Introductory description

N/A

Module aims

Outline syllabus

This is an indicative module outline only to give an indication of the sort of topics that may be covered. Actual sessions held may differ.

Part One: Theory and Context

1. Introduction: Defining State Crime
2. Human Rights and Global Wrongs
   Part Two: Conceptual Case Studies
3. Genocide
4. State Terror and Terrorism
5. Torture
6. READING WEEK (NO TEACHING ACTIVITY)
7. Political Imprisonment and Indefinite Detention
8. Police Brutality
9. Apartheid: a question of economy or politics?
10. Statelessness and Human Rights

Learning outcomes

By the end of the module, students should be able to:

• Understanding of the key sociological and criminological theories and concepts of state crime, deviance, human rights and human rights violations.
• Ability to identify, interpret and critically evaluate different disciplinary theories of state crime, human rights and human rights violations and to relate these to specific debates and issues covered in the module.
• Ability to organise and present oral arguments and facilitate classroom discussion in seminars.
• Ability to organise and present written information clearly and coherently through their essay or exam writing.
• Develop advanced research and organisational skills by using library e-journal and other on-line resources.
• Develop advanced research skills through critical literature review and essay and/or exam writing.

Indicative reading list

Andreopoulos, G. (ed.) (1994) Genocide: Conceptual and Historical Dimensions. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press.
Appadurai, A. (2002) ‘Dead Certainty: Ethnic Violence in the Era of Globalization’, in Hinton, A. L. (ed.) Genocide: An Anthropological Reader. Oxford: Blackwell.
Binder, A. and Scharf, P. (1980) ‘The Violent Police-Citizen Encounter’, Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, 452, 111–21.
Cassese, A. (1986) International Law in a Divided World, Oxford: Clarendon.
Cassesse, A. (2003) International Criminal Law, Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Chalk, F. and Jonassohn, K. (1990) The History and Sociology of Genocide: Analyses and Case
Studies. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.
Chandler, D. (2002) From Kosovo To Kabul: Human Rights and International Intervention.
London: Pluto.
Cohen, S. (1993) ‘Human Rights and Crimes of the State: the Culture of Denial’, Australian
and New Zealand Journal of Criminology, 26, 97–115.
Cohen, S. (2001) States of Denial. Cambridge: Polity.
Conroy, J. (2000) Unspeakable Acts, Ordinary People: The Dynamics of Torture. Los Angeles:
University of California Press.
Day, E. L. and Vandiver, M. (2000) ‘Criminology and Genocide Studies: Notes on what Might
have Been and what Still could Be’. Crime, Law and Social Change, 34, 43–59.
Friedrichs, D. O. (1995) ‘State Crime or Governmental Crime: Making Sense of the
Conceptual Confusion’, in Ross, J. I. (ed.) Controlling State Crime: An Introduction.
New York: Garland.
George, A. (ed.) (1991) Western State Terrorism, Cambridge: Polity Press.
Green, P. and Ward, T. (2000) ‘State Crime, Human Rights and the Limits of Criminology’,
Social Justice, 27, 101–15.
Green, Penny and Ward, Tony (2004) State crime: governments, violence and corruption. London: Pluto Press.
Jamieson, R. (1998) ‘Towards a Criminology of War in Europe’, in Ruggiero, V., South, N.
and Taylor, I. (eds) The New European Criminology. London: Routledge.
Kauzlarich, D., Matthews, R. A. and Miller, W. J. (2001) ‘Toward a Victimology of State
Crime’, Critical Criminology, 10, 173–94.
Schwendinger, H. and Schwendinger, J. (1975) ‘Defenders of Order or Guardians of Human
Rights?’, in Taylor, I., Walton, P. and Young, J. (eds) Critical Criminology, London:
Routledge & Kegan Paul.

Subject specific skills

• a systematic understanding of key aspects of the sociological and criminological study of state crime and human rights, including acquisition of coherent and detailed knowledge, at least some of which is at, or informed by, the forefront of defined aspects of a discipline

• an ability to deploy accurately established techniques of analysis and enquiry within a sociological and criminological framework

• conceptual understanding that enables the student:

• to devise and sustain arguments, and/or to solve problems, using ideas and
  techniques, some of which are at the forefront of the discipline
• to describe and comment upon particular aspects of current research, or
  equivalent advanced scholarship, in the discipline
  *an appreciation of the uncertainty, ambiguity and limits of knowledge
  *the ability to manage their own learning, and to make use of scholarly reviews and primary sources (for example, refereed research articles and/or original materials appropriate to the discipline).

Transferable skills

Typically, holders of the qualification will be able to:
*apply the methods and techniques that they have learned to review, consolidate, extend and apply their knowledge and understanding, and to initiate and carry out projects

• critically evaluate arguments, assumptions, abstract concepts and data (that may be incomplete), to make judgements, and to frame appropriate questions to achieve a solution - or identify a range of solutions - to a problem
• communicate information, ideas, problems and solutions to both specialist and non-specialist audiences.
  And holders will have:
• the qualities and transferable skills necessary for employment requiring:

• the exercise of initiative and personal responsibility
• decision-making in complex and unpredictable contexts
• the learning ability needed to undertake appropriate further training of a
  professional or equivalent nature.