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Advances in Criminology: Emerging Theory (CRIM90018)
Graduate courseworkPoints: 12.5On Campus (Parkville)
Overview
Availability | Semester 2 |
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Criminology draws its frameworks for inquiry and understanding from a wide range of intellectual traditions and contemporary conceptualisations. There are many recent advances in a diverse array of theory fields that challenge and excite the foundations and practices of criminological inquiry. This subject takes a problem-centred approach to understanding the usefulness of theory in examining matters of pressing criminological concern including, for example, the lived effects of historic and structural injustice, shifting understandings and perceptions of what counts as crime (and what counts as justice), and contemporary challenges arising from the global movement of populations. Choosing different examples of how such problems might materialise (such as through racialised policing, definitions and regulation of anti-social behaviour, the privatisation of criminal justice, practices of preventative detention), this subject presents a variety of theories that can help criminologists look at these problems in new ways. The theories offered can be drawn from developments in history, race, feminism, culture, law, psychoanalysis, or post-colonialism, and the subject assesses their capacity to enrich criminological thinking.
Intended learning outcomes
On completion of this subject students should:
- develop a sophisticated understanding of the relationship between criminological inquiry and theory construction in a wide range of intellectual disciplines;
- understand recent developments in theory in fields such as history, race, feminism, culture, law, psychoanalysis and post-colonialism;
- evaluate the relevance and impact of developments in theory to criminological inquiry.
Generic skills
On completion of this subject students should:
- have highly developed cognitive, analytical and problem-solving skills;
- have an advanced understanding of complex concepts and the ability to express them lucidly in writing and orally;
- have sophisticated awareness of cultural, ethnic and gender diversities and their implications;
- have an ability to plan work and to use time effectively.
Last updated: 3 November 2022