Undergraduate - UnitAZA4743 - Theoretical perspectives of conflict, crime, victimisation and criminal justice

This unit entry is for students who completed this unit in 2014 only. For students planning to study the unit, please refer to the unit indexes in the the current edition of the Handbook. If you have any queries contact the managing faculty for your course or area of study.

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12 points, SCA Band 1, 0.250 EFTSL

Refer to the specific census and withdrawal dates for the semester(s) in which this unit is offered, or view unit timetables.

Level	Undergraduate
Faculty	Faculty of Arts
Offered	South Africa First semester 2014 (Day)
Coordinator(s)	Ms Tara Harris

Synopsis

Theoretical perspectives are presented as conceptual frameworks, for instance, causal explanations to identify cause and effect relationships between crime and victimisation phenomena, structural, process and systemic perspectives to emphasise the manner in which the phenomena are interrelated and constitute a whole, system or sub-system, and interpretive approaches to focus on the meaning attributed to particular contexts. Analyses of theoretical perspectives, including a postmodern orientation, refer also the scope and level of a theory to construct different levels of social reality. Finally, the theoretical grounding of research is discussed and evaluated.

Outcomes

The objectives lie within five inter-related bands. These concern:

factual information
sources and resources
conceptual definitions
academic debates
analytic communication skills. Upon successful completion of this unit, students will be able to demonstrate knowledge of and familiarity with the following types of information, academic perspectives and skills:

Understand the theoretical study field of conflict, crime,

victimisation and criminal justice

Demonstrate the ability to critically evaluate diverse theoretical approaches to conflict, crime, victimisation and criminal justice.
Apply theoretical knowledge of conflict, crime, victimisation and criminal justice to particular contexts
Demonstrate an understanding of the world as a set of related systems by recognising that problem-solving contexts do not exist in isolation when studying theoretical perspectives of conflict, crime, victimisation and criminal justice
Use appropriate science and technology ethically, effectively and responsibly when studying theoretical perspectives of conflict, crime, victimisation and criminal justice without harming society, the environment or individuals
Work and communicate with others as a member of a multi-disciplinary when studying theoretical perspectives of conflict, crime, victimisation and criminal justice

Assessment

Assignment (3000 words):35%
Class presentation (2000 words):30%
Examination (2 hours):35%

Chief examiner(s)

Ms Tara Harris

Workload requirements

12 hours (1 x 2 hour seminar) per week. The remaining 10 hours of study required will be spent in preparation for the seminar, researching and writing the essay assignment and in individual reading and study for the final examination.

This unit applies to the following area(s) of study

Criminology and criminal justice

Prohibitions

ATS4743