| Effective Term: | 2025/04 |
| Institute / School : | Institute of Education, Arts & Community |
| Unit Title: | Crime in Contemporary Contexts |
| Unit ID: | CRJUS1286 |
| Credit Points: | 15.00 |
| Prerequisite(s): | Nil |
| Co-requisite(s): | Nil |
| Exclusion(s): | Nil |
| ASCED: | 099903 |
| Other Change: | |
| Brief description of the Unit |
This unit provides students with the opportunity to engage with key issues and debates about the social construction of crime, types of crime and the inequities of the various responses to crime. Students will also learn to develop critical analytical skills by considering how crimes are reported in the media; the factors that inform how crime is presented and the impact of crime reporting on our understanding of crime prevalence. Students will engage with both academic literature and informed commentary and analysis about where crimes occur, who perpetrates crime and the impact of crime on society. Students will develop knowledge about the nexus of the resources required to address crime in contemporary Australian society and the consequential limitations of bringing some perpetrators to justice. |
| Grade Scheme: | Graded (HD, D, C, P, MF, F, XF) |
| Work Experience Indicator: |
| No work experience |
| Placement Component: No |
| Supplementary Assessment:Yes |
| Where supplementary assessment is available a student must have failed overall in the Unit but gained a final mark of 45 per cent or above, has completed all major assessment tasks (including all sub-components where a task has multiple parts) as specified in the Unit Description and is not eligible for any other form of supplementary assessment |
| Course Level: |
| Level of Unit in Course | AQF Level(s) of Course | | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | | Introductory | | |  | | | | | Intermediate | | | | | | | | Advanced | | | | | | |
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| Learning Outcomes: |
| Knowledge: |
| K1. | Critically examine the incidence of crime and the reporting of crime in the media. |
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| K2. | Identify and analyse a range of contemporary criminal justice issues, considering key debates, issues and perspectives of crime. |
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| K3. | Identify the range of crime types and analyse their impact on individuals and society. |
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| K4. | Critically assess responses to crimes by the institutions of the State, other organisations and individuals. |
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| Skills: |
| S1. | Analyse measurements of crime and the limitations of measurements on our understanding of crime. |
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| S2. | Express substantiated and reasoned expositions and arguments concerning the cause and effects of crime in both an Australian and an international context. |
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| S3. | Summarise relevant key themes, issues and debates. |
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| Application of knowledge and skills: |
| A1. | Apply skills in critical thinking to key debates concerning different types of crime. |
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| A2. | Utilise and integrate relevant conceptual frameworks in analysing the range of crimes and the societal and institutional response to different types of offending behaviour. |
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| A3. | Identify links and tensions between issues, debates, concepts and perspectives. |
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| Unit Content: |
Topics may include:
1. Introduction to Crime in a Contemporary Context
2. Extent, Prevalence and Measurement
3. Inequalities of Crime
4. Crime and the Media
5. Dangerous Places: Street Crime Violence and the City
6. Dangerous Places: Crime in the Home
7. Rural Crime
8. Corporate and White-Collar
9. Cyber Crime
10. Political, State and Transnational Crime
11. Crime and the Environment
12. Cost of Crime. |
| Graduate Attributes: |
| Federation University recognises that students require key transferable employability skills to prepare them for their future workplace and society. FEDTASKS (Transferable Attributes Skills and Knowledge) provide a targeted focus on five key transferable Attributes, Skills, and Knowledge that are be embedded within curriculum, developed gradually towards successful measures and interlinked with cross-discipline and Co-operative Learning opportunities. One or more FEDTASK, transferable Attributes, Skills or Knowledge must be evident in the specified learning outcomes and assessment for each FedUni Unit, and all must be directly assessed in each Course.
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| FED TASK and descriptor | Development and acquisition of FEDTASKS in the Unit | | Level | FEDTASK 1
Interpersonal | Students will demonstrate the ability to effectively communicate, inter-act and work with others both individually and in groups. Students will be required to display skills in-person and/or online in: • Using effective verbal and non-verbal communication • Listening for meaning and influencing via active listening • Showing empathy for others • Negotiating and demonstrating conflict resolution skills • Working respectfully in cross-cultural and diverse teams. | Level 1 - Students require directions and boundaries from mentor | FEDTASK 2
Leadership | Students will demonstrate the ability to apply professional skills and behaviours in leading others. Students will be required to display skills in: • Creating a collegial environment • Showing self -awareness and the ability to self-reflect • Inspiring and convincing others • Making informed decisions • Displaying initiative | Level 1 - Students require directions and boundaries from mentor | FEDTASK 3
Critical Thinking and Creativity | Students will demonstrate an ability to work in complexity and ambiguity using the imagination to create new ideas. Students will be required to display skills in: • Reflecting critically • Evaluating ideas, concepts and information • Considering alternative perspectives to refine ideas • Challenging conventional thinking to clarify concepts • Forming creative solutions in problem solving. | Level 1 - Students require directions and boundaries from mentor | FEDTASK 4
Digital Literacy | Students will demonstrate the ability to work fluently across a range of tools, platforms and applications to achieve a range of tasks. Students will be required to display skills in: • Finding, evaluating, managing, curating, organising and sharing digital information • Collating, managing, accessing and using digital data securely • Receiving and responding to messages in a range of digital media • Contributing actively to digital teams and working groups • Participating in and benefiting from digital learning opportunities. | Level 1 - Students require directions and boundaries from mentor | FEDTASK 5
Sustainable and Ethical Mindset | Students will demonstrate the ability to consider and assess the consequences and impact of ideas and actions in enacting ethical and sustainable decisions. Students will be required to display skills in: • Making informed judgments that consider the impact of devising solutions in global economic environmental and societal contexts • Committing to social responsibility as a professional and a citizen • Evaluating ethical, socially responsible and/or sustainable challenges and generating and articulating responses • Embracing lifelong, life-wide and life-deep learning to be open to diverse others • Implementing required actions to foster sustainability in their professional and personal life. | Level 1 - Students require directions and boundaries from mentor |
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| | Learning Outcomes Assessed | Assessment Tasks | Assessment Type | Weighting | | 1. | K3, S1 | Analysis of crime data (what is it telling us and what is missing) | Crime data analysis | 15-25% | | 2. | K1, S3, A3 | Analysis of media representation of crime | Media analysis | 30-40% | | 3. | K2, K4, S2, S3, A1, A2, A3 | Response to a hypothetical situation | Written response | 40-50% |
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