CRIM 2001 - Advanced Criminological Theory

North Terrace Campus - Semester 1 - 2021

Advanced Criminological Theory explores key theoretical insights into the various methods employed to control crime and `deviance? in contemporary society. Students will examine current forms of crime control, trace the historical lineage of these approaches, and examine the rapid evolution and deployment of technology in this space. This course considers the broader political, social and cultural influences upon crime control practices, including the possibilities for resistance. Students will critically explore various state-centric, but also private approaches to the control of crime and how these approaches merge with, and influence, our everyday lives.

  • General Course Information
    Course Details
    Course Code CRIM 2001
    Course Advanced Criminological Theory
    Coordinating Unit Sociology, Criminology and Gender Studies
    Term Semester 1
    Level Undergraduate
    Location/s North Terrace Campus
    Units 3
    Contact Up to 3 hours per week
    Available for Study Abroad and Exchange Y
    Prerequisites 6 Units of Level 1 CRIM courses
    Incompatible GSSA 2113
    Assessment Critical essay (1000 word) 30%, Group presentation 20%, Individual report (3000 word) 40%, Seminar Participation 10%
    Course Staff

    Course Coordinator: Dr Ruthie O'Reilly

    Course Timetable

    The full timetable of all activities for this course can be accessed from Course Planner.

  • Learning Outcomes
    Course Learning Outcomes

     On the successful completion of this course students will be able to:

    Understand theoretical concepts and perspectives used by sociologists and criminologists to analyse and explain crime control and surveillance practices, processes and policies.

    Critically evaluate the social impacts and resonances of crime control and surveillance in contemporary societies, with particular reference to deviance and crime.

    Understand the various reactions to crime control and surveillance practices in everyday life, particularly with regard to strategies of resistance.

    Comprehend the relational interplays between crime control, surveillance practices, monitored populations and illegal activity.

    Discern the political, economic and cultural influences responsible for the intensification of crime control and surveillance.

    University Graduate Attributes

    This course will provide students with an opportunity to develop the Graduate Attribute(s) specified below:

    University Graduate Attribute Course Learning Outcome(s)
    Deep discipline knowledge
    • informed and infused by cutting edge research, scaffolded throughout their program of studies
    • acquired from personal interaction with research active educators, from year 1
    • accredited or validated against national or international standards (for relevant programs)
    1,5
    Critical thinking and problem solving
    • steeped in research methods and rigor
    • based on empirical evidence and the scientific approach to knowledge development
    • demonstrated through appropriate and relevant assessment
    2,3,4
    Teamwork and communication skills
    • developed from, with, and via the SGDE
    • honed through assessment and practice throughout the program of studies
    • encouraged and valued in all aspects of learning
    2,3,4,5
    Career and leadership readiness
    • technology savvy
    • professional and, where relevant, fully accredited
    • forward thinking and well informed
    • tested and validated by work based experiences
    2,5
    Intercultural and ethical competency
    • adept at operating in other cultures
    • comfortable with different nationalities and social contexts
    • able to determine and contribute to desirable social outcomes
    • demonstrated by study abroad or with an understanding of indigenous knowledges
    1,2,5
    Self-awareness and emotional intelligence
    • a capacity for self-reflection and a willingness to engage in self-appraisal
    • open to objective and constructive feedback from supervisors and peers
    • able to negotiate difficult social situations, defuse conflict and engage positively in purposeful debate
    2,3
  • Learning Resources
    Required Resources
    Weekly readings


    Week 01 Waking up in a surveillance society

    O’Brien, M & Yar, M. (2008) Surveillance, In M. O’Brien M. Yar, M (Eds) Criminology: The Key Concepts. Routledge: Abingdon, Oxon. Pp 166-169.

    Gilliom, J. & Monahan, T. (2013) SuperVision: An Introduction to the Surveillance society. Pp 1-10. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.


    Week 02 Are prisons panoptic?

    Foucault, M. (1977) Panopticism (an extract from Discipline and Punish: The Birth of the Modern Prison. New York: Vintage) In C. Greer (Ed.) (2010) Crime and Media: A Reader. Abingdon, Oxon: Routledge. Pp 493-505.

    Smith, C. (2012) Corrections In Hayes, H. & Penzler, T. (Eds) An Introduction to Crime and Criminology. Frenches Forest, NSW: Pearson. Pp 290-302.


    Week 03 Watching the neighbours: crime prevention and community safety
    Boyne, R. (2000) ‘Post-Panopticism.’ Economy and Society 29(2): 285-307.

    Kelly, A. and Finlayson, A., 2015. Can Facebook save Neighbourhood Watch? The Police Journal, p.0032258X15570557.


    Week 04 The new penology and police surveillance

    Haggerty, K. (2012) Surveillance, crime and the police. In K. Ball, K. Haggerty & D. Lyon (Eds.) Routledge Handbook of Surveillance Studies. New York: Routledge. Pp 235-243.

    Newburn, T. (2013) Criminology. London: Routledge. 327-347
    This chapter on ‘Late modernity, governmentality and risk’ not only discusses new penology (p. 345), but also gives an excellent overview of Discipline and Punish, governmentality (we return to this concept later in the course) and Garland’s Culture of Control.


    Week 05 The security industry and the surveillance assemblage

    Prenzler, T. and Sarre, R. (2009) The Policing Complex. In A. Graycar and P. Grabosky (Eds.) The Cambridge Handbook of Australian Criminology. Melbourne: Cambridge University Press. Pp. 52-72.

    Haggerty, K. D. and Ericson, R. V. (2000), The surveillant assemblage. The British Journal of Sociology, 51: 605–622.


