Curriculum Information

This module provides students with an understanding of the relevant theoretical and conceptual frameworks for understanding and analysing social problems and their relationship to crime and society. The module begins by asking what is crime and who are the criminals and victims? Students will be encouraged to recognise that the divide between 'acceptable' and 'unacceptable' behaviour (or criminal and non-criminal) is socially, historically and culturally constructed. Included here will be an examination of the role of the media in the social construction of 'the crime problem', their role in fuelling distorted images of the distribution and risk of crime and, consequently, the role they play in fostering fear of crime. Students will subsequently be introduced to the contentious issue of how we are able to measure crime. Official criminal statistics, self-report studies and national and local victim surveys along with their respective deficiencies will be evaluated. This will be followed by an examination of some of the major schools of thought in criminology (Positivism and the Classical School) and a consideration of some of the key criminological theories that have been developed to make sense of offending, social problems and victimization. We subsequently consider the basic key empirical facts surrounding crime and social problems “such as the geographical distribution of crime; poverty, age and crime; gender and crime; mental health, class and the economy; substance misuse; and race and crime“ both in terms of offending and victimisation patterns and curves. Finally, preventing the risk of crime and victimisation will be considered with an examination of situational and social approaches.

Alongside other first year criminology modules, this module shall pay particular attention to two specific case studies: (i) the killing of Jamie Bulger and (ii) the killing of Stephen Lawrence. Aspects of these two case studies shall be used to highlight some of the important and emerging themes within criminology and the ways in which victims and offenders are treated (by the public, the media, the government, agencies within the criminal justice system, and within academia itself).