JSB287 Crime in Popular Culture
To view more information for this unit, select Unit Outline from the list below. Please note the teaching period for which the Unit Outline is relevant.
| Unit code: | JSB287 |
|---|---|
| Prerequisite(s): | 96cp of previous study |
| Credit points: | 12 |
| Timetable | Details in HiQ, if available |
| Availabilities |
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| CSP student contribution | $2,040 |
| Pre-2021 CSP student contribution | $957 The pre-2021 commonwealth supported place (CSP) contribution amount only applies to students enrolled in a course prior to 2021. To learn more, visit our Understanding your fees page. |
| Domestic tuition unit fee | $3,024 |
| International unit fee | $4,224 |
Unit Outline: Semester 1 2024, Kelvin Grove, Internal
| Unit code: | JSB287 |
|---|---|
| Credit points: | 12 |
| Pre-requisite: | 96cp of previous study |
| Coordinator: | Laura Vitis | laura.vitis@qut.edu.au |
Overview
Crime and criminality are ubiquitous in popular culture. Justice studies and criminology are multidisciplinary enterprises with a longstanding interest in cultural and social responses to crime. A critical account of how criminality and justice are represented in popular culture will provide a better understanding of how cultural genres shape mainstream attitudes and responses to crime, including shifting political and policy responses. This unit provides a comprehensive introduction to research and issues in the field that students will be able to apply in many areas of practice, including the analysis of media responses to crime.
Learning Outcomes
On successful completion of this unit you will be able to:
- Describe the relationship between popular criminological understandings of crime and their mediation through the lens of popular culture (Discipline Knowledge - Course Learning Outcome 1.1)
- Critically evaluate unit concepts and the sociological context of crime genres (Discipline Knowledge; Critical Thinking and Basic Research Skills - CLOs 1.1, 1.2, 1.5, 4.2, 4.3)
- Construct associations between the causes and consequences of crime and the role that crime genres play in shaping mainstream attitudes and responses to crime control (Professional Ethics, Critical Thinking and Basic Research Skills - CLOs 2.3, 4.1, 4.2)
- Select and organise information from a range of sources and critically evaluate those sources (Communication and Collaboration, Critical Thinking and Basic Research Skills, Problem Solving - CLOs 3.2, 4.1, 4.2, 4.3).
Content
- The history of cultural representations of crime and the detective
- Representing criminality: outlaws and serial killers
- Policing in popular culture
- Law and the courts in popular culture
- Crime and justice in contemporary popular culture
- Crime and justice in the media, including social media
- Cultural representations of crime and justice in the global south.
Learning Approaches
This unit will be delivered online. It is designed to promote an intense engagement with the unit material. All students are provided with:
- a detailed Unit Information document (outlining all the information required for unit completion)
- a Study Guide (providing in-depth weekly content and readings, and interactive online activities)
- weekly live/recorded interactive Canvas Collaborate sessions (synthesising and applying content using real world examples), and
- an online discussion space where students can engage with each other and the unit coordinator.
Many units you study will adopt an exam essay format of assessment. While this tests some skills and outcomes developed in a course, it is important that assessment is variable and designed to develop and test a wide range of skills. As such, this unit uses a multifaceted approach to assessment, offering two pieces of individual assessment designed to develop and test different skills associated with the learning outcomes in the unit. While the unit includes an exam, the exam includes varied assessment tasks (multiple choice, short answer and short essay) to test different learning outcomes.
Feedback on Learning and Assessment
Students in this unit are provided with focused feedback on all assessment items. All assessment will receive formative feedback in the form of detailed written comments and all assessment will be summative in that it will contribute to the students' final grade in the unit. General feedback (including comments about what was done well and what required improvement) about each assessment item will also be provided to all students in the discussion forum on the Canvas site.
Assessment
Overview
Assessment in this unit requires critique of crime texts and their classification according to certain genres of crime.
It is expected that all assessment will evidence engagement with current literature in this area and that students adhere to the QUT Harvard referencing style. Students need to refer to the extended Unit Information document for the unit for more detailed information about all assessment items for this unit. All assessment in this unit is to be submitted electronically only (using Turnitin and the assignment upload areas on the Canvas unit site), as per the guidelines in the Unit Information document.
