LAW27330 Crime, Media, Culture

Academic Year 2024/2025

This 5 credit module examines the role of culture and the media in relation to crime and justice. It explores the contested meanings that underpin the ways in which we perceive of and respond to wrong-doing. As public agendas are set by rolling 24hr news coverage, street violence is narrated on social media and true-crime podcasts have become so popular that they are regularly satirised, it is an important time to study this topic. We examine the nature of a late-modern society where criminality inspires great fear and resentment, whilst at the same time it provides imagery which is harnessed to produce entertainment and sell a range of consumer goods. Students will become familiar with cutting edge research and theory in the fields of Cultural Criminology, Visual Criminology and Media and Crime, learning to understand the significance of media in a society increasingly saturated and defined by it.

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Curricular information is subject to change

Learning Outcomes:

On completion of the module students should be able to:
1. Display an understanding of the links between crime, justice the media and cultural contexts.
2. Evaluate the relationships between crime, media representations and cultural dynamics.
3. Analyse how cultural contexts and media representations shape crime control.
4. Make links between important debates and theoretical developments in media and crime and cultural criminology.
5. Discuss issues of crime, media and culture within a late-modern global context.

Indicative Module Content:

Cultural Criminology
News, Crime and Justice
Crime Entertainment
Consumerism, Carnival and Crime
Crime and the Image
Street Culture Crime and Control
New Media and Crime
Political Cultures and Crime

Student Effort Hours: 
Student Effort Type Hours
Lectures

24
Autonomous Student Learning

100
Total

124
Approaches to Teaching and Learning:
This module is delivered face to face with additional online material. Students will be assigned work to prepare most weeks. This may be reading, watching short videos, completing online exercises, reflection and preparing to debate, or preparing written work. Students are expected to engage with all teaching and learning activities. 
Requirements, Exclusions and Recommendations

Not applicable to this module.


Module Requisites and Incompatibles
Not applicable to this module.
 
Assessment Strategy  
Description Timing Component Scale Must Pass Component % of Final Grade In Module Component Repeat Offered
Exam (In-person): Written exam End of trimester
Duration:
2 hr(s)
 Standard conversion grade scale 40% No

100

 Yes

Carry forward of passed components
Yes
 
Resit In Terminal Exam
Spring No
Please see Student Jargon Buster for more information about remediation types and timing. 
Feedback Strategy/Strategies

• Feedback individually to students, post-assessment
• Group/class feedback, post-assessment
• Self-assessment activities

How will my Feedback be Delivered?

Throughout the semester: Should students require feedback on their learning for this module, they are encouraged to self-assess and seek clarification from the relevant member of teaching staff who delivered the topic, by using office hours. See Brightspace for contact details. Group Feedback on Examination: On release of module examination results, group class feedback will be made available. Individual Feedback on Examination: Students will be informed of opportunities to receive individual feedback on their examination, in accordance with UCD Sutherland School of Law requirements for viewing individual feedback on examination. Further information to be communicated via Brightspace when grades are released.