Global Issues in Criminal Justice and Crime Control
Explore key issues and ‘real world’ problems in criminal justice and crime control in an increasingly globalising world. Using a range of up-to-date research and contemporary concerns about criminal justice and crime control in comparative or global contexts, you will engage with debates, discussion and policy in criminological thought and practice.
Doing Research in Criminology and Criminal Justice
Learn about the vital skills of doing research in criminology and criminal justice, concentrating on the different types and rationales of a variety of research methodologies. You will be taught by a combination of lectures and tutorials.
Dissertation
What fascinates you? You will make an original contribution to research by designing, carrying out and writing up a project on a topic of your choice, supported by your dissertation supervisor.
Compulsory•60 credits
Contemporary Slavery Studies
Gain a broad and critical overview of systems of slavery and unfree practices historically and across a multitude of contexts. Familiarise yourself with complex theoretical debates on analytical categories such as ‘slavery’, ‘forced labour’, ‘debt bondage’ and how these related to the lived experiences of people across socio-historical contexts. You'll examine a range of cross-disciplinary academic literature and research, including in history, anthropology, sociology, politics, criminology and law. Past and current research at the Wilberforce Institute will contribute to developing a critical and multi-layered understanding of concepts, ideas and public discourses and how these have been moulded and shifted across time.
Competing and Comparative Justice: Values and Ethics in the Criminal Justice Process
This module introduces the complexity of ethical problems that arise in the criminal justice arena, challenging preconceptions of what is “right” and “wrong” in a range of situations in the UK and abroad. You will critically analyse some of the key debates about values underpinning law-making and criminal justice.
Contemporary Crime: Theories and Practice
You will explore contemporary criminological theories explaining criminality and offending behaviour. In addition, you will examine the various strategies in the areas of crime reduction and crime prevention put forward to tackle such behaviour and whether or not these have been successful in addressing certain types of criminality behaviour.
Policing, Security and Intelligence
‘Crime’ is increasingly seen as a global rather than local or national problem. How do we ‘police’ such problems across borders and how do police agencies co-operate to tackle problems like cybercrime or cross border criminal activity? This module will explore models of policing, transnational policing and private security policing as well as debating and exploring the techniques, ethics and accountability of the police in such settings.
Communication and Engagement with Diverse Communities
This module focuses on the importance of social justice and inclusion when considering the creation, cohesion and safety of communities. You will learn about real world issues and concerns in diverse communities. You will conduct research concerning the issues that are uncovered with an aim to assist community safety and alleviate community tensions due to age, religion, disability and so on. The outcome of your research will be reported in a briefing product for community groups.
Critical Victimology and Contemporary Slavery
Examine the definitions and representations of victimisation in slavery studies. You will also critically examine the limitations and challenges of existing criminal justice approaches to victimisation, even when these are victim-centred. You'll examine theoretical explanations of victimisation and explore the relationship between victimisation and social divisions of class, ethnicity, age, gender, nationality, immigration status, etc.
Hacking for the Police
As part of a team, you will engage directly with complex, real world problems proposed by UK government sponsors including policy, economics, technology and national security. As the module progresses, teams will discover and validate customer needs and continually build iterative prototypes. Takin a hands-on approach, you will closely engage with UK Police, Home Office and other government agency end-users.
Gender, Sexualities and Crime
Explore contemporary global issues in gender, sexualities and crime, including domestic violence, sex work, discussions of masculinities, ethnicities and crime, sexualities and perceptions of deviance as well as exploring race, ethnicity and social justice within a gendered and international perspective.
Global Detention: Custody, Imprisonment and Human Rights
Explore key issues in detention, custody and incarceration across the World. Using a range of themes and case studies, you will explore the use of imprisonment, comparative approaches to penal systems as well as debates and discussions and challenges in the practice of punishment for example, through contemporary use of remand, solitary confinement and life without parole.
Incarceration Culture in Context: Research Methods and Theory in Interdisciplinary Studies
On this module, you will examine and scrutinise a broad range of texts that address incarceration. This may include poetry by African political prisoners, Orange is the New Black (TV), artwork from Guantanamo Bay, Caribbean memorials to slave rebellions, Native American captivity stories, modern slavery documentaries and photography documenting Northern Ireland.
Immigration Control
Carcerality and confinement critically explores immigration control through a criminological and sociological lens, looking at its stated aims, its workings in practice and ultimately its role as a site and frontier of incarceration and confinement. Exploring its history and its origins, it examines the factors underpinning patterns of criminalisation and control. Collectively, the lectures enable students to explore the manner in which incarceration and confinement is mediated by immigration status, and as such, the module develops and is at the forefront of contemporary theoretical and criminological analysis. At the same time, the module encourages students to develop strategies of reform, activism and social change.
Through the Prison Gate
This module explores the experience of the transition from prison to the community. In doing so, this module identifies and examines the often-challenging nature of the rehabilitation and reintegration process for people in the criminal justice system. It will consider relevant legislation, theoretical debate and the precariousness of life during and after prison.