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Criminology

The Team 

Staff Member 

Role 

Email Address 

Mr J Joyce 

Curriculum Leader for Social Sciences and Deputy Head of Sixth Form 

JoyceJ@ursuline.kent.sch.uk 

Mr J Anderson 

Teacher of Criminology and Psychology 

AndersonJ@ursuline.kent.sch.uk 

Mrs E Rowe 

Teacher of Criminology and RE; Duke of Edinburgh Award Centre Manager 

RoweE@ursuline.kent.sch.uk 

 

If you have any questions relating to this course, please do not hesitate to contact the relevant members of staff using the details above.  

 

Key Stage 5 

Exam Board: WJEC Eduqas 

Link to Specification: Please click https://wjecwebsitelive.blob.core.windows.net/media/yzqlsmq4/wjec-applied-diploma-in-criminology-spec-e-03-06-2020-1.pdf?sv=2019-07-07&sr=b&sig=xqbDUe4ZxlShwyE1DlPmQLHKctnCZP6n3jOClhQc%2BjE%3D&se=2020-09-26T00%3A23%3A57Z&sp=r 

 

Future Careers:  

The main purpose of the WJEC Level 3 Applied Diploma in Criminology is mainly to use the qualification to support access to higher education degree courses, such as: BSc Criminology; BA Criminology; BA Criminology and Criminal Justice; BSc (Hons) Criminology and Psychology; LLB (Hons) Law with Criminology; BA (Hons) Criminology and Sociology; BA (Hons) Criminology; BSc (Hons) Psychology and Sociology; BSc Criminology with Law. Alternatively, the qualification allows learners to gain the required understanding and skills to be able to consider employment within some aspects of the criminal justice system, e.g. the National Probation Service, the Courts and Tribunals Service or the National Offender Management Service. Each year, recruitment teams from Kent Police and UK Border Force deliver assemblies to our students.Page Break 

Subject Information and Extracurricular Opportunities:  

The Applied Diploma in Criminology is a two-year programme of study, following the Eduqas (WJEC) specification. The two units that students study in Year 12 are Changing Awareness of Crime, with a particular focus on learners planning a campaign for change relating to crime, and Criminological Theories where learners will consider how changes in criminological theory have influenced policy and how the theories can be applied to a specific crime or criminal to explain their behaviour. In Year 13 students will study Crime Scene to Courtroom, where learners will develop the skills to review criminal cases, evaluate the evidence in the cases to determine whether the verdict is safe and just, and Crime and Punishment which focuses on the criminal justice system in England and Wales and how it operates to achieve social control. 

The Department organises regular fieldtrips to consolidate student knowledge. The most relevant and enjoyable trip is our annual visit to London where visits are arranged to Parliament, the Old Bailey, the Clink Museum, the City of London Police Museum and a walking tour of the East End of London. There are also trips organised by the wider department to Barcelona, Berlin and Rome where aspects of social justice could be analysed at an international level. Within school, the department has excellent relations with a range of outside agencies, who come and deliver presentations to our students. Last year, the guest speakers included: Parliament Outreach (2x MPs), Kent Police, UK Border Force, Kent Police Forensic Training Team, Magistrates in the Community, Victim Support and lecturers from Canterbury Christ Church University. 

The programme of study, completed over two years, can be seen in detail below: 

 

Cycle 1 

Cycle 2 

Cycle 3 

Cycle 4 

Year 12 

Unit 1 Changing Awareness of Crime   

Types of Crime  

  • White Collar (organised / corporate / professional)  

  • Moral  

  • State (Human Rights)  

  • Technological (e-crime)  

  • Individual (hate crime / honour crime / domestic abuse)  

 

Reasons that crimes are unreported  

  • Personal (fear / shame / disinterest / not affected)  

  • Social and cultural (lack of knowledge / complexity / lack of media interest / lack of current public concern / culture bound crime e.g. honour killing and witchcraft)  

 

