Undergraduate - UnitAZA2470 - Victimology in South Africa

This unit entry is for students who completed this unit in 2015 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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6 points, SCA Band 1, 0.125 EFTSL

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

Level	Undergraduate
Faculty	Faculty of Arts
Organisational Unit	South Africa School of Social Sciences
Offered	Not offered in 2015
Coordinator(s)	Ms Tara Harris

Synopsis

This unit entails an introduction to victimology with an exposition of the concepts victim/survivor, empowerment, prevention and redress with reference to various schools of thought and current scholarly debates. Victimisation is studied within a domestic and comparative context focusing on the socio-economic, political and cultural dimensions of victimisation. Within a human rights framework, analyses refer to the abuse of power, institutional and structural victimisation and victim/offender homogeneity, sequences and victim recidivism. Through the application of victimisation theory and perspectives to particular contexts, victimisation vulnerability is assessed.

Outcomes

On successful completion of the unit, students will be able to:

Understand the study field of victimology
Apply knowledge of criminal victimisation theories and perspectives/approaches to particular contexts
Demonstrate the ability critically to assess victimisation risk and to develop victimisation vulnerability profiles
Critically appraise the impact of criminal victimisation on individuals, society, the ecology and economy
Demonstrate knowledge of empowerment strategies for survivors of crime
Use appropriate science and technology effectively and responsibly when dealing with victimisation without harming society, the environment or individuals
Work and communicate with others as members of multi-disciplinary teams to deal effectively with victimisation.

Assessment

Within semester assessment: 55%
Exam: 45%

Workload requirements

Minimum total expected workload to achieve the learning outcomes for this unit is 144 hours per semester typically comprising a mixture of scheduled learning activities and independent study. A unit requires on average three/four hours of scheduled activities per week. Scheduled activities may include a combination of teacher directed learning, peer directed learning and online engagement.

Chief examiner(s)

Ms Tara Harris

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

Criminology and criminal justice

Prerequisites

Twelve credit points of first-year Arts units.

Prohibitions

ATS2470, ATS3470, AZA3470