Working in the Criminal Justice System - SOC00048H
- Department: Sociology
- Credit value: 20 credits
- Credit level: H
- Academic year of delivery: 2022-23
Module summary
This module gives you the opportunity to engage with key debates related to working in the criminal justice system. Looking at the roles and responsibilities of people working in the criminal justice system, it relates key sociological concepts to the experience of working or volunteering in the criminal justice system. It is structured around specific occupations and there will be contributions from practitioners.
Module will run
| Occurrence | Teaching period |
|---|---|
| A | Spring Term 2022-23 |
Module aims
- Provide an understanding of the roles and responsibilities of people working within the criminal justice system, informed by sociological and criminological theory.
- Develop students’ understanding of the criminal justice system from the perspective of those working within it.
- Inform and engage students in the key debates around work in the criminal justice system.
Module learning outcomes
Having completed the module, students should be able to:
- Discuss a range of types of work within the criminal justice system and make comparisons between roles.
- Understand and critically respond to current debates about work in the criminal justice system.
- Critically engage with debates about the roles and responsibilities of those working in the criminal justice system.
- Relate Sociological and Criminological concepts to the experiences of those working in the criminal justice system.
- Analyse the extent to which the contributions of those working within the criminal justice system meet the goals of the system.
- Communicate a scholarly argument in the visual format of a poster
Module content
Teaching will be delivered in a three hour workshop.
Week 2: *Police officers
Week 3: Police officers
Week 4: Volunteers
Week 5: Prison Officers
Week 6: *Prison Managers
Week 7: Community development workers
Week 8: Social work and healthcare professionals
Week 9: Probation officers
*Possible alumni/guest speaker
Themes to be considered in relation to these roles: discretion; recruitment and representation; emotional labour; managerialism; identification of ‘clients’; care vs discipline; privatisation, occupational culture, gender.
Indicative assessment
| Task | % of module mark |
|---|---|
| Essay/coursework | 25 |
| Essay/coursework | 75 |
Special assessment rules
None
Additional assessment information
Formative assessment is conducted via peer and staff feedback on an analysis of samples of academic posters, in preparation for producing an academic poster for summative assessment.
Indicative reassessment
| Task | % of module mark |
|---|---|
| Essay/coursework | 25 |
| Essay/coursework | 75 |
Module feedback
Oral feedback is provided in seminars particularly via formative work
Feedback on summative work is provided in written format and additional oral feedback (based on the written feedback) is provided by personal supervisors.
Indicative reading
Bennett, J., Crewe, B. and Wahidin, A. (Eds.) (2008) Understanding Prison Staff. Cullompton: Willan Publishing
Bennett, J., (2016). The working lives of prison managers : global change, local culture and individual agency in the late modern prison, Basingstoke, Hampshire : Palgrave Macmillan.
Cockcroft, T. (2013). Police culture: themes and concepts. Abingdon: Routledge
Crawley, E, (2004) Doing Prison work. Cullompton, Devon; Willan
Gelsthorpe, L., Padfield, N. and Padfield, N., (2003). Exercising discretion : decision-making in the criminal justice system and beyond, Cullompton : London: Willan Publishing ; Routledge.
Martin, S.E. and Jurik, Nancy C., (2007). Doing justice, doing gender: women in legal and criminal justice occupations 2nd ed., Thousand Oaks, Calif.; London: Sage Publications.
Mawby, R.C. and Worrall, Anne, (2013). Doing probation work: identity in a criminal justice occupation, New York: Routledge.
Norman, A.E. and Parrish, Alan, (2002). Prison nursing, Oxford: Blackwell Science.