SC655-7-SP-CO:
Current Controversies in Criminology
2024/25
Sociology and Criminology
Colchester Campus
Spring
Postgraduate: Level 7
Current
Monday 13 January 2025
Friday 21 March 2025
20
07 February 2024
Requisites for this module
(none)
SC555
(none)
(none)
(none)
MA M90012 Criminology,
MPHDML9048 Criminology,
PHD ML9048 Criminology
This module aims to provide students with an in-depth and critical understanding of contemporary criminological discourse and the role of criminology in today's understanding of different forms of crime, control and criminal justice policy in an increasingly globalised world.
Students will be introduced to various approaches to the interpretation and the governance of crime in order to critically examine criminological discourses and policies related to globalisation, migration, crimes of the powerful, online and offline media representation, mass incarceration, and state crimes. Criminology has undergone a striking expansion in recent years, giving rise to the development of a number of distinct specialisms and the invention of an entire tradition within the wider social sciences. This module explores the implications of such growth and differentiation, and the challenges these present.
The aim of this module is:
- To provide students with an in-depth and critical understanding of contemporary criminological discourse and the role of criminology in today’s understanding of different forms of crime, control and criminal justice policy in an increasingly globalised world.
By the end of this module, students will be expected to be able to:
- Engage with some of the most pressing challenges in contemporary criminological research and criminal justice practice.
- Analyse these at the local/global level and the micro/macro level.
- Gain an insight into the range of contemporary advanced research methods used by practitioners, criminologists and other social scientists.
- Develop practical research skills (through weekly presentations and other structured seminar tasks) that you will be able to apply in your MA thesis.
Lecture List - Spring Term
- Public Criminology: Challenges, Issues and Prospects.
- Disreputable Pleasures: Transgression and the Subcultural LegacySeminar.
- Punishment and Social Theory.
- Mass Incarceration and the New Penology.
- Reading Week – no seminar.
- Crime and the City.
- Geographies of Crime.
- Crimes of the Powerful.
- Crime, Media, and Popular Culture.
- Visual Criminology.
This module will be delivered via:
- One 2-hour seminar each week.
Attendance in person is expected.
- Garbin, David; Millington, Gareth. (2012-08) 'Territorial Stigma and the Politics of Resistance in a Parisian
: La Courneuve and Beyond', in Urban Studies. vol. 49 (10) , pp.2067-2083
- Carrabine, E. (2012-05-01) 'Just Images: Aesthetics, Ethics and Visual Criminology', in British Journal of Criminology. vol. 52 (3) , pp.463-489
- Jamieson, Ruth. (1999-05) 'Genocide and the Social Production of Immorality', in Theoretical Criminology. vol. 3 (2) , pp.131-146
- Wacquant, Loic. (2001-01) 'Deadly Symbiosis', in Punishment & Society. vol. 3 (1) , pp.95-133
- Stumpf, J. (2006) 'The Crimmigration Crisis: Immigrants, Crime, and Sovereign Power', in American University Law Review. vol. 56 (2) , pp.367-419
- David Garland. (no date) 'Sociological Perspectives on Punishment', in Crime and Justice: The University of Chicago Press. vol. 14, pp.115-165
- Young, Alison. (2014-05) 'From object to encounter: Aesthetic politics and visual criminology', in Theoretical Criminology. vol. 18 (2) , pp.159-175
- Rock, Paul. (2014-09) 'The public faces of public criminology', in Criminology & Criminal Justice. vol. 14 (4) , pp.412-433
- Tyler, Imogen. (2013-11) 'The Riots of the Underclass?: Stigmatisation, Mediation and the Government of Poverty and Disadvantage in Neoliberal Britain', in Sociological Research Online. vol. 18 (4) , pp.1-10
- Erickson, Richard V. (1991) 'Mass Media, Crime, Law and Justice: An Institutional Approach', in The British Journal of Criminology. vol. 31 (3) , pp.219-249
- Alessandro De Giorgi. (2015) 'Five Theses on Mass Incarceration', in Social Justice: Social Justice/Global Options. vol. 42 (2) , pp.5-30
- Aas, Katja Franko; Gundhus, Helene O. I. (2015-01) 'Policing Humanitarian Borderlands: Frontex, Human Rights and the Precariousness of Life', in British Journal of Criminology. vol. 55 (1) , pp.1-18
- Greer, Chris; McLaughlin, Eugene. (2013-12) 'The Sir Jimmy Savile scandal: Child sexual abuse and institutional denial at the BBC', in Crime, Media, Culture: An International Journal. vol. 9 (3) , pp.243-263
- Hayward, Keith J. (2016-08) 'Cultural criminology: Script rewrites', in Theoretical Criminology. vol. 20 (3) , pp.297-321
- Blackman, Shane. (2014-06) 'Subculture Theory: An Historical and Contemporary Assessment of the Concept for Understanding Deviance', in Deviant Behavior. vol. 35 (6) , pp.496-512
- Pratt, John. (2000-08) 'Civilization and Punishment', in Australian & New Zealand Journal of Criminology. vol. 33 (2) , pp.183-201
- Cohen, Stanley. (1993-12) 'Human Rights and Crimes of The State: The Culture of Denial', in Australian & New Zealand Journal of Criminology. vol. 26 (2) , pp.97-115
- Loader, Ian; Sparks, Richard. (2010-11) 'What is to be done with public criminology?', in Criminology & Public Policy. vol. 9 (4) , pp.771-781
- (2020-02-04) Routledge Handbook of Public Criminologies, London: Taylor & Francis Ltd.
The above list is indicative of the essential reading for the course. The library makes provision for all reading list items, with digital provision where possible, and these resources are shared between students. Further reading can be obtained from this module's reading list.
Assessment items, weightings and deadlines
| Coursework / exam |
Description |
Deadline |
Coursework weighting |
| Coursework |
Report |
|
30% |
| Coursework |
Essay |
|
70% |
Additional coursework information
Assessment details can be found on Moodle.
Exam format definitions
- Remote, open book: Your exam will take place remotely via an online learning platform. You may refer to any physical or electronic materials during the exam.
- In-person, open book: Your exam will take place on campus under invigilation. You may refer to any physical materials such as paper study notes or a textbook during the exam. Electronic devices may not be used in the exam.
- In-person, open book (restricted): The exam will take place on campus under invigilation. You may refer only to specific physical materials such as a named textbook during the exam. Permitted materials will be specified by your department. Electronic devices may not be used in the exam.
- In-person, closed book: The exam will take place on campus under invigilation. You may not refer to any physical materials or electronic devices during the exam. There may be times when a paper dictionary,
for example, may be permitted in an otherwise closed book exam. Any exceptions will be specified by your department.
Your department will provide further guidance before your exams.
Overall assessment
Reassessment
Module supervisor and teaching staff
Prof Eamonn Carrabine, email: eamonn@essex.ac.uk.
Professor Eamonn Carrabine
socpgtad@essex.ac.uk
Yes
No
Yes
Prof Benjamin Bradford
University College London
Professor
Available via Moodle
Of 18 hours, 18 (100%) hours available to students:
0 hours not recorded due to service coverage or fault;
0 hours not recorded due to opt-out by lecturer(s).
* Please note: due to differing publication schedules, items marked with an asterisk (*) base their information upon the previous academic year.
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