Representing Crime

Subject CRIM90020 (2011)

Note: This is an archived Handbook entry from 2011.

Credit Points: 12.50
Level: 9 (Graduate/Postgraduate)
Dates & Locations:

This subject is not offered in 2011.
Time Commitment: Contact Hours: A 2-hour seminar per week for 12 weeks.
Total Time Commitment: Not available
Prerequisites: None
Corequisites: None
Recommended Background Knowledge: Criminology or Sociology at Undergraduate level
Non Allowed Subjects:

191-438 Texts and Violence

191-438 Criminal Fictions

191-438 Representing Crime

Core Participation Requirements:

For the purposes of considering request for Reasonable Adjustments under the disability Standards for Education (Cwth 2005), and Students Experiencing Academic Disadvantage Policy, academic requirements for this subject are articulated in the Subject Description, Subject Objectives, Generic Skills and Assessment Requirements of this entry.

The University is dedicated to provide support to those with special requirements. Further details on the disability support scheme can be found at the Disability Liaison Unit website: http://www.services.unimelb.edu.au/disability/

Contact

Prof. Alison Young ayoung@unimelb.edu.au
Subject Overview:

Crime is an issue of great social, individual and cultural concern. This subject investigates some of the ways in which violence is represented, talked about, and interpreted. The subject focuses on two issues: how to interpret representations of crime (such as those in newspapers, legal discourse, literature, art, and social policy). and how to analyze the significance of representations of crime in the context of policy-making, preventing and responding to crime. The subject includes an emphasis on interpretive and analytical skills, covering discourse analysis, aspects of literary criticism, techniques of newspaper analysis, and understanding legal discourse. The subject engages with crime in a range of forms, with a particular focus on crimes of violence, including domestic violence, sexual assault, terrorism and the Holocaust. In case studies and readings, there will be a focus on trauma (whether individual or collective), problems of memory and commemoration after violence, and the difficulties of doing justice to the experience of victimization.
Objectives:
  • Be able to critically analyze textual representations of violence.
  • Be able to conduct library research on textual representations of violence.
  • Be able to understand the implications of textual representations of violence.
  • Be able to write critically and analytically about textual representations of violence.
Assessment: A 1500 word critical analysis of one of the theory and method topics covered in the subject, together with relevant reading (30%) due mid-semester, a 3500 word essay on a case study covered in the course or on a relevant topic agreed in consultation with the course coordinator (70%) due at the end of semester.
Prescribed Texts:

A subject reader will be available for purchase from the University Bookshop
Breadth Options:

This subject is not available as a breadth subject.
Fees Information: Subject EFTSL, Level, Discipline & Census Date
Generic Skills:
  • Have highly developed cognitive, analytical and problem-solving skills.
  • Have an advanced understanding of complex concepts and the ability to express them lucidly in writing and orally.
  • Have sophisticated awareness of cultural, ethnic and gender diversities and their implications.
  • Have an ability to plan work and to use time effectively.
Notes:
Related Course(s): Master of Criminology (CWT)
Master of Public Policy and Management (Coursework)
Master of Social Policy
Related Majors/Minors/Specialisations: 200 point program - full time over 24 months
Criminology
Criminology
Criminology
Socio-Legal studies
Socio-legal Studies

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