Prof William Newburn OLD.2.40A

This course is compulsory on the MSc in Criminal Justice Policy. This course is available with permission as an outside option to students on other programmes where regulations permit.

This course will be capped at 30 students with preference given to MSc Criminal Justice Policy students and then those on other MSc programmes in the Department of Social Policy.  Some places are available for those on the Master of Laws and Master of Laws (extended part-time study). Once core course allocations are made, the remaining places will be offered on a ballot basis.

The course provides a detailed and critical introduction to the study of criminal justice institutions, practices and participants. It begins with an introduction to the nature of crime and contemporary criminal justice policy. It then examines the main elements of modern criminal justice systems (police, courts, prisons, probation, the media, and private security). Special emphasis is given to current issues such as restorative justice and increasing rates of incarceration. The course combines up-to-date empirical work with theoretical perspectives and also emphasises the role of historical and comparative perspectives in understanding current trends.

15 hours of lectures, 13 hours and 30 minutes of seminars and 1 hour and 30 minutes of workshops in the MT. 15 hours of lectures and 15 hours of seminars in the LT.

Lectures: SA403.1 20 weekly one and a half hour lectures, MT and, LT.

Seminars: SA403.2, 19 weekly one and a half hour seminars, MT and LT.

Workshop: SA403.3,  1 session of one and a half hours in MT

There will be a reading week in Weeks 6 of MT and LT.

There will be a revision session and mock exam in ST.

Michaelmas Term – formative essay and one-to-one feedback. Summer term – mock exam (one question).

There are two set texts for the course: M Maguire, R Morgan & R Reiner (eds.) (2012), The Oxford Handbook of Criminology, 5th edn; and T Newburn (2012), Criminology, 2nd edn.

Exam (75%, duration: 3 hours) in the main exam period.
Essay (25%, 2000 words) in the ST.