学部・大学院区分
Undergraduate / Graduate | | 経済学部 | | 時間割コード
Registration Code | | 0412547 | | 科目区分
Course Category | | | | 科目名 【日本語】
Course Title | | 犯罪学入門（Ｅ） | | 科目名 【英語】
Course Title | | Special Studies (Introduction to Criminology) (E) | | コースナンバリングコード
Course Numbering Code | | | | 担当教員 【日本語】
Instructor | | BARADEL Martina ○
MCGINTY Sean Michael | | 担当教員 【英語】
Instructor | | ○
MCGINTY Sean Michael | | 担当教員所属【日本語】
instructor's belongs | | | | 担当教員所属【英語】
instructor's belongs | | | | 単位数
Credits | | 2 | | 配当年次
dividend Yearly | | ３年
3 | | 開講期・開講時間帯
Term / Day / Period | | 秋 水曜日 ５時限
Fall Wed 5 | | 対象学年（非表示）
Year | | | | 授業形態
Course style | |
| |
授業の目的 【日本語】
Goals of the Course(JPN) | | | | 授業の目的 【英語】
Goals of the Course | | This course aims that students will deepen their understanding of the basic theories of criminology, in order to acquire the skills and ways of thinking required for analysing criminal phenomena. Criminology can be seen as a hybrid field, which lies at the crossroads of different disciplines, including sociology, law, psychology, social policy, and anthropology. The interdisciplinary nature of criminology makes it a particularly fascinating field for the ways in which its study can be approached.
Being this an introductory course in criminology, it will use a comprehensive approach to the subject: we will start from basic concepts such as “crime” and “criminology”, and then move to major theories in order to understand how crime phenomena have been explored. This course will introduce the main theoretical schools in criminology (classicism, positivism, interpretivism, and critical criminology), approaches to punishment and organised crime.
We will start by thinking about two fundamental questions: what is crime? What is criminology? If we look closer to these apparently simple issues, we will find that their meaning is multifaceted and complex, and we will hardly all agree on a single answer. Similarly, the ways in which we explain crime and responses to criminal behaviour, are contested issues. Since there is no definitive solution to these debates, this course will use an exploring approach: rather than giving students an answer, the aim of this course is to ask questions. Students will acquire the theoretical tools that will allow them to expand their original thinking about criminological issues, with the final goal of being able to independently assess and test theories. Students will learn about criminological theories, and at the same time apply them to situations and events that they are familiar with. To do so, we will discuss a series of questions during each class, and we will use different resources, including articles, books, videos, and comics. Every week students will be assigned a film to watch, and we will discuss in class how criminological theory applies. |
| | 到達目標 【日本語】
Objectives of the Course(JPN) | | | | 授業の内容や構成
Course Content / Plan | | Week by week plan:
WEEK 1: Introduction: In this first class we will introduce ourselves, familiarise with the materials that we will use during the course, and discuss the mid-term and final assignment. We will consider what pre-existent ideas we have about crime: where do they come from? What is the role of the media on our perception of crime?
WEEK 2: What is crime? What is criminology?
Content: In this class, we will discuss what crime is, introducing the idea that crime is a social construct. Therefore, what is considered unacceptable or criminal, shifts across cultures and over time. We will discuss the ‘harm principle’, according to which a conduct that does not harm others should not be considered criminal, even if many strongly dislike the conduct. We will reflect on and discuss these central questions: what kind of activities are seen as deviant? Why? What does it reveal of the society that criminalises such behaviours? We will then look at criminology as an academic field, considering what criminologists are interested in.
WEEK 3: Green criminology
Content: We will start our journey into criminological theories with green criminology, which takes a critical approach to the study of crime. According to this perspective, crime is not only what harms humans: we should look beyond human-centred definitions of crime and consider a wider conception of social harm. This is particularly timely as this year’s exceptional weather is forcing us to face long-neglected environmental issues. We will look at how markets ignore the environment, theoretical approaches associated with green criminology, and a variety of crimes central to green criminology (e.g. wildlife crime and trafficking, corporate environmental crime and illegal pollution, ecological justice and ecocide). We will discuss the following question: should we focus on green crimes or harms? Who should be held responsible for the current climate crisis?
