| CODE | PSY5635 | ||||||||
| TITLE | Understanding Criminal Conduct 1: An Introduction | ||||||||
| UM LEVEL | 05 - Postgraduate Modular Diploma or Degree Course | ||||||||
| MQF LEVEL | 7 | ||||||||
| ECTS CREDITS | 5 | ||||||||
| DEPARTMENT | Psychology | ||||||||
| DESCRIPTION | The study-unit will commence with an exploration of the understanding of what constitutes crime and offending behaviour. It will explore how crime is measured in society and expose the bias in all forms of measurement of crime thereby putting under the spotlight the taken for granted associations we make between crime and a number of correlates such as age, gender, ethnicity and class. The study-unit will explore the numerous theoretical frameworks that have been developed to understand offending behaviour and will do this by drawing from other disciplines besides psychology in an attempt to give future practitioners a widest possible understanding of the phenomenon. The theoretical frameworks will be explored critically and their implications for research, policy and practice will be extrapolated. Study-unit Aims: The study-unit aims to provide future forensic psychologists with a solid theoretical basis for understanding the phenomenon of offending behaviour. It seeks to do this from a number of perspectives in order to inform their practice. To this effect this unit will expose future forensic practitioners to theories of offending from disciplines like sociology and biology as well as psychology in an attempt to dismiss a myopic understanding of crime in society. Learning Outcomes: 1. Knowledge & Understanding: By the end of the study-unit the student will be able to: • critically engage with a number of competing definitions of crime and offending; • explain how the research practices engaged in to measure crime and offending behaviour contribute to the construction of the correlates of offending; • demonstrate a good understanding of the classic and more recent theories of crime; • critically engage with the implications of a number of theories of crime for policy and practice; • incorporate a range of concepts from related disciplines in one’s understanding of offending behaviour. 2. Skills: By the end of the study-unit the student will be able to: • draw on evidence from a number of disciplines other than psychology, to develop a coherent approach offending behaviour; • develop a critical stance towards research in their field and identify its main limitations; • critically engage with the implications for practice of variant approaches to crime and offending behaviour; • be able to engage in dialogue across a number of disciplinary contexts. Main Text/s and any supplementary readings: Main Text/s: - Howitt, D (2012) Introduction to Forensic and Criminal Psychology USA: Prentice Hall. - Bernard, T.; Snipes, J. and Gerould, A. (20010) Vold's Theoretical Criminology Oxford University Press. Supplementary readings: - Clark, M. (2002) ‘Drug Abuse and Criminal Careers: An investigation into the Relationship between Abuse, Addiction and Criminality’. In Bell, A. & Arpa, S. (eds) Euro Med Networking in Substance Abuse Prevention Vol 2 (41-63) Sedqa: Malta. - Clark, M (2006) ‘Commitment to Crime: the role of the criminal justice system’, European Journal of Criminology 3 (2): 201–220. - Clark, M. ( 2007). Crime, Honour and Shame. The Correctional Psychologist 39, 9-12. - Clark, M. (2010) Drugs and Alcohol in Relation to Crime and Victimisation. In Shoham, S., Knepper, & P. Kett, M. (eds) International Handbook of Victimology (251-281) FL:Taylor and Francis. - Clark, M. (2011) The Role of Social Cognition in Criminal Careers. Internet Journal of Criminology ISSN 2045-6743 (Online): http://www.internetjournalofcriminology.com/Clark_The_Role_of_Social_Cognition_in_the_Development_of_the_Criminal_Career.pdf - Clark, M. (2011) Exploring the criminal lifestyle: a grounded theory study of Maltese male habitual offenders International Journal of Criminology and Sociological Theory 4 (1): 563-583. - Curran, D & Renzetti, C (1994). Theories of crime. MA: Allyn and Bacon. - Walters, G (2011) Crime in a Psychological Context: From Career Criminals to Criminal Careers. USA: Sage. |
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| STUDY-UNIT TYPE | Lecture | ||||||||
| METHOD OF ASSESSMENT |
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| LECTURER/S | Chantal Avellino Marilyn Clark Kevin Henwood Roberta Holland |
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The University makes every effort to ensure that the published Courses Plans, Programmes of Study and Study-Unit information are complete and up-to-date at the time of publication. The University reserves the right to make changes in case errors are detected after publication.
The availability of optional units may be subject to timetabling constraints. Units not attracting a sufficient number of registrations may be withdrawn without notice. It should be noted that all the information in the description above applies to study-units available during the academic year 2025/6. It may be subject to change in subsequent years. |
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