Introduction to Criminal Justice CULT1024 assignment
- Subject Code :
CULT1024
- University :
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CULT1024 Introduction to Criminal Justice Assessment 1
This document contains the following information regarding Assessment 1:
- Key details (including instructions, questions, and timeline)
- General tips and advice
- Specific advice (for each question).
Questions should be directed to the Discussion Board (Assessment 1 Questions folder). Students are encouraged to use the Discussion Board (rather than email) so a repository of information can be built for the benefit of every student. Students are encouraged to consult the Discussion Board before posting their question (in case it has already been answered).
- Key details (including instructions, questions, and timeline)
Assessment 1 involves responding to 5 short answer questions. Each response should be 200 words in length (plus or minus 10 per cent leeway), including in-text references. The total length of the assessment should be 1,000 words (200 words X 5 questions = 1,000 words, plus or minus 10 percent leeway), excluding the Reference List which should be displayed at the end of the document (aligning with Harvard WesternSydU style). Each response should cite the core text (White, Perrone, and Howes 2019) and two additional academic sources.
Students are required to respond to two compulsory questions and choose three additional questions from a list. The compulsory questions include:
- What is conservative criminology? What is critical criminology?
- In what ways does an understanding of the history of colonialism in Australia help to explain the current relationship between Indigenous Australians and the criminal justice system?
Students should also select three questions to answer from the list below:
- What is the relationship between moral panics and fear of crime, and how do they effect everyday life? Provide examples.
- What is criminological theory?
- How does left-realist victimology differ from critical victimology?
- Welfare fraud is largely a crime of poverty. Discuss.
- Graffiti is both a celebration of urban freedom and a blight on the landscape. Discuss.
- Is violence simply part of the human condition?
- Consider one victimless crime in light of normative models of libertarianism, paternalism, and moralism.
- How do you explain the fact that corporate criminals rarely face prosecution?
Students should list each question and their answers in one Word document that should be submitted in the Assessment 1 folder (in the vuws site) by the due date. The document should be formatted appropriately, including clear font and sizing (such as Times New Roman size 12). The responses should be presented logically and coherently, with full paragraph length (not dot points) responses.
Timeline:
- Preparing the work: the assessment will be discussed and workshopped in tutorials as the due date approaches
- Due date: Friday 18 April 5pm (Week 7)
- Disruption to Studies: sometimes you may experience unexpected challenges that may make submitting your work on time difficult. If you are in this situation, please complete a Disruption to Studies form, which offers processes for properly addressing the situation (such as through offering an extension without penalty, for example)
- Details can be found here (please read carefully): https://www.westernsydney.edu.au/currentstudents/current_students/services_and_facilities/special_consideration
- Submission method: in a Word document via the Assessment 1 folder in the CULT1024 vuws site
- Feedback: per university policy, results will be available by Friday 9 May.
General Tips and Advice
Please consider the following:
- Short answer questions test your ability to apply knowledge
- Each response should be written in paragraph form. Students should not use dot points.
- Doing well rests on your ability to answer the question directly (rather than write about the topic) and to write clearly and precisely.
- Read the question carefully. Think about what content you are being asked to share and how you are being asked to present it. Follow the direction words (e.g. discuss, define, evaluate) these words tell you what to do.
- The questions are designed to test your analytical skills. That is, it is not just providing information, but making you apply concepts to particular scenarios, problems, etc.
- Identify the focus and scope of each question. The question may ask you to focus on a particular element or context.
- Rephrase the question. This may help you clarify exactly what the question is asking of you.
- Use functional language to connect ideas and relationships. Connect ideas explicitly for your reader. Use linking words, such as this results in, helps show cause and effect. Alternatively, using however can help illustrate an alternative viewpoint.
- Use language from the subject. This helps demonstrate your learning and understanding, and engagement with the subject material.
- Make sure youre answering the question asked, and not simply writing everything you know about the topic.
- Remember, for each question, cite the core text and two additional academic sources.
- What is an academic source? This includes academic books, journal articles, books, and book chapters. It is a text that is generally peer-reviewed (so it is published in a peer-reviewed academic journal) or published by an academic press (e.g. Oxford University Press, Routledge, Springer, etc.).
