HATE CRIME - 2025/6

Module Overview

Whilst the problem of hate crime has been, until relatively recently, largely neglected as a distinct area of criminological research in the UK and around the world, changes to political, criminal and social justice agendas have given hate crime much greater significance over the past 30 years or so. This module is therefore designed to provide students with a broad historical, theoretical, and contemporary understanding of the key issues relating to hate crime. Particular focus is placed on examining the different forms that hate crime can take and the impact it can have on victims and wider communities, whilst the motivations behind hate crime perpetration are also explored, as are the various legal and wider criminal justice and other relevant responses to it, all within an international context. Students are also encouraged to think critically about issues relating to identity politics, diversity, and the broader social construction of contemporary crime problems.

The module relates to the degree programme more broadly by discussing policing, victimisation, legislation, the criminal justice system, offending, social justice, and notions of identity and diversity, within the hate crime context. As such it builds upon previous learning that students will have undertaken in prior modules throughout the first two years of their degree programme.

 

Module provider

Sociology

Module Leader

GARLAND Jon (Sociology)

Number of Credits: 15

ECTS Credits: 7.5

Framework: FHEQ Level 6

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

Module Availability

Semester 2

Prerequisites / Co-requisites

None  

Module content

Aspects of hate crime covered in the module include:

• Defining and conceptualizing hate crime


• Historical and global perspectives


• The psychology and sociology of prejudice and hatred


• Victimisation


• Perpetration


• Legislation


• Responding to hate crime


• Online hate


• Controversies within hate crime

 

Assessment pattern

Alternative Assessment

Group presentation replaced with essay of 2,500 words

Assessment Strategy

The assessment strategy is designed to provide students with the opportunity to demonstrate that they have successfully met the Learning Outcomes of the module:

 

  Thus, the summative assessment for this module consists of:

 

• Group Presentation (30%): Students are required to work in small groups to create and deliver a presentation on an aspect of hate crime of their choosing. The presentation is delivered as a group, recorded, and then uploaded onto SurreyLearn, with each participant required to speak for 5 minutes.


• Coursework (70% - 2,500 words): Briefing note to ministers: students will write a briefing note that conforms to current civil service guidelines in relation to a hypothetical scenario relating to current hate crime concerns. This assessment has been designed with employability in mind. It is intended to reflect the real written tasks undertaken by employees in many hierarchical organisations - particularly those within government and criminal justice agencies - where transparency, accountability and the justification of public expenditure are important. 

 

The assessment strategy is designed to allow students to develop and test their knowledge and their skills in a manner that not only enhances their understanding of the topic, but also allows them to situate it within the wider context of the subject area, thereby contributing to the coherency of their learning journey. The assessments therefore contain valuable employability components and test a range of transferable skills.

 

Other elements of the assessment strategy allow students to test their performance in relation to ‘real-life’ scenarios and authentic documentation production, and to critically engage with the latest academic knowledge in relation to the subject area.

 

All aspects of the assessment strategy further allow students to receive feedback from expert staff.

 

  Formative assessment

 

Informal formative assessment is conducted throughout the module during seminars where students have the opportunity to engage in a variety of activities and to receive both peer and tutor feedback, with the aim of allowing students to assess their progress week by week.

 

  Feedback

 

Feedback and feedforward on summative assignments will be provided via SurreyLearn. This will indicate what students did well, less well, and what they need to do to improve in the future and will relate both to issues specific to the module and to transferable skills. Formative feedback will be provided throughout the module within in-class discussions and activities, and tutorials.

 

 

Module aims

• Critically evaluate the various responses to the hate crime problem
• Enhance student skillsets in line with the principles of the curriculum framework
• Provide a critical understanding of the inherent complexities and controversies associated with the phenomenon commonly referred to as 'hate crime'
• Understand the causation, extent, nature, and impact of hate crime victimization and perpetration

Learning outcomes

Methods of Teaching / Learning

  The learning and teaching strategy is designed to:

 

• Allow students to acquire knowledge and develop their critical thinking and other relevant skills;


• Encourage students to be active participants in their own learning;


• Maximise learning by engaging students with different learning backgrounds (including through their engagement with each other) and maximising their learning by drawing on their own experiences and contributions to group discussions.

