YEAR ONE CONTENT
Unit 1 (year 1) Changing awareness of crime: at the end of this unit, you will have developed skills to differentiate between myth and reality when it comes to crime and to recognise that common representations may be misleading and inaccurate; the importance of changing public perceptions of crime; the skills to plan a campaign for change in relation to crime; for example to raise awareness, change attitudes or change reporting behaviour.
Unit 2 (year 1) Criminological theories: at the end of this unit you will have developed the skills to evaluate some criminological theories (why do people commit crimes?) and know there are debates within the different theories. You will understand how changes in criminological theory have influenced policy. You will also have gained the skills to apply the theories to a specific crime or criminal in order to understand both the behaviour and the theory.
YEAR TWO CONTENT
Unit 3 (year 2) Crime Scene to Court Room: at the end of this unit you will have developed the skills to analyse evidence, review criminal cases and evaluate the evidence in the cases to determine whether the verdict is safe and just.
Unit 4 (year 2) Crime and Punishment: at the end of this unit, you will consider such questions such as “Why do most of us tend to obey the law even when to do so is against our own interests?”, “What social institutions have we developed to ensure that people do obey laws?”, “What happens to those who violate our legal system?”, “Why do we punish people?”, “How do we punish people?” What organisations do we have in our society to control criminality or those who will not abide by the social rules that most of us follow?”, “We spend a great deal of taxpayers’ money on social control, so how effective are these organisations in dealing with criminality?”