- Make sure you answer 5 questions, including 1 and 2, and 3 others from the remaining options (3-10).
- Make sure you dont include wasted words or vague passages (for example, Scholars have been debating the definition of crime since the dawn of time, is too unclear, vague, and doesnt really say much). Each response is 200 words so students need to ensure they use all the words available to their own advantage.
- Specific Advice:
Question |
Tips |
Texts that may be useful |
1. What is conservative criminology? What is critical criminology? |
- define conservative criminology in your response - define critical criminology in your response - note that multiple definitions exist, and some scholars emphasise some attributes over others. - outline the differences between the two schools of thought (most notably, there are significant political differences between these positions, which should be teased out) - conservative criminology may also be known as administrative or mainstream criminology (please be consistent with the use of language) - using an example may be helpful in teasing out the differences (e.g. criminologists from a conservative position would approach A as X, while critical criminologists would) |
- core textbook (pp. 12-16, 68-70) - Mayhew P (2016) In defence of administrative criminology. Crime Science 5(7): 1-10. - Anthony T and Cunneen C (2008) (eds.) The Critical Criminology Companion. Hawkins Press, Sydney (particularly the Introduction and Chapter 1). |
2. In what ways does an understanding of the history of colonialism in Australia help to explain the current relationship between Indigenous Australians and the criminal justice system? |
- define colonialism and colonisation - the question is inferring that Indigenous Australians relationship with the criminal justice system cannot be understood properly without reference to colonialism, and you need to demonstrate why this is the case. - the question refers to the current relationship between Indigenous Australians and the criminal justice system, so students should outline what that relationship currently looks like for important context - outlining the continuing impacts of colonisation should be helpful in answering this question |
- core textbook (pp. 126-130) - Anthony T (2013) Indigenous People, Crime and Punishment. Routledge, New York and London. - Anthony T (2019) Decolonising Criminology: Imagining Justice in a Postcolonial World. Palgrave Macmillan, London. - Kaladelfos A and Nagy V (2024) Historical criminology and colonialism. History Australia 21(2): 163-183. - Porter A (2019) Aboriginal sovereignty, crime and criminology. Current Issues in Criminal Justice 31(1): 122-142. |
3. What is the relationship between moral panics and fear of crime, and how do they effect everyday life? Provide examples. |
- define moral panics - define fear of crime - establish the relationship between moral panics and fear of crime (e.g. moral panics may increase fear of crime, and fear of crime may increase chances of moral panics occurring) - use an example to illustrate your argument - provide evidence that moral panics and fear of crime effect everyday life (e.g. research may suggest discrimination towards some groups due to moral panics, or increased anxieties within the population due to generalized fear of crime |
- core textbook (pp. 39-44) - Young J (2011) Moral panics and the transgressive other. Crime Media Culture 7(3): 245-258. - Clifford K and White R (2017) Media and Crime: Content, Context and Consequence. Oxford University Press, Melbourne. - Morgan G, Dagistanli S, and Martin G (2010) Global fears, local anxieties: Policing, counterterrorism and moral panic over bikie gang wars in New South Wales. Australian & New Zealand Journal of Criminology 43(3): 580-599. |
4. What is criminological theory? |
- the response needs to define criminological theory - the response should identify the goal of criminological theory - students should explain the focal point of criminological theory (individual, situational, social/structural) - students should reflect on the strengths and weaknesses of criminological theory (for example, can theory be proven, or does attention on the individual elide the social/structural?) |
- core textbook (pp. 51-54) - White R, Haines F, and Asquith NL (2017) Crime & Criminology. 6th edn. Oxford University Press, Melbourne. - Rodas A et al. (2020) Crime, Deviance and Society: An Introduction to Sociological Criminology. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge. |
5. How does left-realist victimology differ from critical victimology? |
- define victimology - define left-realist victimology - define critical victimology - document the difference between the perspectives (examples may be useful here) |
