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• Undergraduate study:
• Courses
• Order a prospectus
• How to apply
• Information for applicants
• Why choose Kingston University
• Disability and mental health support
• Accommodation
• Undergraduate fees
• Fees, funding and payments
• Access, participation and inclusion

Crime, Law and Justice

• Module code: CM4002
• Year: 2018/9
• Level: 4
• Credits: 30
• Pre-requisites: NONE
• Co-requisites: NONE

Summary

This module will provide students with an introduction to the institutions, processes and legal foundations of the criminal justice system in England and Wales. The module is core to the undergraduate degree. The module familiarises students with the language and reasoning of the criminal law and the structure and chronology of the criminal justice process. There is an emphasis on the development and practice of key academic skills especially information retrieval.

Aims

• To describe the institutions and processes of criminal justice and explain the functions of the Crown, parliament, police, courts, jury, Crown Prosecution Service and other key agents of justice.
• To provide an introduction to key legal concepts and terms in English criminal law.
• To provide a basic overview of the constitutional arrangements of the English legal system
• To introduce debate about the evidential burden and criteria for the determination of guilt.
• To introduce and encourage a critical awareness of inspection, review and scrutiny of the criminal justice system.
• To facilitate practice in criminological research skills and information gathering.
• To demonstrate and facilitate basic legal research skills. 

Learning outcomes

• Display accurate knowledge of the institutions of criminal justice in England and Wales.
• Correctly define and use a number of core legal terms.
• Describe the criminal justice process in outline - identifying the order of events and roles of key protagonists.
• Recognise a legal case and be able to search for information about that case.
• Identify and explain the concept and use of evidence in legal trials.
• Articulate and describe the role of scrutinising institutions in the criminal justice system. 

Curriculum content

• Arrest, detention and interview
• Magistrates and the Magistrates' court
• The concept of ‘guilt'
• Homicides and criminal liability
• Trials in the Crown Court
• Appeals, scrutiny and inspectorates
• Research, ethics and information gathering 

Teaching and learning strategy

This module will be taught through weekly two hour workshops. Students will be required to actively participate in taught sessions and undertake tasks and discussions. Additional resources will be made available to students through StudySpace.

Breakdown of Teaching and Learning Hours

Assessment strategy

This module will be assessed as follows: Two field trips to the Crown Court as an information retrieval exercise, which allows students to gain experience in accessing and evaluating the provenance, reliability and validity of the combination of specialist socio-legal data bases and observations from the court which will form the evidential material they will be handling in their summative assessment. The summative assessments for this course will be one 1500 word essay based on their Crown Court observations due at the end of the first semester and a one hour in-class test in the second semester, each worth 50%. 

Mapping of Learning Outcomes to Assessment Strategy (Indicative)

Elements of Assessment

Achieving a pass

It IS NOT a requirement that any major assessment category is passed separately in order to achieve an overall pass for the module

Bibliography core texts

Rivlin G. (2012) (6^th ed.) Understanding Law, Oxford: Oxford University Press

Bibliography recommended reading

Ashworth A. (2010) (5th ed) Sentencing and Criminal Justice, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press

Choo A. (2012) (3^rd ed.) Evidence Oxford: Oxford University Press

Herring J.(2010) (4^th ed.) Criminal Law: Text, Cases and Materials Oxford: Oxford University Press

Sanders A., Young R., Burton M., (2010) (4^th ed.), Criminal Justice Oxford: Oxford University Press