    Week 06 Transnational crime and (in)security

    Bigo, Didier (2004) ‘Global (In)security: The Field of the Professionals of Unease Management and the Ban-opticon’, in Jon Solomon and Sakai Naoki (Eds) Traces: A Multilingual Series of Cultural Theory, No. 4 (Sovereign Police, Global Complicity). Hong Kong: University of Hong Kong Press. Pp 5-49. [Extract]
    The language is often complex, but try to focus on the main ideas rather than the details.

    Goldsmith, A.J. (2012). Crimes across borders. In M Marmo, W de Lint & D Palmer, ed. Crime and Justice: A guide to criminology. 4th ed. Sydney, NSW: Thomson Reuters, pp. 275-302.
     
     
    Week 07 Surveillance, media and crime

    Doyle, A. (2011), ‘Revisiting the Synopticon: Reconsidering Mathiesen’s ‘The Viewer Society’ in the Age of Web 2.0’, Theoretical Criminology, 15: 283–99.

    McCahill, M. (2012) Crime, surveillance and media. In K. Ball, K. Haggerty & D. Lyon (Eds.) Routledge Handbook of Surveillance Studies. New York: Routledge. Pp 244-50.


    Week 08 Crime and the rise of the surveillance school

    Hope, A. (2015) Governmentality and the 'selling' of school surveillance devices. The Sociological Review. 63(4), pp 840-857.

    O’Malley, P. (2013) Governmentality, In McLaughlin, E. and Muncie, J. (2013) (Third edition) The Sage Dictionary of Criminology. London: Sage. Pp 208-210.


    Week 09 Surveillance, power and social impacts

    Coleman, R. & MacCahill, M. (2011) Surveillance & Crime. London: Sage. Pp. 111-142.


    Week 10 Resistance, play and surveillance

    Gilliom, J. and Monaham, T. (2012) Everyday Resistance, In K. Ball, K. Haggerty & D. Lyon (Eds.) Routledge Handbook of Surveillance Studies. New York: Routledge. Pp 244-50.

    Marx, G. (2009). A Tack in the Shoe and Taking Off the Shoe: Neutralization and Counter-neutralization Dynamics. Surveillance and Society 6(3): 295-306.
    Week 11 Criminological futures, control and bodies caught in the net

    Hope, A. (In print) Biopower and school surveillance technologies 2.0. The British Journal of Sociology of Education. Pre-print version available online at http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/01425692.2014.1001060#.VNlvbf6KCUk [Extract]

    Trottier, D. (2014) Crowdsourcing CCTV surveillance on the Internet, Information, Communication & Society, 17:5, 609-626.


    Week 12: No lectures or seminars. Complete assignment 03
     
  • Learning & Teaching Activities
    Learning & Teaching Modes
    Lectures will provide students with an overview of each week’s material, providing background, clarifying concepts, locating set readings within a larger context, and providing links to further resources. The aim is to provide a map that will enable students to find their bearings within each topic before they commence more independent and collaborative learning.

    Seminars will provide the opportunity for more participatory learning. Each week’s seminar will discuss the set readings for the topic and explore their responses to course materials together.

    The course will be structured throughout to give students maximum opportunity to share information with their peers, receive feedback, and develop their knowledge through collaboration.
    Workload

    No information currently available.

    Learning Activities Summary

    No information currently available.

  • Assessment

    The University's policy on Assessment for Coursework Programs is based on the following four principles:

    1. Assessment must encourage and reinforce learning.
    2. Assessment must enable robust and fair judgements about student performance.
    3. Assessment practices must be fair and equitable to students and give them the opportunity to demonstrate what they have learned.
    4. Assessment must maintain academic standards.

    Assessment Summary


    Seminar Participation - 10% of overall grade.

    Minor Essay – 30% of overall grade.

    In Seminar Presentation – 30% of overall grade.

    Major Essay – 30% of overall grade.

    Assessment Detail

    No information currently available.

    Submission

    No information currently available.

    Course Grading

    Grades for your performance in this course will be awarded in accordance with the following scheme:

    M10 (Coursework Mark Scheme)
    Grade Mark Description
    FNS   Fail No Submission
    F 1-49 Fail
    P 50-64 Pass
    C 65-74 Credit
    D 75-84 Distinction
    HD 85-100 High Distinction
    CN   Continuing
    NFE   No Formal Examination
    RP   Result Pending

    Further details of the grades/results can be obtained from Examinations.

    Grade Descriptors are available which provide a general guide to the standard of work that is expected at each grade level. More information at Assessment for Coursework Programs.

    Final results for this course will be made available through Access Adelaide.

  • Student Feedback

    The University places a high priority on approaches to learning and teaching that enhance the student experience. Feedback is sought from students in a variety of ways including on-going engagement with staff, the use of online discussion boards and the use of Student Experience of Learning and Teaching (SELT) surveys as well as GOS surveys and Program reviews.

    SELTs are an important source of information to inform individual teaching practice, decisions about teaching duties, and course and program curriculum design. They enable the University to assess how effectively its learning environments and teaching practices facilitate student engagement and learning outcomes. Under the current SELT Policy (http://www.adelaide.edu.au/policies/101/) course SELTs are mandated and must be conducted at the conclusion of each term/semester/trimester for every course offering. Feedback on issues raised through course SELT surveys is made available to enrolled students through various resources (e.g. MyUni). In addition aggregated course SELT data is available.

  • Student Support
  • Policies & Guidelines
  • Fraud Awareness

    Students are reminded that in order to maintain the academic integrity of all programs and courses, the university has a zero-tolerance approach to students offering money or significant value goods or services to any staff member who is involved in their teaching or assessment. Students offering lecturers or tutors or professional staff anything more than a small token of appreciation is totally unacceptable, in any circumstances. Staff members are obliged to report all such incidents to their supervisor/manager, who will refer them for action under the university's student’s disciplinary procedures.

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