SOC5002 - Serious Violent Crime

Objectives:

On successful completion of the module, students will be able to:

Articulate a critical understanding of explanations for serious violent crimes.
Evidence an understanding of the breadth of serious violent crimes that face contemporary international societies in addition to historical serious violent crimes.
Demonstrate an understanding of the key characteristics of serious violent offenders and the individuals/groups who they victimise.
Utilise appropriate criminological research and data to demonstrate a knowledge of serious violent crimes and the ethical implications associated with researching such crimes.

Content:

This module consists of interactive lectures that focus on developing students' understanding of the nature and variety of serious violent crimes. Students will explore contemporary, historical, and international violent crimes. Examples of such serious violent crimes that may be included within this module are: terrorism, genocide, hate crimes, robbery, homicide, work place violence, stalking and violence that occurs in criminal justice settings (e.g. prison). Students' attention will be drawn to the characteristics of the offenders who commit serious violent crimes and the individuals who are victimised by such offenders. The module will additionally explore how violent crime victimisation differs across certain social groups and the potential reasons for this. A brief examination of the options available for dealing with violent offenders will be introduced thus preparing students for later modules where this is explored in detail.

Historical and geographical patterns of violent crime will be explored using official and unofficial statistics and issues regarding the measurement of such crimes will be discussed. Criminological explanations of the different kinds of serious violent behaviors will be explored building upon the accounts given for crime causation which were introduced in SOC4022 Introduction to Criminology.

Learning and Teaching Information:

Interactive lectures will address the core components of this module and will allow student discussion and participation through interactive group work. Seminars and workshops will facilitate a deeper level of understanding through the discussion of case studies and exploration of appropriate data using group based IT facilities.

Interactive lectures/seminars and workshops
Hours: 32
Intended Group Size: 45

Guided independent study
Hours: 168

Further details relating to assessment
Assessment 1 - Report: Students' understanding of the module content will be assessed through the use of an end of semester report. The report will address the issue of violence in historical and contemporary societies drawing upon academic sources, data and case studies.

Assessment:

001 Report; 3,000 words; end of semester 1 100%

Fact File

Module Coordinator - Mark Horsley
Level - 5
Credit Value - 20
Pre-Requisites - NONE
Semester(s) Offered - 5S1

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