LW2YCJ: Young People, Crime and Justice

Module code: LW2YCJ

Module provider: School of Law

Credits: 20

Level: Level 2 (Intermediate)

When you'll be taught: Semester 1

Module convenor: Dr Alexandra Cox, email: a.cox@reading.ac.uk

Pre-requisite module(s):

Co-requisite module(s):

Pre-requisite or Co-requisite module(s):

Module(s) excluded:

Placement information: NA

Academic year: 2024/5

Available to visiting students: Yes

Talis reading list: Yes

Last updated: 2 October 2024

Overview

Module aims and purpose

This module draws from interdisciplinary approaches to the study of youth justice to explore the history and theory of young people’s offending. The module is aimed at providing students with a critical understanding of the history of childhood and delinquency, which will contribute to their ability to critically engage with the multiple explanations for youth offending that are covered throughout the module. The module also addresses young people’s experiences in youth justice systems.

Module learning outcomes

By the end of the module, it is expected that students will be able to:

1. Explain how and why childhood and delinquency were ‘invented.’
2. Differentiate between various theoretical explanations of young people’s offending.
3. Develop an understanding of the relationship between legal, criminological, sociological and psychological explanations of young people’s offending.

Module content

• The Invention of Childhood
• Historical Approaches to Policing Children
• The Invention of Delinquency
• Urbanisation and Delinquency
• Strain Theory
• Life Course studies
• Subcultural approaches
• Developmental Criminology
• The Imprisonment and Institutionalisation of Children
• Radical non-interventionism   

Structure

Teaching and learning methods

This module will be taught by a combination of weekly lectures and seminars. The first hour of the lecture will present the relevant concepts and explanations. The second hour will give students a chance to work together in smaller groups on discrete lecturer-designed tasks that will help them map and understand the underpinning assumptions of that week’s concept / explanation (so as to strengthen their ability to compare and contrast, differentiate and evaluate competing explanations within a teaching setting as well as deepen their comprehension through peer-to-peer learning in a lecturer facilitated forum). Fortnightly seminars will provide students with the opportunity to explore module readings in more depth and to engage in further analytical work with chosen media forms. Seminar tasks will be set by the module convenor.  

Study hours

At least 32 hours of scheduled teaching and learning activities will be delivered in person, with the remaining hours for scheduled and self-scheduled teaching and learning activities delivered either in person or online. You will receive further details about how these hours will be delivered before the start of the module.

Please note the independent study hours above are notional numbers of hours; each student will approach studying in different ways. We would advise you to reflect on your learning and the number of hours you are allocating to these tasks.

Semester 1 The hours in this column may include hours during the Christmas holiday period.

Semester 2 The hours in this column may include hours during the Easter holiday period.

Summer The hours in this column will take place during the summer holidays and may be at the start and/or end of the module.

Assessment

Requirements for a pass

Students need to achieve an overall module mark of 40% to pass this module.

Summative assessment

Penalties for late submission of summative assessment

The Support Centres will apply the following penalties for work submitted late:

Assessments with numerical marks

• where the piece of work is submitted after the original deadline (or any formally agreed extension to the deadline): 10% of the total marks available for that piece of work will be deducted from the mark for each working day (or part thereof) following the deadline up to a total of three working days;
• the mark awarded due to the imposition of the penalty shall not fall below the threshold pass mark, namely 40% in the case of modules at Levels 4-6 (i.e. undergraduate modules for Parts 1-3) and 50% in the case of Level 7 modules offered as part of an Integrated Masters or taught postgraduate degree programme;
• where the piece of work is awarded a mark below the threshold pass mark prior to any penalty being imposed, and is submitted up to three working days after the original deadline (or any formally agreed extension to the deadline), no penalty shall be imposed;
• where the piece of work is submitted more than three working days after the original deadline (or any formally agreed extension to the deadline): a mark of zero will be recorded.

Assessments marked Pass/Fail

• where the piece of work is submitted within three working days of the deadline (or any formally agreed extension of the deadline): no penalty will be applied;
• where the piece of work is submitted more than three working days after the original deadline (or any formally agreed extension of the deadline): a grade of Fail will be awarded.

The University policy statement on penalties for late submission can be found at: https://www.reading.ac.uk/cqsd/-/media/project/functions/cqsd/documents/qap/penaltiesforlatesubmission.pdf

You are strongly advised to ensure that coursework is submitted by the relevant deadline. You should note that it is advisable to submit work in an unfinished state rather than to fail to submit any work.

Formative assessment

Formative assessment is any task or activity which creates feedback (or feedforward) for you about your learning, but which does not contribute towards your overall module mark.

Essay plans for summative essay assignment (with feedback provided in essay workshop session during one of seminars).

Reassessment

Additional costs