CRIME, POWER AND JUSTICE - 2025/6

Module Overview

This module examines contemporary ways that power and (in)equality intersect with crime victimisation and the operation of the criminal justice system. The module considers how different sections of society are treated and affected by crime, victimisation and criminal justice, with a focus on socio-economic status, race and ethnicity, religion, and gender. It examines the tensions that arise within criminal justice and as affect social (dis)order and control. It aims to delineate how crime, victimisation and criminal justice processes reflect and reinforce wider patterns of discrimination and marginalization and to situate criminal justice within a wider global and local social context.

Module provider

Sociology

Module Leader

SETTY Emily (Sociology)

Number of Credits: 15

ECTS Credits: 7.5

Framework: FHEQ Level 5

Module cap (Maximum number of students): N/A

Module Availability

Semester 1

Prerequisites / Co-requisites

None

Module content

Indicative content includes:

 

• Race, crime and justice.


• Religion, crime and justice.


• Riots and disorder.


• Violence against women and girls.


• Pandemic lockdowns and justice.


• Gender-based violence and violence against women and girls.


• Politically motivated offending and the far-left and far-right.


• Imprisonment and society.

 

Assessment pattern

Alternative Assessment

N/A

Assessment Strategy

The assessment strategy is designed to provide students with the opportunity to demonstrate that they have met the learning outcomes through critical engagement with a wide range of scholarly material.

 

The summative assessment for this module consists of:

 

Assessment 1 (40%) - Audio recording/podcast-style paired discussion about a chosen issue relating to crime, power and justice (max duration 10 minutes).

Assessment 2 (60%) – 2000-word policy brief addressing a chosen theme/topic relating to criminal justice responses to crime and victimisation.

 

Formative assessment and feedback:

 

Feedback in class on student inputs

 

Written feedback on assignment for assessment one will shape the preparation of the second and cohort feedback from the overall findings of the assessment will be offered in class and on SurreyLearn to all to further support preparation for the final assessment.

Module aims

• Introduce and critically engage with debates and controversies in contemporary society surrounding issues such as marginalisation, social exclusion and discrimination as pertain to crime, victimisation and criminal justice
• Examine contemporary problems for criminal justice, such as violence against women and girls and riots and disorders within the above context
• Identify and critically assess how contemporary approaches in criminal justice and impacts of and responses to crime and victimisation relate to social divisions and inequalities

Learning outcomes

Methods of Teaching / Learning

The learning and teaching strategy is designed to reflect key learning and teaching aims by:

 

• Developing students’ in-depth understanding of the role, functions and impacts of the criminal justice system;


• Engendering knowledge of key theoretical conceptualisations of the criminal justice process;


• Developing understandings of the relationship between CJS policy and practice and how this impacts upon social groups;


• Developing key study skills that relate to employability.

 

The learning and teaching methods include:

 

• Lectures and seminars


• Class exercises


• Class discussions


• Independent study

 

Each session focuses on one aspect of crime, victimisation and criminal justice pertaining to a thematic area. Sessions are split between lectures which aim to provide a broad introduction to a topic and seminar-style activities and discussions which aim to allow more in-depth and student-led engagement with key issues. Interaction between lecturer and students is encouraged throughout. There will also be use of forms of media such as TV, film and radio.

 

Each session has one piece of primary reading and/or engagement with additional materials (including media materiasl) which all students are expected to complete. Preparatory activities are designed to provide the basis for class discussions. Additional reading is strongly encouraged too.

Indicated Lecture Hours (which may also include seminars, tutorials, workshops and other contact time) are approximate and may include in-class tests where one or more of these are an assessment on the module. In-class tests are scheduled/organised separately to taught content and will be published on to student personal timetables, where they apply to taken modules, as soon as they are finalised by central administration. This will usually be after the initial publication of the teaching timetable for the relevant semester.

Reading list

https://readinglists.surrey.ac.uk
Upon accessing the reading list, please search for the module using the module code: SOC2063

Other information

The School of Sociology is committed to developing graduates with strengths in Employability, Digital Capabilities, Global and Cultural Capabilities, Sustainability, and Resourcefulness and Resilience. This module is designed to allow students to develop knowledge, skills, and capabilities in the following areas:

Employability – the module is focused on drawing links between contemporary real-world issues and empirical and theoretical understandings of and potential solutions to the issues. Students are therefore developing their understanding of current nature of crime and justice and will be able to offer evidence based and theoretically informed solutions in the work they go on to do. There are also opportunities for skill development through critical thinking, communication and perspective taking.

Digital capabilities – we use digital media to search for contemporary issues and examples connected to the module and incorporate digital tools into teaching and learning including to facilitate student participation. Assignment 1 requires the students to use digital tools to record their podcast in pair.

Global and cultural capabilities – we look at international dimensions to power and inequality in the justice system and draw comparisons between the situation in the UK with other jurisdictions to raise global awareness and skills in international comparative analysis.

Sustainability – the module is concerned with social justice dimensions to sustainability including how inequalities in material circumstances, gender, race and other factors intersect within crime and justice and how to address these inequalities.

Resourcefulness and resilience – students are encouraged to consider complex and sensitive issues in a balanced and evidence-based way. They are asked to conduct independent learning about areas and issues of interest and to show innovative thinking in their assignments.

Programmes this module appears in

Please note that the information detailed within this record is accurate at the time of publishing and may be subject to change. This record contains information for the most up to date version of the programme / module for the 2025/6 academic year.