MODULES
Foundation Year
CORE MODULES
Knowledge, Skills, Practice and the Self: Mental Wealth
This module will allow you to acquire tangible evidence to support your employability narrative at interviews as you progress through your academic studies. The module recognises the importance of acknowledging the value of skills, competencies and experience (SCE) beyond academic subject assessment to aid you in securing a job and support your career acceleration. It forms the foundation of the Career Passport pathway in the Communities cluster of the Cass School of Education and Communities, anticipating the more in-depth approach to skills at Levels 4 and 5.
The focus will be on knowledge of the labour market and the range of individual intelligences and digital proficiency, required for social sciences related employment. The module will consider the relationship between skills, technology and work by introducing you to debates surrounding contemporary work theories. Concepts such as ‘skill’, ‘de-skilling’, ‘re-skilling’ and ‘under-utilisation of skills’ will be explored. You will draw on your own experiences of work and consider how university prepares you for careers in the 21st century, including that of social entrepreneurship; this will include group work and presentation skills. Digital proficiency will enable you to use ICT effectively, encourage technological literacy and reflections on your use of social media and your digital footprint. You will be encouraged to examine personal experience of technologies and how technologies are part of our private worlds - what Sherry Turkle terms ‘the inner history of devices’ and issues related to inequalities and the digital divide. You will develop their emotional, social, physical and cognitive intelligence in preparation for success at Level 4.
Exploring Communities as Social Scientists
This module extends your understanding of local and global communities through applying the sociological concepts of community, identity, place, social memory and migration. It builds on your existing knowledge of the global and local contexts of your future academic study and employment. Cultural capital and knowledge of the complexities of communities will be introduced through topical readings, a guided walk of a London neighbourhood and a visit to a museum that you will prepare for and reflect on, using the key concepts of identity, place, social memory and migration. The module frontloads key academic skills required for university education and consolidates them throughout the module in order to support your learning in other modules at this level and above as well as your future careers.
Crime, Justice and Surveillance
This module introduces you to crime and surveillance from sociological and criminological perspectives and offers you theoretical and practical skills and experiences that prepare you for your journey as a criminologist. It considers how surveillance overlaps with many fields, including crime detection and prevention and the management of dangerous spaces and people. It also offers an introduction to Cybercrime and you will be asked to produce a public information leaflet that outlines the dangers of the internet. It includes a field trip to see a court in action as part of the teaching for coursework two.
Researching Changing Communities
The module extends your previous knowledge and understanding of how and why local ‘communities’ change over time. ‘Communities’ will be defined either geographically - such as a territorial neighbourhood/post code or culturally - such as an ethnic, linguistic or religious group. It builds on your experiential knowledge of local and global communities through introducing you to academic and policy-related literature and to sociological concepts, research methods, skills and ethics. The module also consolidates core academic skills valuable in other modules as well as your future career. You will carry out a small, guided research project that will include a semi-structured interview with an individual professionally or socially connected to the ‘community’ combined with secondary research reading academic and policy literature) into the chosen ‘community’. In addition, the research project allows you to engage with and apply sociological concepts studied in all other L3 modules on this programme (for example crime, surveillance, globalisation, as well as core career related modules.).
Reimagining the Work of a Social Scientist
This module brings you into contact with the communities and professional settings that you, as social scientists, may aspire to engage with and/or work within. The module engages you in flipped classroom activities and real-world issues through visits, external speakers and group activities. Through engagement with people who work in social science related fields the module builds your social and cultural capital for future employment and helps you become a flexible thinker. It focuses on understanding inclusivity in the workplace and society. This module will also allow you the opportunity to acquire tangible evidence to support your employability narrative, including preparation for future placements and interviews, as you progress through your academic studies, The focus will be on professional communication skills, team work and industry and community connections. The module will consider the relationship between community action, critical thinking outside the classroom and career aspirations by introducing you to real world settings where social science and social theories are currently applied. It challenges you to think critically about the everyday.
External visits include group visits to art gallery or a museum, community organisation or an NGO supporting and advocating for people with vulnerabilities and other professional organisations. These visits are followed by guest speakers and lectures which engage you in similar debates. You may also make an independent visit to a court, political organisation or a museum and develop your organisational, independent research and professional communication skills through such visits.
OPTIONAL MODULES
Introduction to Digital Sociology
This module introduces you to Digital Sociology by exploring what it means to be a sociologist in the rapidly developing technological world. It will also introduce you to digital social research methods, asking what issues there are for social researchers in a digital society; what new material is available to social researchers; how social scientists can harness the new tools available to them and how they can navigate through this space in a secure, mindful and ethical way?
Globalisation and Society
This module introduces you to key issues and debates about globalisation and society. Knowledge of the complexities of globalisation is introduced through [a] topical readings [b] a guided tour of Parliament [c] a visit to the British Museum that you will prepare for and reflect on, using the key concepts of political economy. As well as the two core visits, the topics are presented and examined through lectures, seminars, workshops and film.
