Module Information
Course Delivery
| Delivery Type | Delivery length / details |
|---|---|
| Lecture | 20 x 1 Hour Lectures |
| Seminar | 3 x 2 Hour Seminars |
Assessment
| Assessment Type | Assessment length / details | Proportion |
|---|---|---|
| Semester Assessment | Essay of 1500 words to be submitted at end of appropriate semester | 50% |
| Semester Exam | 1.5 Hours Exam (SEEN). Candidates are not permitted to bring any books, notes or any other materials into the examination. | 50% |
| Supplementary Assessment | Essay of 1500 words - if essay element failed | 50% |
| Supplementary Exam | 1.5 Hours Exam (SEEN) - if exam element failed. Candidates are not permitted to bring any books, notes or any other materials into the examination. | 50% |
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this module, students should be able to.
1. Show a critical understanding of the areas of state use of force and other human rights violations.
2. Critically assess the activities involved and their effects on society both nationally and internationally.
3. Analyse and evaluate the reasons for violations at individual and group levels.
4 Critically assess the legal control and enforcement of the activities and consider the effect of these interventions on society both nationally and internationally.
5. Critically assess the physical mechanisms for control and enforcement of the activities and consider the effect of these interventions on society both nationally and internationally.
6. Critically assess moral, political, popular and media discourses on human rights violations.
7. Evaluate whether the reasons for the violations and the way in which they are addressed is logical and likely to reduce such violations.
8. Evaluate the influence of alterations in legal and political power and the structure of international society on the causes of human rights violations.
9. Evaluate the influence of alterations in legal and political power and the structure of international society on perceptions of the problem and means of dealing with it.
10. Relate the conceptual ideas discussed on the module to specific case studies.
Brief description
1 Academic rationale of the proposal:
This module provides an analytical foundation for an understanding of the criminology of human rights and human rights violations and for an analysis of their legal, political and moral contexts.
2 Brief Description:
The module will consider human rights atrocities and violations of human rights by states, state agents and other actors throughout the world. It will concentrate on reasons for and explanations of the violations both at individual and group levels. It will analyse the effectiveness of national and international legal controls and study the enforcement mechanisms utilized by both national and international agents to prevent, control and punish such activities. It also introduces students to the moral discourses involved and to an assessment of the practical effects of these violations both nationally and more broadly.
3 Content:
- Human rights violations as a criminological phenomenon and the relation between human rights protection and criminal law.
- Historical legal background: the emergence of international criminal law and special international jurisdictions.
- Categories of offending conduct: 'atrocity offences' and 'international crimes'.
- Critical evaluation of the use of criminal responsibility to deal with atrocity.
- Other types of process: compensation, amnesty, truth and reconciliation, moral and social reconstruction programmes.
- Preventive strategies.
- Explanations: biological explanations, political structures, economic and environmental stress.
- The psychology of atrocity.
- Experience from the special jurisdictions.
Module Skills
| Skills Type | Skills details |
|---|---|
| Application of Number | Understanding and evaluating relevant quantitative research data will be a small part of the module |
| Communication | Oral communication skills will be encouraged in and honed in seminars and also in lectures through interactive learning - 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 encouraged to practise and test their own learning and ability to use and interact with the materials through interactive leaning in both lectures and seminars. |
| 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 - not assessed. Students will be encouraged to prepare their assignment electronically - not assessed. |
| 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 | Much of the module involves the study of theories developed to explain certain types of behaviour. It also includes consideration of present means of control. Students will have to assess these and combine them to solve specific case studies. |
| Research skills | Criminology necessarily involves an interdisciplinary approach therefore students will be introduced to research tools in a number of different subject areas. They will be supported and encouraged to build research skills over these areas. They will be encouraged to read widely and to locate materials both in the library and on-line. |
| Subject Specific Skills | |
| Team work | This will be developed through exercises in preparation for and during seminars and in exercises and problems set in lectures. |
Notes
This module is at CQFW Level 6