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This course introduces students to the principal theories of crime and applies those theories to an understanding of crime in New Zealand.
The ‘problem’ of crime and its remedy through the criminal justice system has been of crucial and ongoing concern to urban societies. It was out of a desire to find what causes crime and how it can be prevented that people first became interested in criminology. But it soon became clear that criminal behaviour has many and various aspects, and that understanding it is far from simple. This caused some to develop even more complex theories about its causes, while others began to wonder if the causes even mattered. If criminal behaviour refers to the breaking of rules, the latter reasoned, the behaviour may be less pertinent than the rules which make it so. It was from this type of reflection that modern criminology emerged.What criminology does now is look at the character of rules, which necessarily prefaces any understanding of rule-breaking. The nature of rules, the acts which violate them, and the responses of society to these violations, are all themes which run like a leitmotif through crime and justice theory today.This approach to offending is more than four decades old and over the years criminological theory has altered significantly. Theories of crime have been closely linked to other social and intellectual developments and have often had little to do with utility. Like other forms of knowledge, specific theories of deviance only became popular when society was ready for what they had to offer. What the theories actually said is of relatively minor importance now. The significance of theory to us is not its content, so much as the way it responds to the dominant paradigms of its day.
In Crime and Justice 218 we look at three separate areas, beginning with the evolution of ideas about crime and deviance in the modern world. After tracing the emergence of beliefs from as far back as Greek times, section one looks in some depth at the 20th Century, examining the changes in notions about crime and the reasons for their transience. The section closes with a consideration of modern 'critical' criminology, and why it grew popular when it did.The second section is concerned with specific aspects of crime and deviance in New Zealand. We examine the dimensions of crime in its various forms, how these changed last century and how they compare with other countries. The manner by which the definitions and incidence of crime have been influenced by the political economy lies behind our factual analysis.The last section of the course deals with corrections. Once again we trace the development of criminal justice through history, and look particularly at how conceptions of punishment have changed in New Zealand over the past one hundred years or so. Finally we examine correctional systems in the modern world and discuss whether, and to what extent, they are able to deal effectively with criminals.
15 points of 100 level SOCI level with a B grade or better; OR 30 points in SOCI at 100 level; alternatively students without SOCI at 100 level but with a B average in 60 points in related subjects may be admitted; OR LAWS101; OR CRJU101 or LAWS150;
SOCI218
Greg Newbold
Library portalLearn Course Reader Assignment Sheet Cover Plagiarism Statement Referencing for Sociology Using EndNote for referencing Writing guides for Sociology
Domestic fee $717.00
International fee $2,913.00
* All fees are inclusive of NZ GST or any equivalent overseas tax, and do not include any programme level discount or additional course-related expenses.
This course will not be offered if fewer than 20 people apply to enrol.
For further information see Faculty of Law .