WEEK 4: Classicism
Contents: This class will explore classical criminological theories. By using criminological theory, we can understand why laws are made, how and why we enforce rules and punish those who break them, how and why people choose to break or obey rules, and the effects of rule breaking. In this class, we will look at the importance of free will and rational choice in classical criminology, and its main thinkers (Locke, Beccaria, Bentham). We will discuss how these ideas have shaped law and jurisprudence, and their limitations. Students will create a crime-script and discuss whether criminal activities can be made without making a rational choice, and whether these elements should be used to increase or decrease the punishment.
WEEK 5: Biological/psychological positivism
Contents: This class starts from the ideas of early positivists (biological/psychological positivism), starting from Cesare Lombroso. Positivists use scientific methods to study crime, and argue that crime is determined by biological or psychological causes. We will see how early criminologists used biological and psychological features to try and understand why people commit crime, and keeping in mind that correlation does not equal causation we will analyse the limits of these theories. We will watch the video of serial killer Ed Kemper describing his childhood, and discuss if/how the theories discussed in class can help us understand his crimes.
WEEK 6: Sociological positivism
We will focus on sociological positivism and how social causes may affect (criminal) behaviour. The class will explore the approaches of Sutherland, Durkheim, Merton and the Chicago school’s theories. Through these theories we will consider why crime can be considered the indicator of a healthy society, and the concepts of anomie and space. We will ask ourselves: if we can identify which and how social factors influence crime, would it be possible to alter those factors and so decrease criminal behaviour?
WEEK 7: Critical criminology
Contents: This lesson introduces critical criminology: labelling perspectives, Marxist-inspired critical theories, and power perspectives. While at first critical criminology seems to suggest that we slightly change the criminal justice systems, its contributions are far deeper. We will demonstrate how this current asks us to question everything we think we know about the systems and the societies in which we live. We will discuss the following questions: What is deviance? How and why do we control behaviour? What happens if we look at power from the perspective of the oppressed?
Week 8: Mid-term evaluation
Contents: Students will complete the mid-term evaluation.
WEEK 9: Feminist criminology, gender and crime
Content: This class will explore criminological studies of gender, particularly women’s experiences as offenders and victims, and the extent to which women’s offending and victimisation are connected. We will start with an overview of how gender features in criminological studies, and look into the origins and principles of feminist criminology, which is a strand of criminology that has heavily influenced criminological studies of gender and crime. We will explore the different currents within feminist criminology, and ask ourselves: what is the link between gender and crime? Why do women seem to offend less than men? Can feminism make the world safer?
WEEK 10: Social Harm
Contents: In this class we will explore the social harm approach, which argues that legal definitions of ‘crime’ are too narrow, and they are unable to reflect the harms that can be inflicted by social structures, multinational organisations, and the state. We will look at some examples of studies of the harm caused by corporations (human trafficking, genocide, austerity measures) and investigate how they can be explained by the social harm approach. Focusing on the case of the Grenfell fire will discuss questions such as: should individual people be held accountable for a social harm caused by an organisation? Or should the organisation be held accountable for causing harm? What kinds of harm should be considered?
WEEK 11: Realist criminology
Contents: This lesson focuses on realist criminology, which emerged in the late 1970s and early 1980s as a reaction to critical criminology. We will start from the concept of realism in social sciences, used to understand social realities which are not directly observable or exactly measurable, but indisputably impact human behaviour, such as the law. We will critically evaluate the influence of right and left realist ideas on aspects of criminal justice policy. We will discuss how these ideas can inform us on indeterminate sentencing, zero tolerance polices, social inclusion and exclusion. We will use a scenario in which we have to allocate a big sum of money for a new housing estate, in order to test the two approaches.
