CRIM12003 - Criminology Theory

General Information

Unit Synopsis

This unit extends your basic knowledge of the theoretical underpinnings of criminology by considering a broad range of interdisciplinary contemporary theories of crime and penology. You will investigate how these theories can inform research, legislation, law enforcement and regulatory responses to crime. You will examine theoretical and practical case studies to consider how different theoretical approaches may lead to different and perhaps contradictory outcomes. This unit will also develop your methodological analysis skills, examining qualitative and quantitative data to test models suggested by theories of crime.

Details

Level Undergraduate
Unit Level 2
Credit Points 6
Student Contribution Band SCA Band 4
Fraction of Full-Time Student Load 0.125
Pre-requisites or Co-requisites There are no pre-requisites for the unit.

Important note: Students enrolled in a subsequent unit who failed their pre-requisite unit, should drop the subsequent unit before the census date or within 10 working days of Fail grade notification. Students who do not drop the unit in this timeframe cannot later drop the unit without academic and financial liability. See details in the Assessment Policy and Procedure (Higher Education Coursework).

Class Timetable View Unit Timetable
Residential School No Residential School

Unit Availabilities from Term 3 - 2024

Term 2 - 2025 Profile
Online

Attendance Requirements

All on-campus students are expected to attend scheduled classes - in some units, these classes are identified as a mandatory (pass/fail) component and attendance is compulsory. International students, on a student visa, must maintain a full time study load and meet both attendance and academic progress requirements in each study period (satisfactory attendance for International students is defined as maintaining at least an 80% attendance record).

Assessment Overview

Recommended Student Time Commitment

Each 6-credit Undergraduate unit at CQUniversity requires an overall time commitment of an average of 12.5 hours of study per week, making a total of 150 hours for the unit.

Assessment Tasks

Assessment Task Weighting
1. Online Quiz(zes) 15%
2. Case Study 40%
3. Written Assessment 45%

This is a graded unit: your overall grade will be calculated from the marks or grades for each assessment task, based on the relative weightings shown in the table above. You must obtain an overall mark for the unit of at least 50%, or an overall grade of ‘pass’ in order to pass the unit. If any ‘pass/fail’ tasks are shown in the table above they must also be completed successfully (‘pass’ grade). You must also meet any minimum mark requirements specified for a particular assessment task, as detailed in the ‘assessment task’ section (note that in some instances, the minimum mark for a task may be greater than 50%).

Consult the University's Grades and Results Policy for more details of interim results and final grades

Past Exams

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Previous Feedback

Term 2 - 2023 : The overall satisfaction for students in the last offering of this course was 80.00% (`Agree` and `Strongly Agree` responses), based on a 17.78% response rate.

Feedback, Recommendations and Responses

Every unit is reviewed for enhancement each year. At the most recent review, the following staff and student feedback items were identified and recommendations were made.

Source: Student evaluation survey
Feedback
Some readings were excessively long where more succinct journals could have been used, otherwise expectations were very clear and students knew exactly what was expected of them.
Recommendation
Weekly readings are a substitute for a textbook and a classic reading for weekly topics. To students with reading skills generally, a summary and prompt questions will be offered.
Action Taken
A summary and prompt questions were offers to support students' reading.
Source: Student evaluation survey
Feedback
This course was very well constructed with excellent information provided and lectures with activities to assist with the learning process along with the development of skills and knowledge.
Recommendation
Teaching materials will keep being fine-tuned for the next offering.
Action Taken
Teaching materials were updated to better promote students' understanding of criminological theories.
Source: Student email
Feedback
The workbook assignment should give the option to select the questions that students address. Also, the word limit for each question is too small.
Recommendation
Students will be given the option to choose five questions out of 10 and the word count for each question is increased to 300.
Action Taken
Students could choose 5 task questions out of 11 for the workbook assignment.
Source: Class discussion
Feedback
Students felt they needed more time for discussion to complete the challenge activities during the live session.
Recommendation
The UC will develop a better time management plan.
Action Taken
In Progress
Source: Student email.
Feedback
Students were satisfied with the PASS session for this unit.
Recommendation
The UC will attempt to offer the PASS session for the future iteration.
Action Taken
In Progress
Source: SUTE
Feedback
Students felt more individualised feedback was needed.
Recommendation
The assessment feedback will be fine-tuned.
Action Taken
In Progress
Unit learning Outcomes

On successful completion of this unit, you will be able to:

  1. Critique, analyse and reflect on interdisciplinary contemporary theories of crime, their policy implications and practical outcomes
  2. Research and develop a systematic approach to evaluating the effectiveness of criminology theories in managing criminal activity
  3. Conceptualise crime using a variety of disciplines, discuss theories based on these conceptualisations, and how these theories influence law and social policy.

Alignment of Assessment Tasks to Learning Outcomes
Assessment Tasks Learning Outcomes
1 2 3
1 - Online Quiz(zes) •
2 - Case Study • •
3 - Written Assessment • •
Alignment of Graduate Attributes to Learning Outcomes
• Introductory Level
• Intermediate Level
• Graduate Level
Graduate Attributes Learning Outcomes
1 2 3
2 - Problem Solving •
3 - Critical Thinking •
4 - Information Literacy •
7 - Cross Cultural Competence •
8 - Ethical practice •
9 - Social Innovation •
Alignment of Assessment Tasks to Graduate Attributes
• Introductory Level
• Intermediate Level
• Graduate Level
Assessment Tasks Graduate Attributes
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
2 - Case Study • • • •
3 - Written Assessment • • • •
1 - Online Quiz(zes) • •