Theoretical Criminology and Victimology

6 ECTS credits
150 h study time

Offer 2 with catalog number 1020632BNW for working students in the 1st semester at a (B) Bachelor - advanced level.

Semester

1st semester

Enrollment based on exam contract

Impossible

Grading method

Grading (scale from 0 to 20)

Can retake in second session

Yes

Enrollment Requirements

NOTE: registration for this course is only possible for working students. Day students can register for courses whose code ends with an R. At Inschrijven / studentenadministratie@vub.be you must be registered at the VUB as a working student for the current academic year.

Taught in

Dutch

Faculty

Faculty of Law and Criminology

Department

Criminology

Educational team

Jenneke Christiaens (course titular)

Activities and contact hours

30 contact hours Lecture
110 contact hours Independent or External Form of Study

Course Content

Lectures (6SP - 30 hrs)

In the first part of the lectures the focus is on the development of scientific criminological thinking about explaining the crime problem, offending and victimization. At the center of this part stand the discussion and analysis of the diversity of criminological theories and thinking frames in an historical perspective, as well as the establishment of criminology discipline. These scientific developments are discussed as genealogies of the ways of studying the criminological object. Important are to understand the general scientific premise’s, the position towards the normative frame (penal law, qualification of behaviour); perspective on offender/victim; implicit suppositions on being human, structural/systemic characteristics of society, and the ways social and political order is conceived. This part of the course will gives specific attention to the victimological perspective.

In a second part of the course we will focus on specific perspective that challenge classical criminological thinking, such as radical criminology, feminism (and queer criminology), abolitionism, decolonize perspectives as well as ecological scientific perspectives related to criminology.

Connected to these lectures is a reading assignment. Students have to read a (yearly) specified work (generally fiction). The purpose is to be able to formulate a reflection on the criminological relevance of this work (of fiction) by way of connecting the reading to scientific criminological thinking.

Course material

Handbook (Required) : Criminological Theory, Franlin P.Williams & M.D. McShane, 6de, Pearson, 9781292041759, 2013
Digital course material (Required) : Een kwart eeuw stijging in geregistreerde criminaliteit: Vooral meer registratie, nauwelijks meer criminaliteit, K. Wittebrood, P. Nieuwbeeta, Tijdschrift voor Criminologie, 48 (3), 227 - 242

Additional info

Students not familiar with Dutch (Erasmus) can engage in a 'reading course'. The student will read and study the handbook and have limited meetings (3) with the teaching staff to discuss the most important topics. The examination is (for these students) in English.

Learning Outcomes

General competencies

Knowledge and insights

Students have knowledge and understand the different criminological theoretical frameworks
Students have insight in the historical development of the theoretical frameworks and the central concepts of the treated theories.
Students know and have insight in the most important critiques concerning the different criminological theories.
Students can compare and analyse different theories in their strengths and weaknesses.
Students can discuss the relationship between theoretical frameworks and different policy or practical examples of crime policy. They can formulate critical scientific reflections on these practices.

Skills

Students develop a logical, argumentative and structured way of criminological thinking.
Students can expose criminological ideas and reflections in a clear and understandable (written) way.
Students can formulate ideas in a clear, comprehensible way using carefull grammar.
Students can write a scientific reflection paper on criminological theoretical frameworks in relation to a specific/practical criminological issue.
Students can communicate their own scientific insights and reflections in a synthetic, systematic and structured way.

Attitudes

Students develop an interested, open and independent learning attitude towards criminological scientific and theoretical thinking and the historical development of different theories.
Students develop an investigative attitude towards theoretical frameworks, its basic conceptual fundaments and assumptions.

Grading

The final grade is composed based on the following categories:
Written Exam determines 100% of the final mark.

Within the Written Exam category, the following assignments need to be completed:

Written Exam with a relative weight of 100 which comprises 100% of the final mark.

Additional info regarding evaluation

This course is evaluated by a written exam, based on short open question, eventually some multiple choice questions and an essay question.

The essay question concerns the reading assignment (specified at the beginning of the semester), the criminological relevance of the work as well as more specific connection to the discussed criminological perspectives.

Allowed unsatisfactory mark

The supplementary Teaching and Examination Regulations of your faculty stipulate whether an allowed unsatisfactory mark for this programme unit is permitted.

Academic context