Criminology and Security Modules

Aims
The aim of this module is to help students utilise a volunteering placement to gain knowledge and understandings of a non-profit organisation in order to be able describe and analyse:

• Connections between the organisation and practices

• Connections between the organisation and social policies

• Practical and experiential aspects of studying social policy, sociology and criminology

Learning Outcomes
By the end of this module students will

• Have made a contribution to a non-profit organisation by working as a volunteer for a minimum of 48 hrs.

• Understand discourses related to volunteering

• Understand the interface between the host organisation and social policies

• Understand the service offered by the organisation in the context of the welfare mix

• Be able to make a poster presentation and reflect on their actions and learning

Aims
This unit will explore the impacts and effects of risk in contemporary society in the areas of crime, welfare and human security.

Learning Outcomes
On completion of the unit students will be able to demonstrate the following competencies through appropriate study and submission of assessed coursework:

• Evaluating the impacts of crime, welfare and security risks on lived experience in the contemporary UK and Singapore

• Identifying and understanding the social and cultural processes which shape the construction of security risks.

• Comprehending the relationship between the distribution of health risks and traditional forms of social stratification.

• Comparing theories of risk with ethnographic research into the effects of risk on everyday experience.

• Understanding policy approaches towards crime and security risks in terms of institutional regulation, legislation and management.

• Articulating the links between identity, individualization and reflexivity in contemporary western cultures

Aims
The module aims:

• To provide a critical overview of the historical development of state policy responses to youth crime and to explore criminological and sociological conceptualisations of ‘youth’, ‘crime’, ‘criminalisation’ and ‘justice’.

• To analyse the competing priorities and underpinning discourses that inform youth justice policy formation.

• To explore the application of youth justice policy through the interventions of state agencies, and to consider the principal consequences of such interventions for ‘young offenders’, the management of youth crime and the regulation and governance of young people.

Learning Outcomes
At the conclusion of this third level module students will have:

• An understanding of the trajectory of state policy responses to children and young people in conflict with the law from the early nineteenth century to the present and a familiarity with key debates within youth criminology and the sociology of youth justice.

• An awareness of key criminological and sociological debates and an ability to critically analyse the competing priorities, tensions and paradoxes intrinsic to ‘welfare’, ‘justice’ and ‘retributive’/‘punitive’ approaches to the delivery of youth justice.

• A critical grasp of the politics of youth crime, youth justice and social control.

• An appreciation of the temporal and spatial dimensions of youth justice and the significance of comparative transnational analyses.

Aims
SOCS241 (Policing, Crime and Society) is a level 2 module that introduces students to the core practical and sociological understandings of modern policing in both a domestic and international context. The module is designed to provide an insight into the concepts of policing and the police, connecting significant past and present policing issues with sociological analysis and changes in criminal justice policy.

This module seeks to provide a conceptual, historical, contemporary and global understanding of the ‘police’, one of the key social and legal institutions of the modern State. The police are an integral part of the criminal justice system, but the reach of ‘policing’ can also be evidenced in covert policing practices within the private security sector, and counter-terrorism.

Therefore, the aims of this module are:

• To explore the main academic literature sources relevant to policing studies and examine the different functions and strategies of the police and their relationship to social policies.

• To examine contemporary debates on the role of policing and provide a critical insight into the key cultural practices of the police.

• To highlight the pluralised role of policing and develop an international perspective on how ‘policing’ is conducted across the globe in relation to terrorism and international security

Learning Outcomes
After completing the module the student should be able to:

• Use and apply the main sources of policing literature for sociological research purposes

• Understand the relationship between policing, crime and society

• Critically evaluate police cultures and the role of the police

• Appreciate the relationships and tensions between policing and human rights

• Identify a range of difference institutions that fiction as part of the police, and critically reflect on the concept of 'policing' as not just being a function of the police

• Have an awareness of the global reach of policing in relation to transnational crime, terrorism and international security

Aims
The aims of the module are summarised as follows:

• To critically explore the main sociological and criminological perspectives on crime, justice and punishment

• To investigate the historical emergence of theoretical thought in relation to crime and subsequent development within particular perspectives

• To critically assess and the strengths and limitations of particular concepts associated with different theoretical perspectives

• To explore how key theoretical concepts and ideas relate to criminal justice practice

• To critically understand these perspectives as they relate to social divisions (class, ‘race’, gender, sexuality and age)

Learning Outcomes
On successful completion of the module students should be able to:

