Module Description: Crimes of the State

This module is designed to enable students to:

· understand the social and political context of the development of ‘crimes of the state’ as an area of enquiry within criminology;

· contextualise state criminality and harm within the wider field of criminology;

· engage critically with the implications of scholarship on state crime on traditional definitions and explanations within criminology;

· explore the diversity of state crime and related definitional problems, including definitional issues around state-corporate crime;

· examine the limitations of traditional data sources in researching state crime;

· examine and critically assess the adequacy of responses (both national and international) to state crime;

· examine the causes and contexts that give rise to state crime and critically assess the adequacy of conventional criminological theories in explaining these forms of crime;

· develop skills in the interpretation of theoretical arguments and empirical qualitative and quantitative data;

· develop transferable skills, particularly skills in independent research, learning and problem solving.

By the end of this module, the successful student will be able to:

1. Locate the significance of state criminality in the wider context of criminology as a contested field of study;

2. Explain and evaluate complex definitional issues arising from the diversity of crimes, acts f and social harms perpetrated by agents of the state;

3. Identify examples of state crime and provide a detailed evaluation of their consequences in both national and international contexts;

4. Identify the causes and contexts giving rise to different forms of state crime;

5. Evaluate current mechanisms and future prospects for the control of state crime;

6. Apply relevant theoretical frameworks to the analysis of case studies;

7. Work independently, seeking and making effective use of feedback;

8. Demonstrate evidence of written presentational skills;

9. Demonstrate evidence of effective use of learning resources.

The emergence of ‘crimes of the powerful’ as an important field of study within criminology;

The problems of defining the state and state crime;

The underlying causes of state causes in democracies and authoritarian regimes;

Strategies for the control of state crime; the role of national and international regulatory bodies; the role of global social movements;

Case studies of state crime, e.g. war crimes, torture and rendition, immigration detention, border controls, ‘ethnic cleansing’ and genocide, police use of deadly force, and state-corporate crimes, e.g. the exploitation of workers, toxic waste, environmental degradation.

Victims’ responses to crimes of the powerful;

The role of the international community.

Due to the current circumstances, you will be taught entirely online. A large chunk of the content you are meant to engage with, you will be engaging with asynchronously, which means in your own time prior to the weekly seminar. You will also be learning through online synchronous (‘live’) contact. Finally, you will also be put into learning groups to facilitate peer learning.

Online weekly lectures will be used to provide an introduction to the main themes and debates and to provide a common foundation of learning to all students. These will not take the form of a single lecture, but will be divided up into a number of videos.

Quizzes will be embedded in the videos to check your understanding.

Discussion boards will be used to give you an opportunity to ask questions.

Guided independent study: students will be expected to do independent reading and research. Much student learning takes this form in terms of seminar and assessment preparation and personal reflection. In particular, as below, you will be assessed for your performance in weekly tasks as part of a ‘Learning Portfolio’.

Synchronous

Weekly online seminars will provide students with the opportunity for more student-centred, interactive learning to deepen their knowledge of a particular subject.

Individual/Group Tutorials will give the students the chance to discuss their assessment and any other questions they have with their tutor. You will have a chance to book a tutorial with the module leader every three weeks (weeks 3, 6, 9 and 12); at least one (in week 6) forms part of your assessment for the learning portfolio.