Year 1
CORE MODULES
Introduction to Crime and Punishment
This module will introduce students to the key thinking and research, historically and presently, about the causes and consequences of crime on society. It will also examine and explore many of the key issues that face us when trying to understand how best to deal with those who commit crime. It will consider crime as a social construction, the construction of victims and perpetrators, and the ways in which crimes of the powerful are overlooked by focusing on working class groups. It will explore the relationship between the media and police and the ways in which they impact on meanings and perceptions of crime and criminals.
Developing Skills for Justice (MW)
This module will examine the structural factors, including poverty, racism and discrimination, underpinning our understanding of crime and social justice. You will examine our responses to stress and develop practical mindfulness skills to deal with that stress, fully cognisant of their systemic origins, in order to empower us to resist and confront those systemic factors. You will have the opportunity to develop a proposal for a crime and justice project (e.g., a youth engagement project or a digital campaign to reduce hate crime or knife crime). Some of these projects will be implemented in groups at Level 5.
Applied Criminology (Term 1)
The purpose of this module is to develop in the student general and subject specific core skills and knowledge appropriate to a criminology and criminal justice graduate. In the first instance, the module aims to encourage students to identify how criminology and criminal justice theory and research is applied in professional settings, and to identify the skills and attributes needed for successful professional practice. The Skills are explicit and are developed within the context of current professional practice in the criminology and criminal justice field. Students will have the opportunity to identify the skills they need and to record and evidence skills and knowledge acquisition through a supported Personal Development Planning process.
Research Skills
This module helps students develop understanding, and foundational skills, on the nature of research in criminology by providing an introduction to the varying approaches and practical ways for putting different methods into practice. It goes on to locate criminological research within a crime and justice policy framework in order to assess its practical restraints, ethical considerations and political implications.
Contemporary Issues in Criminology
You will develop positive notions of mutual respect by fostering a safe learning environment where you are encouraged to share your views on key political and criminological issues. You will develop listening skills and experience the power of having your voice heard. The module will provide you with a stimulating introduction to a selection of the issues of current concerns within the fields of criminology and criminal justice studies. The module also intends to introduce you to more general issues pertaining to the position and relevance of criminology in the 21st Century.
Criminal Justice Process (Term 2)
This module aims to provide essential knowledge and analysis of the criminal justice process and acts as a foundation for the other courses on the Criminology and Criminal Justice degree. You will be introduced to recent developments in criminal justice policy in relation to adult offenders and encouraged to engage critically in current debates.
Year 2
CORE MODULES
Theoretical Criminology
The module is intended to provide an introduction to criminological theory, examining historical, social and cultural context surrounding the development of various theoretical perspectives, how these propose we deal with crime and their relevance to contemporary problems.
Crime and Social History
The primary aim will be to introduce students to the understanding of crime through the study of social history, focusing in particular on the emergence and growth of the modern 'crimino-legal complex'. Students will be made aware that throughout history the explanation of 'crime' and the concept of 'the criminal' has been constructed, and this construction is intimately connected to changes in philosophical and social ideas, and, economic and political forces. More specifically the course aims to introduce students from diverse disciplinary backgrounds to the benefits of thinking of crime in the context of social history. This will involve looking at philosophy, social theory and cultural studies as well as criminology. Students will finish the course with a clear understanding of the importance of social history for the discipline of criminology, as well as a command of key theoretical concepts such as modernity and for postmodernity.
Essential Skills for Justice (MW) (Term 1)
This module builds on Developing Skills for Justice at Level 4. In this module we will focus more on group work essential for success in the workplace. We will develop teamwork skills, group facilitation and active listening skills. Students will use these skills in groups to develop a project related to crime and justice that some students proposed at Level 4 (e.g., a youth engagement project or a digital campaign to reduce hate crime or knife crime).
Crime Policy into Practice (Term 2)
This module will firstly outline some of the key sociological theories of crime and deviance in post-modern society and the socio-cultural and political economic contexts in which they have emerged. It will then move on to examine and discuss the complex processes at play within contemporary society – driven by the media and the police – that has resulted in the trend toward the increasing criminalisation of social policy. In particular, it will explore the public anxieties and media fixations upon perceived social problems that soon become law and order problems, whereby the behaviour of large segments of the population (non –compliant individuals) is increasingly monitored and regulated by criminal or civil sanctions. Furthermore, the module will go on to detail the vast array of influences that impact on and inform crime policy as well as focusing on the ‘politics’ of justice practice: law enforcement, prisons and imprisonment, and offender management.