Consequences of unreported crime  

  • Ripple Effect  

  • Cultural  

  • Decriminalisation  

  • Police Prioritisation  

  • Unrecorded Crime  

  • Cultural Change  

  • Legal Change  

  • Procedural Change  

 

Media Representation  

  • Newspaper  

  • Television  

  • Film  

  • Electronic Gaming  

  • Social media (blogs, social networking)  

  • Music 

 

Impact on public perception  

  • Moral Panic  

  • Changing Public concerns and attitudes  

  • Perceptions of crime trends  

  • Stereotyping of criminals  

  • Levels of response to crime and types of punishment  

  • Changing priorities and emphasis  

 

Statistics about crime  

  • Reliability  

  • Validity  

  • Ethics of Research  

  • Strengths and limitations  

  • Purpose of research  

  • Home office statistics  

  • Crime Survey for England and Wales.  

 

 

 

 

 

Unit 1 Changing Awareness of Crime   

Campaigns for change  

  • Policy  

  • Law  

  • Prioritise of agencies  

  • Funding  

  • Awareness  

  • Attitude  

 

Media  

  • Blogs  

  • Viral Messaging  

  • Social Networking  

  • Advertising  

  • Radio  

  • Television  

  • Film  

  • Documentary  

  • Word of Mouth  

  • Events  

  • Print  

 

Plan a Campaign for Change  

  • Aims and Objectives  

  • Justification of choice of campaign  

  • Target audience  

  • Methods to be used  

  • Materials to be used  

  • Finances  

  • Timescales  

  • Resources needed  

 

Design materials 

  • Structure of information  

  • Use of images or other accentuating features to capture attention  

  • Use of persuasive language  

  • Promotion of action  

  • Consideration of target audience  

  • Alignment with campaign  

 

Justify a campaign for change  

  • Presentation of a case for action  

  • Use of evidence in support of a case 

  • Use of persuasive language  

 

Unit 2 Criminological Theories  

Crime   

  • Social definition  

  • Legal definition  

  • Formal sanctions against criminals  

  • Variety of criminal acts  

 

Deviance  

  • Norms, moral codes and values  

  • Informal and formal sanctions against deviance  

  • Forms of deviance  

 

Social Construction  

  • How laws change from culture to culture  

  • How laws change over time  

  • How laws are applied differently according to circumstances in which actions occur  

  • Why laws are different according to place, time and culture  

 

Biological Theories  

  • Genetic Theories  

  • Physiological Theories  

 

Individualistic Theories  

  • Learning Theories  

  • Psychodynamic  

  • Psychological Theories 

 

Sociological Theories  

  • Social Structure  

  • Interactionism  

  • Realism  

 

Unit 2 Criminological Theories  

Situations  

  • Different types of crime  

  • Individual criminal behaviour  

 

Criminological Theories  

  • Individualistic  

  • Biological  

  • Sociological  

 

Criminological Theories informing policy development  

  • Individualistic  

  • Biological  

  • Sociological  

  • Informal policy making  

  • Formal policy making – crime control policies / state punishment policies  

 

Social Changes affecting policy development  

  • Social values, norms and mores  

  • Public perception of crime  

  • Structure of society – demographic changes  

  • Cultural changes  

 

Campaigns affecting policy making  

  • Newspaper campaigns  

  • Individual campaigns  

  • Pressure group campaigns  

 

Year 13 

Unit 3 Crime Scene to Courtroom 

 

Personnel involved in Criminal Investigation  

  • crime scene investigators  

  • forensic specialists  

  • forensic scientists  

  • police officers/detectives  

  • Crown Prosecution Service (CPS)  

  • Pathologist  

  • Other investigative agencies, e.g. Serious and Organised Crime Agency, HM Revenue & Customs  

 

Investigative Techniques in Criminal Investigations  

Techniques 

  • Forensic  

  • Surveillance techniques  

  • Profiling techniques  

  • Use of intelligence databases, e.g. National DNA Database  

  • Interview   

  • Eye-witness  

  • other witnesses, e.g experts  

  • Observation, etc.  

