POL5003 - Victims and Witnesses

Objectives:

Assessment tasks are designed to enable students to demonstrate the Learning and Employability outcomes for the relevant level of study. Level Learning Outcomes are embedded in the assessment task(s) at that level. This enables a more integrated view of overall student performance at each level.

Content:

Victims of crime attract unprecedented academic interest, both as a subject of psychological enquiry, and as a focus of criminal justice policy. Since the 1960s, victimisation surveys have aimed to quantify the unreported ‘dark figure’ of crime and have thus helped to build interest in this area. The need to protect the rights of victims has become increasingly important in terms of public opinion and judicial practice. This has given rise to revisions in sentencing and the advent of restorative justice. The rights of victims are now viewed as an integral part of criminal justice. Whilst societal views and criminal justice responses have impacted upon victims and their status, it is of importance to understand the physical, social, psychological, and emotional effects they might face in context of the primary offence. Therefore, criminal, societal, and psychological effects will therefore be explored within this module.

The learning in this module will follow the CoP curriculum in relation to victims and encompass wider victimology themes in a criminological context. Learning will be approached to provide students with a sense of the significant historical change in which victims have been viewed in the criminal justice process, and an understanding of the weight attributed to different people and their ‘deserving’ of victim status, and therefore of justice. This interplays with the importance of the initial contact, particularly around frontline and uniform policing. The learning will be combined with the practical skill of investigative interviewing, which will be introduced and the importance of key aspects relating to ethical, professional, and legal conduct will be examined, aligning to the PIP2 standards.

Learning and Teaching Information:

Lectures will build on theory and foundational concepts, utilising where possible digital learning tools, such as vevox and Padlet to assist students in their understanding.

Workshops will embed more inclusive learning methods, such as visual elements – gamification, storyboards, videos etc which assist in breaking down more complex material, and ensure students are confident with basic concepts.

Modules at this level will introduce more practical elements of legislative practice, and examination of cases to start critical review work. Evidence-based policing will form the corner stone of the curriculum, encouraging students to build on their research skills, and understand how academic practice influences operational professional work.

Some modules will build on the problem-based learning which students were introduced to a Level 4, which will become more pertinent at this level with more complex decision making and problem-solving ideas introduced which align to the PIP2 standards. Simulation of the ‘real world’ investigative environment both within and outside policing will be introduced, and the differing methods looked at in more detail.

Lectures
Hours: 30
Intended group size: 25 - 60

Workshops
Hours: 10
Intended group size: 25 - 60

Guided independant study
Hours: 30

Further details relating to assessment
Component 1: Case File Review: Students will write a 2000-word Case file review, on theoretical perspectives of victimology and evaluate how each has influenced the perception and understanding of ‘the victim’ using a case study example.

Component 2: Practical Scenario: Students will conduct an investigative interview, where they will interview both the suspect, and the victim as part of a criminal investigation. This will be integrated with the assessment for Module 6 Suspects and Offenders.

Formative assessment will be built into weekly sessions to aid understanding, clarify misconceptions, and enable staff to ensure learning is being understood, and students are able to apply it correctly to their work.

Particular to this module will be the exploration of victims and witnesses in a societal, and criminal justice context, which will provide opportunity for students to examine media and digital outputs in a practical way. Analysis of historical attitudes and changes which have occurred because of review, particularly around the concept of ‘victim blaming.’ Workshops will assist with breaking down the more traditional lectures as the foundation of learning to bring the curriculum to life with more experiential context.

Please Note: The module must be passed (minimum 40) as a requirement of the College of Policing and cannot be condoned for marginal failure.

Assessment:

001 Case File Review; 2000 words; End Sem 1 70%
002 Practical Scenario; 1 hr; End Sem 1 30%

Fact File

Module Coordinator - Thomas Naden
Level - 5
Credit Value - 30
Pre-Requisites - NONE
Semester(s) Offered - 5S1

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