Course Details in

Module Title	LC Introduction to Criminology
School	School of Social Policy
Department	Soc Policy, Sociology & Crimin
Module Code	08 26858
Module Lead	Anna Kotova
Level	Certificate Level
Credits	20
Semester	Semester 1
Pre-requisites
Co-requisites
Restrictions	None
Contact Hours	Lecture-20 hours Seminar-20 hours Tutorial-5 hours Guided independent study-155 hours Total: 200 hours
Exclusions
Description	The module will provide an introduction to Criminology as a ‘discipline’, and its contribution to academic and societal understandings of ‘crime’ and the ‘causes of crime’. It will outline the discipline’s historical origins and chart its historical development from the 19th Century prison to a burgeoning multidisciplinary field of the 21st Century. In doing so, the module will encompass key thinkers and paradigms that have influenced criminological thought, as well as considering the political and social contexts that have given rise to particular trends in thinking. The first part of the module will describe the birth of the discipline and the development of mainstream positivist criminological thought and its focus on identifying the ‘causes of crime’. Thus students will be introduced to a variety of biological, psychological and sociological positivist explanations of crime that grew unchallenged until the late 1950s. The first part will conclude by examining the challenge to positivism, presented by labelling theorists in the 1960s and subsequently, radical and feminist criminologists of the 1970s that viewed ‘crime’ as a reflection of dominant interests and groups within society, seeking to understand ‘criminality’ in these contexts. The second part of the module will chart the fragmentation of Criminology and the expansion of the discipline from the 1980s to the current point in time, particularly resulting from the post modernist turn as well as the ‘globalisation’ of the discipline. The purpose being to introduce students to the wide array of criminological paradigms that have flourished during this time and the resulting contemporary trends in thinking.
Learning Outcomes	By the end of the module students should be able to: Demonstrate an understanding of the historical origins and key developments across time in criminological knowledge. Demonstrate an understanding of the social, political and policy contexts that have shaped the emergence of specific criminological theories. Demonstrate knowledge of the key paradigms in criminological thought and how they inform our understandings of ‘crime and criminality’. Discuss the concept of ‘crime’ as a social construction. Evaluate the contribution of Criminology, as a discipline, to our understanding of ‘crime’ and ‘criminality’.
Assessment	26858-01 : 4000 Word Summative Essay : Coursework (100%)
Assessment Methods & Exceptions	Assessment: 4,000 word essay Reassessment: 4,000 word essay
Other	None
Reading List