PSYC13021 - Forensic Psychology

General Information

Unit Synopsis

Forensic Psychology is the area of behavioural science concerned with psychology and the law. In this unit, you will discuss how psychological principles and practices can be applied to topics such as personality and crime, suspect interviewing, pathways to offending, courtroom practices and witness reliability, understanding criminal behaviour, mental competency, and justice. You will also discuss general psychological principles as they relate to the legal systems within Australia and other countries as well as specific case studies.

Details

Level Undergraduate
Unit Level 3
Credit Points 6
Student Contribution Band SCA Band 4
Fraction of Full-Time Student Load 0.125
Pre-requisites or Co-requisites 96 credit points

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 1 - 2023

Term 2 - 2023 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. Group Work 15%
2. Written Assessment 45%
3. Online Test 40%

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 - 2021 : The overall satisfaction for students in the last offering of this course was 4.8 (on a 5 point Likert scale), based on a 43.4% 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: Teaching evaluation
Feedback
The content was interesting and engaging and using real world examples and cases helped with understanding and learning what was important.
Recommendation
Continue to implement case examples into teaching practice to support theory.
Action Taken
Done.
Source: Teaching evaluation
Feedback
The online test was demanding and required students to complete between 1400 to 1600 words in three hours.
Recommendation
The format of the online test will be reviewed and consideration given to reducing the number and/or complexity of questions.
Action Taken
The structure of this assessment task was not changed, however this was taken into consideration with guidance provided to students in how to prepare for a test of this style.
Source: Moodle
Feedback
The teaching style was done well, consisting of succinct lecture content and a separate uninterrupted tutorial.
Recommendation
Continue the format of a pre-recorded lecture and live tutorial to provide a balanced approach to student learning.
Action Taken
Continued this style of teaching.
Source: Moodle
Feedback
Students requested that all tutorial recordings be made available on Moodle.
Recommendation
Alternative options to recording tutorials will be reviewed, to provide a back-up option for when Zoom recordings fail.
Action Taken
All recordings of tutorials were made available on Moodle.
Source: Student feedback through Moodle, tutorials and email.
Feedback
Students found the content of this unit interesting and engaging.
Recommendation
Continue to offer the content covered in this unit in a way that promotes interaction and engagement by including tutorial activities that include real-world applications of forensic psychology concepts.
Action Taken
Nil.
Unit learning Outcomes

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

  1. Describe the philosophical similarities and differences underlying the disciplines of psychology and the legal system
  2. Illustrate the role that psychological research has had on the legal system
  3. Identify challenges that psychologists currently face when interacting with the legal system.

Alignment of Assessment Tasks to Learning Outcomes
Assessment Tasks Learning Outcomes
1 2 3
1 - Group Work • •
2 - Written Assessment • •
3 - Online Test • •
Alignment of Graduate Attributes to Learning Outcomes
• Introductory Level
• Intermediate Level
• Graduate Level
Graduate Attributes Learning Outcomes
1 2 3
1 - Communication •
3 - Critical Thinking • • •
4 - Information Literacy • •
8 - Ethical practice • •
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
1 - Group Work • • • •
2 - Written Assessment • • • •
3 - Online Test • •