• Demonstrate critical awareness of the historical and contemporary significance of criminological concepts deployed to explain crime, justice and punishment

• Exhibit understanding of the ways in which crime, justice and punishment are contested within and outside of academic thinking

• Distinguish between different conceptual frames of reference and compare and contrast their strengths and weaknesses

• Situate theoretical thought within the world of policy and criminal justice practice

• Demonstrate how criminal justice theory and practice intersect with social fractures, inequalities and social divisions

Aims

• To introduce students to the different methods used in sociological research, focussing primarily on a consideration of quantitative methods;

• To encourage students to reflect on ethical and epistemological considerations which quantitative social research raises;

• To reflect on the issues raised by different data collection methods, and to practice some of these collection methods;

• To give students practical experience of working with and appropriately analysing datasets relevant to their studies;

• To encourage reflection on the strengths and limitations of using quantitative data in the social sciences.

• To prepare students for research to be carried out on future modules

Learning Outcomes
As a result of attendance at lectures, participation in seminars, and private study, and undertaking the assessment of learning, students should have developed a critical understanding of how to:

• Understand the issues which must be considered when choosing a method to inform a particular research area/ research questions;

• Reflect critically on their role as a researcher and demonstrate and awareness of the socio-political context of research;

• Consider the ethical implications of their research, and the strengths and limitations of secondary data analysis

• Gather, source, and appropriately analyse quantitative data.

• Understanding the reporting of quantitative data by other researchers

Aims
This module aims to:

• Introduce students to a range of research methods used in sociological research;

• To give students some practical experience of data collection, analysis and presentation;

• To encourage students to think about the ethical, epistemological and practical considerations in social research;

• To reflect on the role of the researcher in collecting and generating data.

Learning Outcomes
As a result of attendance at lectures, participation in seminars, and private study and undertaking the assessment of learning, students should have developed a critical understanding of how to:

• Select a research method to inform a particular research area/ research questions;

• Reflect critically on their role as a researcher and demonstrate and awareness of the socio-political context of research;

• Consider the ethical implications of their research, and demonstrate a good understanding of situated field ethics;

• Analyse and present observational and interview data

Aims
This module aims to:

• To provide a broad overview of the historical, theoretical and comparative foundations of punishment and imprisonment nationally and internationally.

• To examine the experiences and outcomes of imprisonment for identifiable groups of prisoners including: children and young people; women; black and minoritised people; older people.

• To introduce a range of key debates and controversies surrounding the questions of punishment, penalty and prisons in ‘modern’ societies and to subject them to social scientific interrogation.

Learning Outcomes
At the conclusion of the module students will have:

• An understanding of the trajectory of state policy responses in respect of punishment, penalty and prisons from the early nineteenth century to the present.

• An ability to critically analyse the competing theoretical rationales for the practices of modern punishment, penalty and imprisonment including: constructions of moral responsibility; deterrence; retribution; rehabilitation; reform; deserts; proportionality; incapacitation.

• A familiarity with the contemporary politics of imprisonment and comparative penal regimes.

• A grasp of the impact of imprisonment on prisoners in general and specific groups of prisoners in particular.

• A capacity to critically assess the legitimacy of prisons together with alternative, penal reductionist and abolitionist perspectives.

Aims
This module aims to:

• Gain a thorough understanding of the evolution of radicalism and terrorism in South-east Asia (SEA),

• Offers a rigorous course of study that evaluates the psychological processes, events, and also addresses the diverse and multifaceted factors that fuel radicalization to provide further context for students,

• Offers a practical perspective on managing radicalised individuals from experienced professionals and practitioners working in the field of counter-terrorism,

• Critically understand the challenges that radicalization poses to counter-terrorism stake-holders in combating radicalisation,

• Engage in informed debate and critical appraisal of the various de-radicalisation strategies that have been developed to address terrorist rehabilitation.

Learning Outcomes
By the end of this module students will be able to:

• Gain an analytical understanding of the origins, magnitude, and evolution of the threat of radicalisation around the world, with a greater focus on South-east Asia (SEA),

• Understand the psychological aspects of radicalization and de-radicalisation, focusing on Singapore,

• Appreciate the challenges that radicalization poses to counter-terrorism stake-holders,

• Present their work in both written and oral presentations.

Aims
Preparing a dissertation enables students to develop their knowledge of a particular topic and develops their ability to work independently.

Learning Outcomes
Ability to work independently. Ability to plan work. Ability to marshal, analyse and present large amounts of material.