 

This module comprises a range of teaching methods. Students will predominantly benefit from more traditional face-to-face sessions, also incorporating input from guest speakers. In addition, to provide a pedagogically robust learning experience, learning and teaching methods will include seminars, lectures, casework examples, videos, active learning/discussion sessions, and online resources.

 

Collectively, these methods will combine guided learning, independent learning, and self-reflection. The lectures will introduce and explain key concepts, theories, and core aspects of the practical application of the issues discussed. The seminars will provide students with the opportunity to be active participants in their learning experience by undertaking interactive exercises and group discussions, demonstrating their acquired understanding and knowledge, critical thinking, and communication skills. Furthermore, the learning and teaching strategy is designed to develop students’ confidence and competence in working with others, digital capabilities, leadership, teamwork, communication skills, employability, and professionalism.

 

In order to build confidence and to engage students with diverse learning backgrounds, students will be encouraged to share their thoughts, ideas, and reflections, including those relating to their own experiences. Ongoing feedback opportunities from staff and peers will be variously present in seminars and tutorials, and online.

 

Lectures and seminars will include a range of methods including but not restricted to:

 

• Secondary data analysis


• Video analysis


• Policy analysis


• Quizzes


• Concept-explainers

 

 

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: SOC3063

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 second assessment is designed specifically with employability in mind, requiring students to rehearse a task that is common in professional settings within the fields of criminal justice and civil service. Coupled with the development of critical thinking, reasoning, decision-making, collaboration, self-reflection and evaluation, the ability to evaluate academic and professional evidence, and other transferable skills, the module allows students to further practice wider attributes that will be attractive to employers in this field. The module also has some contributions by external speakers, giving students direct access to professionals currently working in the field and thereby supporting their future career planning for roles in wider criminal and social justice arenas. This will hold clear benefits in relation to their employability as they approach the end of their degree.

Digital Capabilities: Students will continue developing their digital capabilities through the use of SurreyLearn, where they will continue to navigate and utilise the VLE for multiple aspects of the module online provision. Students will also utilise Microsoft Teams as a means of communication and collaboration and engage with other online platforms and databases. The first assessment requires students to create and deliver a recorded group presentation for online submission, thereby further enhancing their digital capabilities.

Global and Cultural Capabilities: Aspects of the learning, teaching, and assessment strategy will require students to work collectively. This is intended to help foster a sense of community amongst the cohort from the start of the programme, and to allow students to work together, to reflect, and to share experiences with people from different backgrounds to solve problems and to address new, common challenges. In doing so, students will have the opportunity to broaden their own worldview, perspectives, and to challenge stereotypes, by actively engaging with a broader spectrum of ideas, experiences, and representations held by others, both through facilitated in-class discussions and elements of assessment.

Sustainability: This module concerns itself, in considerable part, with the activities undertaken by criminal justice agencies and their employees, and wider concerns associated with equality, diversity, and social justice. As such, through the learning, teaching and assessment activities, students will have the opportunity to critically reflect on issues aligned with aspects of Goal 16 of the Sustainable Goals of the United Nations, namely, to provide access to justice for all and build effective, accountable, and inclusive institutions at all levels.

Resourcefulness and Resilience: The first assessment, and the preparation that precedes it, is designed to challenge and stretch student capabilities. Students will therefore need to exhibit resourcefulness, be able to share ideas and experiences both individually and collectively, appreciate potential barriers and challenges faced by others, and provide support and show empathy towards each other in working towards achieving successful outcomes and responding to problem-based task requirements, through the creation and delivery of a group presentation.

 

 

 

 

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.