This unit (ASL1003) is offered in the First Year Model where you will study the unit intensively over a four-week block. In this unit we will explore the concepts of crime and criminality. This is because how we as a society understand these concepts, shapes how we construct and use our criminal justice systems in order to respond to crime. We will see that there are many different ways in which ideas about crime and criminality are produced and shared amongst members of society, including those representations of crime produced by, for example, stories circulated by the media, case law produced through the courts, statistics produced by government bodies, speeches made by politicians, and expert analysis produced by academics. By doing this, we shall see that the concepts of crime and criminality are complex. As we shall also see, these complex ideas about what crime is are linked to the systems through which crime is addressed. Through our studies in this unit we shall begin to appreciate the complexity of the Australian criminal justice systems.

Unit details

Location:
Online Real Time
Study level:
Undergraduate
Credit points:
12
Unit code:
ASL1003

Learning Outcomes

On successful completion of this unit, students will be able to:
  1. Differentiate between conceptions of crime and criminality;  
  2. Analyse diverse representations of crime and criminality to interpret the complexity of these concepts.  
  3. Investigate relations between representations of crime, criminality and responses to them, and;  
  4. Work collaboratively to collate and critically assess research information from diverse sources.  

Assessment

Assessment type Description Grade
Test Quiz matching activity 10%
Exercise Summary reports (2 reports A and B) 40%
Review Peer review 5%
Case Study Group presentation and report 45%

Where to next?

As part of a course

This unit is studied as part of the following courses. Refer to the course page for information on how to apply for the course.

Study a single unit

This unit can be studied on its own, without enrolling in a full degree. Learn more about single units of study at VU.

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