module specification

This module is an opportunity for students to engage with the growing literature and practice around disproportionality, White privilege, and the role that racism and oppression has played within the criminal justice system.

This module will challenge students to reflect on their own position and role within the justice system, including the local and systematic power structures they are part of and consider how they can leverage their social and cultural capital to influence change.  The module will enable critical engagement with local and national and international policy debates and consider the impact western hegemony has had on criminal justice systems around the world, before exploring what alternatives are possible.

The module supports students to consider what is needed to address disproportionality within all aspects of the criminal justice system including preventative measures such as public health and situational responses to crime, representation within the police service, arrest and enforcement statistics, criminal justice processes and incarceration. Students will be encouraged to see themselves as agents of change in their workplaces, sectors and wider afield.

The module aims are as follows:

• To consider and critically engage with key concepts;
• To provide an understanding of the historical and global trends of disproportionality within the criminal justice system;
• To nurture a self-reflective approach to responses to disproportionality, inequality and oppression;
• To encourage a globally grounded comparative analysis of the factors influencing disproportionality;
• To critique current responses to disproportionality and explore emerging ideas to address the issue.

This is a core module for the Dprof Crime, Policy and Security.

N/A

Module Introduction and overview of the theoretical and policy debates discussed in the module (1-5)
Here students will be introduced to the main theoretical and policy debates that are shaping discourse around disproportionality. This will both introduce students to the historical context and activism to combat injustice alongside debating the impacts of the current Black Lives Matter movement.

The historical and cultural contexts of injustice in the criminal justice system (1-2)
Here students will initially be asked to consider the role that imperialism has on notions of criminal justice both historically and in the contemporary world, which will lead to and exploration of the shadow the colonial past plays on disproportionality within the contemporary criminal justice system.

This will include considerations of how historical racial injustice has influenced contemporary social and cultural injustices within the criminal justice system.

Understanding White Privilege within a professional context (3)
Here students will critique the theories and debates around White privilege, through critical reflection of their own employment sector and their own position within their workplace.

Critical Race Theory and Post-Colonial Theory (3-4)
Students will explore how critical race theory and post-colonial theory can be used as tools to both understand the historical and contemporary issues of disproportionality and injustice within the criminal justice system.

Anti-Oppressive Practice within the criminal justice sector (3-4)
Students will explore recent developments in anti-oppressive practice and consider, both how this relates to their position in the workplace and whether this can still be a influential tool to address issues of disproportionality.

Understanding current disproportionality trends within the criminal justice system (4-5)
Here students will grapple with the current trends of disproportionality within the criminal justice system both in the global North and South. Students will consider what is driving these trends including analysing the differences and similarities between countries and regions

Global responses to injustice and disproportionality within the criminal justice system (4-6)
Here students will survey actions taken across the globe to address disproportionality and consider which ones could be applied to their specific context

This module is delivered through a blended learning module that will include one intensive three-day block, supported by three peer and tutor lead online seminars throughout the semester and additional individual tutorial times for each student

Students will be required to prepare for lectures by reading the core texts and complete online activities prior to the block teaching and seminar sessions including leading part of one of the seminars.

In addition to this, students are expected to engage in independent study to prepare for and write their assignments, though tutorial space will be made available to feedback on and assignment plans. Students are encouraged to develop case studies from their own profession which be used within the seminars as the basis for discussion and peer review. The teaching methods will include groupwork, lectures, guest lectures, workshops, and appraisal of audio-visual material. Recommended reading will be available to support each session. Additional electronic material and useful websites will be made available via Weblearn

By the end of the module, students will be able to:

1. Place disproportionality within the historical context of racism and racial tensions in the UK and elsewhere
2. Understand and critique the social, economic and cultural factors that influence disproportionality
3. Understand the role that White Privilege plays in the oppression of minority groups
4. Critically evaluate the effectiveness of current attempts to address discrimination and disproportionality within the Criminal Justice System in the global North and South
5. Make sector specific recommendations for addressing disproportionality, oppression and injustice

https://londonmet.rl.talis.com/lists/440BFF6D-EEE8-DA64-B6F3-8F3584E3E3BE.html