- core textbook (pp. 76-77, 97-99) - Doerner WG and Lab SP (2015) Victimology. 7th edn. Routledge, London and New York. - Walklate S (1990) Researching victims of crime: Critical victimology. Social Justice 17(3): 25-42. |
6. Welfare fraud is largely a crime of poverty. Discuss. |
- define welfare fraud - the question is implicitly asking whether welfare fraud occurs because of poverty (as opposed to some other motive, such as thrill or desire). Responses should outline and articulate whether they think this is the case or not (and why which needs to be supported by literature) - the response should also discuss the relationship between welfare fraud and poverty, and consider how payments are deliberately pitched at the lowest possible levels to disincentivize reliance upon such payments (as outlined on p. 115 of the textbook) |
- core textbook (pp. 172-173) - Wilcock S (2019) (De-)criminalizing welfare? The rise and fall of social security fraud prosecutions in Australia. The British Journal of Criminology 59(6): 1498-1519. - Staines Z, Marston G, Bielefield S, Humpage L, Mendes P, and Peterie M (2021) Governing poverty: Compulsory income management and crime in Australia. Critical Criminology 29(4): 745-761. |
7. Graffiti is both a celebration of urban freedom and a blight on the landscape. Discuss. |
- define graffiti - the question is suggesting an and/both rather than either/or proposition, which is that graffiti is a celebration of urban freedom and blight on the landscape (not just one of these notions). Responses need to engage with this notion (by either agreeing or disagreeing, and discussing why informed by academic literature) |
- core textbook (pp. 175-177) - Kramer R (2017) The Rise of Legal Graffiti Writing in New York and Beyond. Palgrave Macmillan, London. - McAuliffe C and Iveson K (2011) Art and crime (and other things besides): Conceptualising graffiti in the city. Geography Compass 5(3): 128-143. - Young A (2013) Street Art, Public City: Law, Crime and the Urban Imagination. Routledge, London. - Young A (2012) Criminal images: The affective judgment of graffiti and street art. Crime, Media, Culture 8(3): 297-314. - McAuliffe C (2012) Graffiti or street art? Negotiating the moral geographies of the creative city. Journal of Urban Affairs 34(2): 189-206. |
8. Is violence simply part of the human condition? |
- the question is basically asking whether violence is inherent and unavoidable, and responses need to adopt a position (informed by academic literature) - this relates to the work of mile Durkheim (1858-1917), a famous sociologist, who argued that crime is a normal part of any functional society, and that it helps reinforce social solidarity, allows for change, and establishes moral boundaries. - responses to this question will depend on the definition of violence they use (e.g. physical, structural, psychic, etc.), so responses should be clear with their definitions of violence so the argument is contextualized and understandable - responses are strongly encouraged to use evidence to support their argument |
- core textbook (p. 201) - Christie N (2004) A Suitable Amount of Crime. Routledge, London and New York. - Stubbs J and Tomsen S (2016) Australian violence: Then and now. In Australian Violence: Crime, Criminal Justice and Beyond, edited by J Stubbs and S Tomsen. The Federation Press, Sydney, pp. 1-13 (the forward may also be interesting). - Ray L (2011) Violence & Society. SAGE, London. |
9. Consider one victimless crime in light of normative models of libertarianism, paternalism, and moralism. |
- define victimless crime - introduce and outline how libertarianism, paternalism, and moralism influence the im/permissibility and attitudes towards victimless crime - select and introduce your chosen victimless crime - discuss your chosen crime through the three lens (libertarianism, paternalism, and moralism). Highlight the implications from each perspective (e.g. from a paternalistic standpoint, X would be considered). |
- core textbook (pp. 208-210) - Stylianou S (2010) Victimless deviance: Toward a classification of opposition justifications. Western Criminology Review 11(2): 43-56. - the literature you use may depend on the victimless crime you select (e.g. sex work, illegal drug use, etc.) |
10. How do you explain the fact that corporate criminals rarely face prosecution? |
- in other words, what are the for low prosecution rates for corporate crime? - be sure to define corporate crime - identify and explain the reasons for low prosecution rates |
- core textbook (pp. 231-232, 241-249) - Tombs S and Whyte D (2015) The Corporate Criminal: Why Corporations Must Be Abolished. Routledge, London. - Barak G (2017) Unchecked Corporate Power: Why the Crimes of Multinational Corporations Are Routinized Away and What We Can Do About It. Routledge, London. |
