6 ECTS credits
150 h study time
Offer 1 with catalog number 1022985AER for all students in the 1st semester at a (A) Bachelor - preliminary level.
As a criminologist, you invariably have to deal with law and in particular criminal law and its actors (police, prosecutors, judges, prisons, etc.). This is also why criminologists need to acquire knowledge and understanding of law and in particular criminal law and the administration of criminal justice.
The course Law & Criminology is the intermediate step between the courses ‘introduction to law’ and ‘Material Criminal Law' and 'Criminal Procedure Law' (BA2) in the Bachelor of Criminology program. This means that the student has a legal foundation (cf. Introduction to Law, BA1) and that in the context of this course some fundamental, legal aspects (mainly the constitutional and administrative aspects) of criminal law and the administration of criminal justice are examined more in detail. It is
within the subject of law and criminology not yet intended to enter into the technicalities of current criminal law. This will happen in the context of substantive criminal law (BA2, semester 2) and criminal procedural law (BA2, semester 2). On the contrary, the subject “law and criminology” tries to frame and approach current Belgian criminal law from a broader historical, theoretical, European and constitutional perspective.
In doing so, we also consider the particular complex Belgian state structure and its impact on criminal law. Also the relevance of constitutional and human rights protection will also be addressed in this course.
The course is taught during the first semester in blocks of 3 hours in 9 lectures (face to face and/or online). In preparation for the lectures, students are given assignments (such as reading a text of judgement, listening to an audio clip, watch an image clip, etc.).
The course consists of four parts:
For working students, lectures will be made available digitally. More specific information will be included in the Canvas area of the course unit.
In the course Law & Criminology the student will acquire:
The student learns to relate the above factors and elements. She / he also learns to work with legal texts and should independently take notes in the oral lectures and study these notes.
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:
The examination is written and consists of both open-ended questions (such as an evaluation case, or defining a concept, term, an article, etc.), closed questions (completing one concept, term, article,... in a continuous text) and/or multiple choice questions.
A bundle of constitutional texts (made available through canvas) may be used on the written exam:
No annotations or other notes are allowed on these.
Post-its or other markers are also not allowed.
However, underlining and fluorescing the text in the bundle are allowed.
This offer is part of the following study plans:
Bachelor of Criminology: Standaard traject (only offered in Dutch)
Bachelor of Criminology: Verkort traject (only offered in Dutch)
Bridging Programme Master of Arts in Gender and Diversity: Standaard traject (only offered in Dutch)