The School of Criminology and Criminal Justice is offering a new course on homicide as well as a range of electives from next semester.
Homicide
In the new first year core course, Homicide, first year students will learn how serious violent offences are detected and investigated by police and then processed through the justice system.
CCJ Electives
Second and third year students can also choose from a range of new electives next semester including
– Gender, Crime and Justice
– Evolutionary Criminology
– Crime Script Analysis
– Restorative Justice Practice
Students may also be interested in the free choice elective History of Terrorism and Political Violence being offered by the School of Humanities.
Gender, Crime and Justice
“Despite the public’s obsession with crime, victimisation and criminal justice, despite the morbid fear that crime and victimisation arouses, despite the endless volumes written to account for offending, victimisation and criminal justice processing, gender, the most powerful social factor of all has been virtually ignored by criminologists.” (Leonard, 1982).
Women are one of the fastest growing groups being incarcerated, they are more likely than men to be victims of certain types of crime (i.e. domestic and sexual violence) and men have traditionally (although now being debated) been more likely to perpetrate violent crime. It is critically important that the issue of how gender–femininity, masculinity, and intersections with other statuses–shapes crime, victimisation and our responses to both. Drawing on national and international contexts, this course explores, and seeks to theoretically explain, the persistent and profound differences between men and women in crime rates and patterns, victimization, and criminal justice system experiences and responses. The course will also consider intersections between gender, Indigeneity, social class and sexual orientation.
– Offered internally at Mt Gravatt campus and externally
– Course code: 2015CCJ
Evolutionary Criminology
Life on earth is the product of natural selection. By understanding the process that created human beings and other animals, we can better explain human behaviour across many domains, including crime. This course presents the logic of Darwinian selection and how that is used by modern evolutionary biologists to explain animal conflict, mating systems, child care, cooperation and group based aggression. These theories and ways of understanding animal behaviour are applied to modern humans to allow us to understand crime in a new way: as the result of a mind designed by natural selection for an evolutionary past that no longer exists. The course will cover evolutionary explanations of status-related aggression, child abuse and neglect, sexual assault, warfare, punishment, and the origins of morality and justice.
– Offered internally at Mt Gravatt campus and externally
– Course code: 3020CCJ
Crime Script Analysis
In Crime Script Analysis students will have the opportunity to learn how different crimes are committed by offenders for prevention purposes.
Examining offender decision-making during crime and performing crime script analysis is fundamental to better understand crime events and guide policies and situational crime prevention efforts in preventing crime. This course covers both offender decision-making during crime and crime scripts and therefore, allows students to study crime and offender modus operandi from the offender’s perspective for prevention purposes. The theoretical and methodological background of these approaches is first presented. Then throughout the semester, various forms of crime are examined in light of these approaches. Common crimes such as auto theft, burglary and drug dealing are presented and discussed as well as more serious crimes such as sexual offending, violence and human trafficking. Empirical studies are used as examples to further help students capture the full potential of this field of research in criminology.
– Offered internally at Mt Gravatt campus and externally
– Course code: 3021CCJ
Restorative Justice Practice
Restorative Justice Practice gives students the practical skills necessary to effectively facilitate restorative justice processes. Students will complete the restorative justice convenor training program and learn about the historical and theoretical development of restorative justice in Australia and overseas. Students will also critically assess the contemporary empirical research literature on restorative justice to determine the extent to which restorative justice processes have a positive impact on participants.
– Offered internally at Mt Gravatt campus
– Course code: 3022CCJ
Other electives: History of Terrorism and Political Violence
In today’s world, terrorism is one of the inescapable worldwide forces that defines, shapes and reshapes our age. This course will put terrorism and political violence into broad historical context, exploring the experiences of terrorism through the ages and how societies responded to the threats of political violence. From antiquity, through the Middle Ages to the global terrorism of today, this course will unravel the meaning of terrorism and how it was experienced throughout history.
– Offered at Gold Coast and Nathan campuses
– Course code: 2055HUM