CRI-10013 - Criminal Justice: Process, Policy, Practice
Coordinator: Tony Kearon Room: CBB1.031 Tel: +44 1782 7 34382
Lecture Time: See Timetable...
Level: Level 4
Credits: 15
Study Hours: 150
School Office:

Programme/Approved Electives for 2024/25

None

Available as a Free Standing Elective

No

Co-requisites

None

Prerequisites

Cri-10010 Understanding Crime


Barred Combinations

NONE

Description for 2024/25

This module will look at the organisations and individuals who attempt to deliver 'Criminal Justice'. The module will offer a brief overview of the nature and development of the Criminal Justice 'System', the various agencies that this 'system' is comprised of and their formal roles and responsibilities in the delivery of 'justice'. Agencies examined could include The Ministry of Justice; The Police Service; The Prison Service; The Probation Service; The Courts Service; The National Offender Management Service; The various Inspectorates and Ombudsmen who oversee/monitor these agencies and the Criminal Justice Voluntary Sector and various private sector organisations.
As well as providing an overview of the formal roles of these agencies, this module will examine the various responsibilities and aims of each agency, their similarities and common purposes, differences and potential contradictions. The module will also examine the wider factors that have influenced the nature and organisation of these agencies and the relationships between them (including the historical/social context; the Organisational/Managerial context and the growing emphasis on performance, Process, Best Practice and Best Value).
The module will be delivered through a mixture of lectures and smaller group teaching, and will also involve student visits to Magistrates or Crown Courts to observe them in operation.

Aims
This module will introduce students to theories of criminal justice and the work of, and relationships between, the main institutions of the criminal justice system. It will also place the public process in the wider context of the development of other, privatised systems of criminal justice.

Talis Aspire Reading List
Any reading lists will be provided by the start of the course.
http://lists.lib.keele.ac.uk/modules/cri-10013/lists

Intended Learning Outcomes

1,2
1,2
Recognise the development and current organisation, governance and operation of official and unofficial responses to crime and victimisation, including policing, punishment and other approaches to preventing harm and ensuring personal safety: 1,2
Recognise different approaches to social scientific research (including comparative analysis) and their usefulness in investigating different forms of crime and victimisation and responses to them: 1,2
1,2
Make use of research evidence, other data and some basic criminological theories in developing arguments and making judgements about criminological issues: Present written work in criminology in an appropriate scholarly style using the Harvard system of citation and referencing: Recognise and describe the relationships between crime, victimisation and responses to them, and social divisions based on age, gender, class, ethnicity, sexuality and (dis)ability:

Study hours

11 hours of lectures
10 hours of workshop/seminar contact
21 hours of directed preparation for lectures and seminars via engagement with online asynchronous activities and information specific to each activity.
8 hours of fieldwork observations for court report
4 hours on completion of online task
16 hours spent in completing court report assessment.
80 hours of private study (including additional self directed preparatory reading and related preparation for lectures and seminars, preparation, planning and additional reading for assessments).

School Rules

None

Description of Module Assessment

1: Report weighted 80%
1500 word individual court report.
Students are required to carry out observations in a court and produce an individual court report which reflects these observations and is also informed by the issues covered in the lectures, seminars and readings (1500 words maximum). Students are required to visit at least one Magistrates' Court or Crown Court and spend a minimum of one day in the public gallery observing proceedings.

2: Open Book Assessment weighted 20%
Open book assessment administered via the KLE
Students will complete an open book assessment administered via the KLE, which will feature a range of problems, short answer questions and related activities that will require students to demonstrate breadth of engagement with the topics covered on the module as a whole. Students will be able to refer to lecture and seminar notes, readings and related resources for the module when formulating their responses. These tasks and activities are designed to ensure that student identify and reflect on the bodies of knowledge and theories they are being asked to engage with rather than simply 'looking up' and reproducing information. In order to give the students sufficient time to reflect and engage fully with the nature of the tasks and complete the assessment, the time available to complete this assessment is 28 hours but students will not be expected to invest more than 4 hours of active-working time on this assessment. During the agreed assessment period the open book assessment will be shared with students via the KLE at 0900am (Keele local time) on the first working day until 1300pm (Keele local time) on the second working day, by which point students must submit their attempt. Students will attempt a set of tasks assembled randomly for each student from a bank of activities/tasks/questions, so that students each attempt a unique assessment. The combination of this and the 28 hour time limit are partly intended to discourage collusion.