key set readings, and case studies of criminological research, with facilitation provided by academic staff. Each workshop will be introduced by a short lecture session and/or student presentation, but the primary focus will be on student discussions and debate.

Attendance Recorded: Yes

Unscheduled Directed Learning Hours: 10

Group presentation preparation.

Description: Students will meet with the other members of their group to develop a group presentation to be delivered during one of the weekly workshop sessions.

Attendance Recorded: No

Self-Directed Learning Hours: 170

Description: Prior to each of the 10 2-hour workshops, students will undertake directed study tasks (including set readings) to complete in their own time as preparation for the work shop discussion. They will also be expected to do their own research and wider reading in relation to topics covered over the course of the module, especially in preparation of their final assessment task, the critical appraisal.