Module Information
Course Delivery
| Delivery Type | Delivery length / details |
|---|---|
| Seminar | 3 x 2 Hour Seminars |
| Lecture | 11 x 2 Hour Lectures |
Assessment
| Assessment Type | Assessment length / details | Proportion |
|---|---|---|
| Semester Exam | 2 Hours Exam Candidates are not permitted to bring any books, notes or any other materials into the examination. | 100% |
| Supplementary Exam | 2 Hours Exam Candidates are not permitted to bring any books, notes or any other materials into the examination. | 100% |
Learning Outcomes
On successful completion of this module students should be able to:
1. Demonstrate a sound critical awareness of and understanding of the major theories, perspectives and concepts in the study of victims and victimology.
2. Demonstrate a knowledge and understanding of how victimization is socially, politically and legally constructed and how this informs policies, practices and debates locally, nationally and internationally.
3. Apply criminological theory to various situations and reflect on and develop a critical understanding of the concepts, theories, policies and practices associated with victims and victimology.
4. Identify, explain and evaluate the role of victims within different official and unofficial presentations and be able to assess their impact on crime, enforcement, punishment and offenders as well as the impact of each of these on victims.
5. Explain and critically analyse a nuanced concept of the victim.
6. Demonstrate a critical understanding of the victim, their needs and their roles, from sociological and psychological perspectives.
Brief description
Brief Description: The module will consider the nature of victimhood both in legal and sociological terms. This will be done firstly from the standpoint of the victim and then from media or other popular positions. It will then explore and challenge some of the stereotypical conceptions of victimization through a consideration of a number of types of victim. Finally it will move on to the position of victims within the criminal justice system. It will take account of critical and feminist theoretical positions.
Content:
Defining victims: Becoming a victim; Contested notions of victimhood; Limits of legal conceptions of victim - Zemiological and abolitionist considerations.
Perceptions of Victims: Legal; Media and popular culture; Offender.
Types of Victim: Rape - male and female victims; Domestic violence - male and female victims; Victims of state violence; Victims of terrorism; Sociological; Psychological.
Victim Participation: In the Exclusionary Criminal Justice System; Restorative Justice; The changing role of victims within the criminal justice system .
Consequences of Victim Centred Systems: The impact of victims on the criminal justice system; The impact of the criminal justice system on victims.
Module Skills
| Skills Type | Skills details |
|---|---|
| Application of Number | Understanding and evaluating relevant quantitative research data will be a part of the module, at least in relation to certain theories. |
| Communication | Oral communication skills will be encouraged and honed in seminars and also in lectures - not assessed. Written communication skills will be practised through note taking both in lectures and private study and in formal submission of written work in assignments and examinations. |
| Improving own Learning and Performance | Students will be expected to read selected texts and from these materials build on their lectures and test their own learning, especially in seminars. This will enable them to take more control over their learning and to locate problem areas which they will be supported in overcoming. |
| Information Technology | Preparation for seminars, the assignments and the examination will all require use of the library databases and other electronic databases. Students will be referred to useful urls and be encouraged to retrieve data electronically. Students will be encouraged to prepare their assignment electronically. |
| Personal Development and Career planning | Enhanced capacity for independent and critical thought. Good time-management skills in preparing for seminars and submitting work on time - not assessed. |
| Problem solving | Students will be studying legal, theoretical and sociological sources to ascertain how these interplay to solve some difficult issues of law and crime control |
| Research skills | Students will be expected to locate material both on line and in the library and to use these materials for assignments, seminar preparations and examinations. They will be encouraged to develop individual research skills in order to perform these tasks effectively. |
| Subject Specific Skills | |
| Team work | As well as individual work, the seminars will involve team work tasks allowing students to support each other in interactive learning. |
Notes
This module is at CQFW Level 6