WEEK 12: Punishment, alternatives, and critical perspectives
Content: After having explored different perspectives on crime, this class looks at punishment as a response to crime. The concept of punishment is central in our ideas about crime and criminal justice, as the obvious consequence of a wrongful act. Should ‘the punishment fit the crime’? We will discuss the changing role of punishment in society, and consider particular forms of penal sanction: the death penalty, the use of imprisonment, and community-based alternatives to the deprivation of liberty. We will discuss: what is an ‘adequate’ punishment? Why do some countries still use the death penalty? Can punishment be viewed as a vehicle to exert social control?
WEEK 13: Organised crime
Contents: Within the field of criminology, the study of organised crime has attracted increasing interest, as the menace of organised crime started to appear on the security agenda of many countries. This class will explore the main theoretical approaches on organised crime, with a particular focus on Diego Gambetta’s protection theory. We will look at specific cases of organised criminal groups and mafias, to see how theory applies to these groups, and we will compare it with film representations of organised crime. We will discuss: Can we say that crime is organised? How? What are the differences between different criminal groups? What is the relationship between mafia groups and their depiction in films?
Week 14: Summing up
Contents: During this class we will sum up the main topics discussed in the course. We will analyse a newspaper article and a film through the lenses of different criminological theories studied during the semester. Students will have the possibility to ask clarifications on readings, the final-assignment questions, and will present the self-question they will have designed for the final assignment.
WEEK 15: Final evaluation
Content: Students will respond to three open-ended questions, plus one question that they will have designed themselves. |
| | 履修条件・関連する科目
Course Prerequisites and Related Courses | | | | 成績評価の方法と基準
Course Evaluation Method and Criteria | | This class will be evaluated through the following methods:
Contribution to discussion (20% of the final grade): all classes are interactive and require the participation of students to discussions and debates. Students are required to read the assigned material and use the information in the debates. Each week a student will sum up the reading of the week. Specific criteria include: summaries of the readings, contributing answers to questions, critical thinking, ability in presenting and arguing ideas, ability to listen and engage with different ideas, and motivation.
Mid-term evaluation (30% of the final grade): The course provider will supply a list of possible questions on week 5. Passing mark is 60/100. To receive a passing grade, students must demonstrate the ability to make logical arguments about the criminological theories studied in the first half of the semester, based on knowledge and experience gained through the class. In case of fail, the candidate is allowed to re-submit once.
Final evaluation (50% of the final grade): A list of possible questions will be provided on Week 13. Candidates will choose and answer three questions from the list, and one self-question (a question that they will have designed independently). Students may approach the course provider for clarifications and guidance on the questions, which will be provided during the class on week 14. A passing mark (60/100) will be given based on a demonstrated understanding of the basic concepts and terminology related to the criminological theories, and the ability to apply such theories to real-life events. Students are expected to draw on course readings; whilst they may be rewarded for drawing upon additional works.
In order to receive credit for the course it is required that students successfully complete both the mid-term and final examination. |
| | 教科書・参考書
Textbook/Reference Book | | There are no required textbooks for students to purchase.
Reading Materials for each class will consist of both academic journal articles, book chapters, films (easily available on Netflix or video rental shops). These will be available on the course's NUCT page under the "resources" tab, with the readings for each week in their own folder. |
| | 課外学習等（授業時間外学習の指示）
Study Load(Self-directed Learning Outside Course Hours) | | | Students are required to read the materials assigned at the end of each class. The viewing of a film may also be suggested: although this is not mandatory, students who view the film will be able to participate more in the class debates and therefore will receive a higher grade in the “contribution to discussion”. |
| | 注意事項
Notice for Students | | | | 授業開講形態等
Lecture format, etc. | | | The class will be in person. |
| | 遠隔授業（オンデマンド型）で行う場合の追加措置
Additional measures for remote class (on-demand class) | | | Only in case of serious reasons (e.g. illness), students may ask to attend the class online. |
| | 質問への対応方法
Office hour | | | |
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