 

Criminal Investigations  

  • Situations 

  • crime scene  

  • laboratory 

  • police station 

  • ‘street’ 

  • Types of crime   

  • violent crime 

  • e-crime 

  • property crime  

 

Types of Evidence  

  • Physical Evidence  

  • Testimonial Evidence  

 

Processing Evidence  

  • Collection  

  • Transfer  

  • Storage  

  • Analysis   

  • Personnel Involved  

 

Rights of Individuals  

  • Suspects  

  • Victims  

  • Witnesses  

 

Crown Prosecution Service  

  • Charging Role – Criminal Justice Act 2003  

  • Prosecution of Offences Act 1985  

  • Full Code Test  

 

 

Unit 3 Crime Scene to Courtroom 

 

Trial Processes  

  • Pre-trial  

  • Bail  

  • Roles  

  • Plea Bargaining  

  • Courts  

  • Appeals  

 

Using Evidence (Rules)  

  • Relevance and admissibility  

  • Disclosure of evidence   

  • Hearsay rule and exceptions  

  • Legislation and case law  

 

Key Influences  

  • Evidence  

  • Media  

  • Witnesses  

  • Experts  

  • Politics  

  • Judiciary  

  • Barristers and legal teams  

 

Laypeople  

  • Juries  

  • Magistrates  

 

Information sources  

  • Evidence  

  • Trial Transcripts  

  • Media Reports  

  • Judgements  

  • Law Reports  

 

Examine information for  

  • Bias  

  • Opinion  

  • Circumstances  

  • Currency  

  • Accuracy  

 

Conclusions 

  • Just verdicts 

  • Miscarriages of justice 

  • Safe verdicts  

  • Just sentencing 

 

Unit 4 Crime and Punishment 

 

Processes used for law making  

  • Government processes  

  • Judiciary  

  

Criminal Justice System  

  • Police  

  • Law creation  

  • Process  

  • Crime Control  

  • Courts  

  • Formal punishment  

  • Relationships   

 

Models of Criminal Justice  

  • Due Process 

  • Crime Control 

 

Forms of Social Control  

  • Internal   

  • Rational Ideology   

  • Tradition  

  • Internalisation of social rules and morality  

  • External Forms 

  • Coercion  

  • Fear of Punishment  

  • Control Theory 

  • Reasons for abiding by the law  

 

Aims of Punishment  

  • Retribution 

  • Rehabilitation 

  • Deterrence 

  • Prevention of reoffending  

  • Deterrence of others from committing similar crimes  

  • Public protection  

  • Reparation  

 

Forms of punishment  

  • Imprisonment 

  • Community 

  • Financial 

  • Discharge  

 

Unit 4 Crime and Punishment 

 

Role of agencies  

  • Aims and objectives 

  • Funding 

  • Philosophy 

  • Working practices 

  • types of criminality 

  • types of offender 

  • Reach (local, national)  

 

Agencies  

  • Government-sponsored agencies 

  • Police 

  • CPS 

  • Judiciary 

  • Prisons 

  • Probation  

  • Charities  

  • Pressure Groups  

 

Contribution of agencies  

Tactics and measures used by agencies  

  • Environmental 

  • Design 

  • Gated  

  • Behavioural 

  • ASBO 

  • Token Economy  

  • Institutional  

  • Disciplinary procedures 

  • Rule making 

  • Staged / phased  

  • Gaps in state provision  

 

Limitations  

  • Repeat offenders / recidivism 

  • Civil liberties and legal barriers  

  • Access to resources and support 

  • Finance  

  • Local and national policies 

  • Environment 

  • Crime committed by those with moral imperatives 

 

Effectiveness of agencies  

  • Government-sponsored agencies  

  • Police 

  • CPS 

  • Judiciary 

  • Prisons 

  • Probation  

  • Charities 

  • Pressure Groups