Course Details in 2024/25 Session

Module Title	LH Equality and Criminal Justice/Criminal Justice and Discrimination
School	Birmingham Law School
Department	Law
Module Code	09 37086
Module Lead	Dr Marianne Wade
Level	Honours Level
Credits	20
Semester	Semester 1
Pre-requisites
Co-requisites
Restrictions	None
Contact Hours	Lecture-30 hours Seminar-6 hours Guided independent study-164 hours Total: 200 hours
Exclusions
Description	The module is proposed as a specialist criminal justice module but is simultaneously designed to provide law students with an introduction to this area of scholarship and its different working methods. Students will be introduced to the various forms of relevant evidence (e.g. statistical) and their relative value. The module is centrally focused upon the socially explosive topic of discrimination within the criminal justice system. Whilst policing practices and their impact upon minority communities are featured, the module seeks to build deeper understanding of how bias and discriminatory practice can be shaped at every level of the system; starting from legislative decision making through to institutional funding. Fundamentally conceiving of criminal justice as a public good, the module will highlight under-protection as a problem alongside over-policing. An intersectional approach will be taken meaning that discrimination of all sorts can be discussed. The module focus is on the practice of criminal justice in the UK, particularly within England and Wales.
Learning Outcomes	By the end of the module students should be able to: Explain key aspects of British criminal justice and the danger they pose to the constitutional principle of equality before the law; Summarise and comment upon the current academic and policy debates on the matters covered in the module; Evaluate the effectiveness and appropriateness of the different mechanisms designed to ensure greater equality in criminal justice; Bring together and present coherently materials from primary and secondary sources which deal with the issues addressed in the module; Make a personal and reasoned judgements about the material covered in the module.
Assessment	37086-01 : Essay : Coursework (100%)
Assessment Methods & Exceptions	Assessments: One 3,500 words essay (100%) Reassessment: Resit failed component(s)
Other
Reading List