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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 police recruitment and procedures, suspect interviewing, false confessions, 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

Pre-requisites:

CA10 and CQ01- Must complete PSYC11008, PSYC11009, PSYC12014, and PSYC12013 or PSYC12010.

CC13 – Must have completed PSYC11008, PSYC11009, PSYC12010 and PSYC12048.

CC43 - Minimum of 96 credit points, which must include PSYC12048 and PSYC12047.

CF59 - Must have completed PSYC12048 and (PSYC12010 or PSYC12012 or PSYC12013 or PSYC12014 or PSYC12047).

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 - 2019

Term 2 - 2020 Profile
Adelaide
Bundaberg
Cairns
Online
Rockhampton
Townsville
Term 2 - 2021 Profile
Online
Term 2 - 2022 Profile
Online
Term 2 - 2023 Profile
Online
Term 2 - 2024 Profile
Online
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. Group Work 15%
2. Written Assessment 45%
3. Examination 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 - 2023 : The overall satisfaction for students in the last offering of this course was 93.02% (`Agree` and `Strongly Agree` responses), based on a 36.44% 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: Teacher and unit feedback.
Feedback
Students found exploration of real-world applications of forensic psychology with real cases enhanced learning.
Recommendation
Continue presenting real cases, and encourage discussions of how forensic practices affect these cases.
Action Taken
Real cases continued to be presented, and class discussions of how forensic practices affected these cases were encouraged.
Source: Teacher and unit feedback.
Feedback
Students found detailed assessment feedback to be helpful.
Recommendation
Continue to provide detailed feedback for written assessments.
Action Taken
Detailed feedback continued to be provided for written assessments.
Source: Personal reflection.
Feedback
The current marking criteria and associated rubric for the end-of-term take-home test need to be clearer.
Recommendation
The Unit Coordinator will review the marking criteria for the end-of-term take-home test to ensure it is clear.
Action Taken
In Progress
Source: Student unit teaching evaluations.
Feedback
Students requested a more detailed rubric for the group assessment.
Recommendation
The Unit Coordinator will review the marking rubric for the group assessment task to ensure it is clear and at an appropriate level of detail.
Action Taken
In Progress
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 - Examination • •
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 - Examination • •