Policing and Society: Critical Perspectives
The module assists students to develop engagement with ideas beyond police investigation and operations by considering the wider social context of contemporary policing. Recent developments and current debates on police and policing are explored in relation to the demands created by modern diverse communities, seeking to help students develop independent thinking on the social consent given to the police role in dealing with crime as part of a criminal justice system.
Applied Research & Evaluation (Term 2)
In this module you will develop the knowledge and skills that were introduced on the Level 4 Research Skills Module. You will develop a deeper understanding of applied research and evaluation methods as practical skills that can be used in the workplace.
Year 3
CORE MODULES
Leadership Skills for Justice (MW) (Term 2)
This module provides you with the opportunity to build on Developing Skills for Justice and Essential Skills for Justice at Levels 4 and 5. You will develop core employability skills and acquire tangible evidence to support your employability narrative at interviews. You will develop and demonstrate skills in
- the analysis of a problem
- planning and organising a task/project, including time management
- exercising judgement in the light of observed and published data
- compiling a report, (v) teamwork and collaboration
- use of appropriate technologies.
Cybercrime & Professional Practice
Researching Contemporary Issues in Cybercrime
Cybercrime Dissertation
OPTIONAL MODULES
Race, Ethnicity, Crime and Justice (Term 1)
The module will aim to introduce students to the main theoretical discourses and empirical research pertaining to the bitterly contested and politically charged ‘race and crime’ debate. This module will explore from a historical perspective the social, economic and political forces that have: i) led to the widespread stereotyping and criminalisation of the black Caribbean community within the popular media and the academy ii) resulted in higher incidences of victimisation amongst black and Asian groups as a result of racist violence, and institutional racism as manifested throughout the criminal justice process. The module will initially outline and deconstruct those key theories pertaining to race – and the itinerant themes of racist thinking that were so central to the British imperial and colonial project – and ethnicity before going onto to examine the impact of post Second World War black and Asian settlement within Britain upon the race and crime debate. Whilst this module will look to explore issues of racism, ethnicity, crime and justice largely within the English context, where relevant the course will also look to draw upon the extensive American derived literature concerning the race and crime debate.
Youth Crime, Gangs and Sub-culture
The module will aim to introduce you to the main theoretical discourses and empirical research – both historically and within contemporary context – pertaining to the understanding of:
- the diverse cultural formations adopted by young people
- subcultural (and post-subcultural) theories of youth culture with regards to explanations of crime and deviance
- youth transitions, social exclusion and crime
- of media representations of ‘deviant’ youth cultures / styles, and
- the contested notion of the emergence of violent street gangs in England’s urban centres.
Work-based learning (Term 1 and 2)
In keeping with the growing importance of flexible work-based learning, this module offers you the opportunity to develop transferable and lifelong learning skills by providing the opportunity for you to design your learning independently to suit your needs around work. Working with an allocated tutor, you will plan, negotiate and manage your own study. You will be able to examine appropriate learning of direct relevance and application to your workplace. The module aims to enhance organisational, personal and professional development within the work environment.
Policing and Criminal Investigation (Term 2)
The aim of this module is to enable you to develop an awareness of police investigation and to critically assess the role of the police in combating serious and organised crimes. You will look at how the police investigate and the governance and accountability arrangements that the police operate within. You will examine the policing response to murder including serial killings, child & domestic deaths, sexual offences, organised crime and an introduction to cyber-crimes. The legal constraints that the modern investigator operate within are explored along with history of investigations and how serious cases are solved. You will discuss the Police’s role within the wider Criminal Justice system.
Mentally Disordered Suspects, Defendants and Offenders
This module explores the connections between mental health, crime and justice, through a critical examination of the position of people with mental disorder and learning disabilities in the criminal justice system.
You will study issues such as the relationship between mental disorder and crime, vulnerability, deaths in custody, miscarriages of justice, indefinite detention and dangerousness; using a wide variety of sociological, policy and legal materials, including analysis of video and audio documentaries, charity and pressure group websites and blogs. You will also learn about the policy of diversion, engage in debates about whether people who commit crimes and are mentally disordered at the time can be considered criminally responsible, and whether they should be punished for their actions. We will look at arguments for preventive detention within the mental health system, forensic mental health care and High Security Hospitals.
This module will be of particular interest if you are considering a future career within the criminal justice, health and social care fields and will enable you to evidence key employability skills relevant to these sectors. You will acquire a practical understanding of the relevant legal and policy frameworks, and the rights and interests of those subject to legal control in both the mental health and criminal justice systems. You will also be able to reflect on the impact of those frameworks and engage in debate over their future reform through an understanding of competing social, legal and scientific theories about the relationship between mental disorder and criminality.
Psychological Criminology (Term 2)
The aim of this module is to provide you with an introduction to the developing relationship between psychology and criminology. You will combine the study and practice of forensic psychology and criminology, particularly in relation to police and court systems. You will be encouraged to critically appraise the relevance and efficacy of psychological and forensic studies of crime.
