Criminology is the critical examination of crime and justice policies and practice. It brings together various other disciplines including, psychology, sociology and history in order to shed light on the various definitions of crime, causes of crime and explore how it can be minimised and prevented.
The study of crime is extremely important in ensuring justice continues to prevail for both victims and suspects through the court of law; but also how we can prevent and eliminate crime as an evolving society. Criminology is extremely unique in its use of multiple disciplines that ensures that as crime is situated within time and place, and so are the solutions and preventative measures from our police, justice and corrections systems.
Many students choose to study criminology due to a keen interest in why crime occurs, however I've always been interested in whether prison is actually rehabilitative or not and therefore I began studying criminology to ask the harsh questions that buck against our justice system.
Types of Assignments
There are many different types of assignments across the criminology degree and field. In earlier studies these involve quizzes and essays similar to other disciplines. However, as the discipline narrows down, common assignments include:
Literature Reviews
Reports
Presentations
The expectations are similar to a standard essay, however much further research is usually required, and rather than presenting a simple argument, the report or literature review may involve a case study or another report.
The best way to prepare is to thoroughly research and gain as much knowledge about the topic you are researching. This can involve long planning times to have enough time to synthesis the information into a succinct, concise and well written analysis of the literature within criminology.
Example Prompts - and how to deal with them
Are counterterrorism measures and legislation justified against the harm, compromised liberties and privacy of people? With this type of question it is requiring you to provide a justified argument for or against. You need to incorporate various key words including counterterrorism, measures and legislation, harm, liberties and privacy. The best way to tackle this question is to start researching and forming a position on the question, and finding examples, case studies and evidence to support your argument.
You have been asked by Minister for Health Jenny Mikakos to provide a detailed report on the risk factors for and types of harms associated with illicit drug use for young people at venues (music festivals). Your report should consider both social and situational crime prevention solutions to minimise the harms of illicit drug use in and around these venues. This type of assignment is providing a literature review of the current base of evidence and then provide recommendations. This is a typical criminology assignment that you will see multiple times throughout your degree. Again, the best way is to start by reading and synthesising as much literature as you can. Try to stick with relevant topics not just cherry picking evidence for your report but actually analysing the best based evidence specific to your topic. Another great tip is if you are stuck for recommendations, try and research other recommendations that can form a basis for your justification. Make sure to reference correctly!
Recurring Topics in Criminology
The recurring topics among criminology are:
Law enforcement
Corrections and the Penal System
Justice Systems and Courts
Victims
Offenders
Essay Structure
Paragraph structure is really dependant on the type of assignment presented. However for a 1500-2000 word essay between 6-10 paragraphs would be ideal. Markers prefer points to be made in detailed but succinct paragraphs, by this meaning, that the response needs to concisely analyse the evidence, rather than a long summary. Sometimes more is less and less is more in criminology.
Research Tips
Criminology units always provide fantastic resources that can form a starting point for research on your topic or case study. However, the criminology discipline (unless otherwise specified) expects students to thoroughly and independently research their topic in order to synthesis, analyse and interpret other literature in order to form a response or position about their topic.
The best resources for criminology come from peer reviewed journal articles that are current and relevant. Similarly so, markers want references that have been analysed and explored in detail that support the position you are making on your topic. Often, markers will require you to have a set number of references and going above and beyond this number can be detrimental to your ability to exhaustively present all the literature listed in your reference list. Markers want students to use their references to support their opinions by critically evaluating them and comparing them.
Don't forget:
Always read the question or prompt very thoroughly and dissect what is it asking you by analysing the words used in the topic.
Always study the rubric and aim for the best mark possible.
Edit and reread your topic, therefore you need to give yourself time before you submit to produce your best work.
This blog was brought to you by the Deakin Students' Criminology Society.
DSCS is the official society for students undertaking a criminology degree at Deakin. They're committed to providing criminology students with a dedicated platform to disseminate information on current topics within the world of criminology, provide students with relevant careers information and opportunities, run a mix of fun and educational events for all, and act as an important point of contact for students, faculty and third-party organisations.
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