School: Arts and Humanities

This unit information may be updated and amended immediately prior to semester. To ensure you have the correct outline, please check it again at the beginning of semester.

  • Unit Title

    Criminology
  • Unit Code

    CRI1103
  • Year

    2025
  • Enrolment Period

    1
  • Version

    3
  • Credit Points

    15
  • Full Year Unit

    N
  • Mode of Delivery

    On Campus
    Online
  • Unit Coordinator

    Dr Piero MORARO

Description

This unit will introduce students to the study of criminology, the theories of criminology and the explanations of crime. It will provide students with an overview of society and will explore the link between society and crime. Major criminological theories will be applied to the understanding of crime in the modern world.

Equivalent Rule

Unit was previously coded JUS1105

Learning Outcomes

On completion of this unit students should be able to:

  1. Describe the development of criminology as a discipline.
  2. Apply sociological and criminological theories to a range of crime types.
  3. Explain the nature and extent of crime using relevant criminological research, drawing attention to differences between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal people in Australia.
  4. Outline social and political processes and their relationship to crime and deviance.
  5. Communicate criminological ideas using a specific structure and disciplinary conventions.

Unit Content

  1. Crime prevention.
  2. Crimes of violence.
  3. Definitions of society, crime, deviance and criminology.
  4. Ethnicity and crime.
  5. Property crime.
  6. The examination of the extent and locations of crime.
  7. The process of socialisation and social control, conformity and deviance.
  8. Theories of crime including biological, psychological and sociological explanations.
  9. Victims and crime.
  10. White collar crime.

Learning Experience

ON-CAMPUS

Students will attend on campus classes as well as engage in learning activities through ECU's LMS

JoondalupMount LawleySouth West (Bunbury)
Semester 113 x 2 hour lectureNot OfferedNot Offered
Semester 113 x 1 hour tutorialNot OfferedNot Offered

For more information see the Semester Timetable

ONLINE

Students will engage in learning experiences via ECU’s LMS as well as additional ECU learning technologies

Additional Learning Experience Information

This unit is conducted in both the on-campus and off-campus modes. On-campus students attend a two hour lecture and a one hour tutorial each week. Lectures are used to introduce students to the fundamental theories, concepts and research relevant to understand the nature and extent of crime in society and the sociological explanations of offending behaviour. On-campus tutorials provide students with the opportunity to discuss critical aspects of the content in greater detail and in doing so, further develop their communication skills. Assessment methods provide students with the opportunity to demonstrate their content knowledge, critical thinking and develop their written and oral communication skills. Off-campus students are provided with an electronic version of the internal lecture and weekly tutorials. All information is delivered to off-campus students via LMS. Regular online activities delivered via the online modules and the discussion board provide students with the opportunity to discuss critical aspects of the content in greater detail. Online tutorials are used to engage students in the unit and provide them the opportunity to develop their communication skills through interaction with their peers. Assessment methods provide students with the opportunity to demonstrate their content knowledge, critical thinking and develop their written and oral communication skills. Regular online access is required. In addition to weekly content, extra time is required for reading prescribed text and for assignment research, preparation and submission.

Assessment

GS1 GRADING SCHEMA 1 Used for standard coursework units

Students please note: The marks and grades received by students on assessments may be subject to further moderation. All marks and grades are to be considered provisional until endorsed by the relevant School Progression Panel.

ON CAMPUS
TypeDescriptionValue
ExerciseEssay exercise20%
EssayEssay40%
TestMultiple choice test40%
ONLINE
TypeDescriptionValue
ExerciseEssay exercise20%
EssayEssay40%
TestMultiple choice test40%

Disability Standards for Education (Commonwealth 2005)

For the purposes of considering a request for Reasonable Adjustments under the Disability Standards for Education (Commonwealth 2005), inherent requirements for this subject are articulated in the Unit Description, Learning Outcomes and Assessment Requirements of this entry. The University is dedicated to provide support to those with special requirements. Further details on the support for students with disabilities or medical conditions can be found at the Access and Inclusion website.

Assessment

Students please note: The marks and grades received by students on assessments may be subject to further moderation. Informal vivas may be conducted as part of an assessment task, where staff require further information to confirm the learning outcomes have been met. All marks and grades are to be considered provisional until endorsed by the relevant School Progression Panel.

Academic Integrity

Integrity is a core value at Edith Cowan University, and it is expected that ECU students complete their assessment tasks honestly and with acknowledgement of other people's work as well as any generative artificial intelligence tools that may have been used. This means that assessment tasks must be completed individually (unless it is an authorised group assessment task) and any sources used must be referenced.

Breaches of academic integrity can include:

Plagiarism

Copying the words, ideas or creative works of other people or generative artificial intelligence tools, without referencing in accordance with stated University requirements. Students need to seek approval from the Unit Coordinator within the first week of study if they intend to use some of their previous work in an assessment task (self-plagiarism).

Unauthorised collaboration (collusion)

Working with other students and submitting the same or substantially similar work or portions of work when an individual submission was required. This includes students knowingly providing others with copies of their own work to use in the same or similar assessment task(s).

Contract cheating

Organising a friend, a family member, another student or an external person or organisation (e.g. through an online website) to complete or substantially edit or refine part or all of an assessment task(s) on their behalf.

Cheating in an exam

Using or having access to unauthorised materials in an exam or test.

Serious outcomes may be imposed if a student is found to have committed one of these breaches, up to and including expulsion from the University for repeated or serious acts.

ECU's policies and more information about academic integrity can be found on the student academic integrity website.

All commencing ECU students are required to complete the Academic Integrity Module.

Assessment Extension

In some circumstances, Students may apply to their Unit Coordinator to extend the due date of their Assessment Task(s) in accordance with ECU's Assessment, Examination and Moderation Procedures - for more information visit https://askus2.ecu.edu.au/s/article/000001386.

Special Consideration

Students may apply for Special Consideration in respect of a final unit grade, where their achievement was affected by Exceptional Circumstances as set out in the Assessment, Examination and Moderation Procedures - for more information visit https://askus2.ecu.edu.au/s/article/000003318.

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