Unit Grading Scheme
7- point scale
Assessment Tasks
Assessment: Text Review
Students will produce a critique of a film or literary text representing crime/justice, selecting this text from a set of possible options provided. Students will be asked to explain why the text is relevant to an analysis of how crime and justice are represented in popular culture, with reference to unit concepts. Students will critically evaluate the text in terms of relevant cultural representations (such as gender, ethnicity, class, power relations, subculture).
This is an assignment for the purposes of an extension.
Assessment: Examination (closed book)
The exam will require you to respond to multiple choice questions and to provide both short answers and short essay responses. It will examine your critical reaction to the material encountered during the semester. There will be some element of choice of topics for the short essay questions, e.g. review, comparative response etc. (Templates will be provided in class for the short essay format.)
Academic Integrity
Students are expected to engage in learning and assessment at QUT with honesty, transparency and fairness. Maintaining academic integrity means upholding these principles and demonstrating valuable professional capabilities based on ethical foundations.
Failure to maintain academic integrity can take many forms. It includes cheating in examinations, plagiarism, self-plagiarism, collusion, and submitting an assessment item completed by another person (e.g. contract cheating). It can also include providing your assessment to another entity, such as to a person or website.
You are encouraged to make use of QUT’s learning support services, resources and tools to assure the academic integrity of your assessment. This includes the use of text matching software that may be available to assist with self-assessing your academic integrity as part of the assessment submission process.
Further details of QUT’s approach to academic integrity are outlined in the Academic integrity policy and the Student Code of Conduct. Breaching QUT’s Academic integrity policy is regarded as student misconduct and can lead to the imposition of penalties ranging from a grade reduction to exclusion from QUT.
Resources
Risk Assessment Statement
There are no out-of-the-ordinary risks associated with this unit.
Unit Outline: Semester 1 2024, Online
| Unit code: | JSB287 |
|---|---|
| Credit points: | 12 |
| Pre-requisite: | 96cp of previous study |
Overview
Crime and criminality are ubiquitous in popular culture. Justice studies and criminology are multidisciplinary enterprises with a longstanding interest in cultural and social responses to crime. A critical account of how criminality and justice are represented in popular culture will provide a better understanding of how cultural genres shape mainstream attitudes and responses to crime, including shifting political and policy responses. This unit provides a comprehensive introduction to research and issues in the field that students will be able to apply in many areas of practice, including the analysis of media responses to crime.
Learning Outcomes
On successful completion of this unit you will be able to:
- Describe the relationship between popular criminological understandings of crime and their mediation through the lens of popular culture (Discipline Knowledge - Course Learning Outcome 1.1)
- Critically evaluate unit concepts and the sociological context of crime genres (Discipline Knowledge; Critical Thinking and Basic Research Skills - CLOs 1.1, 1.2, 1.5, 4.2, 4.3)
- Construct associations between the causes and consequences of crime and the role that crime genres play in shaping mainstream attitudes and responses to crime control (Professional Ethics, Critical Thinking and Basic Research Skills - CLOs 2.3, 4.1, 4.2)
- Select and organise information from a range of sources and critically evaluate those sources (Communication and Collaboration, Critical Thinking and Basic Research Skills, Problem Solving - CLOs 3.2, 4.1, 4.2, 4.3).
Content
- The history of cultural representations of crime and the detective
- Representing criminality: outlaws and serial killers
- Policing in popular culture
- Law and the courts in popular culture
- Crime and justice in contemporary popular culture
- Crime and justice in the media, including social media
- Cultural representations of crime and justice in the global south.
Learning Approaches
This unit will be delivered online. It is designed to promote an intense engagement with the unit material. All students are provided with:
- a detailed Unit Information document (outlining all the information required for unit completion)
- a Study Guide (providing in-depth weekly content and readings, and interactive online activities)
- weekly live/recorded interactive Canvas Collaborate sessions (synthesising and applying content using real world examples), and
- an online discussion space where students can engage with each other and the unit coordinator.
Many units you study will adopt an exam essay format of assessment. While this tests some skills and outcomes developed in a course, it is important that assessment is variable and designed to develop and test a wide range of skills. As such, this unit uses a multifaceted approach to assessment, offering two pieces of individual assessment designed to develop and test different skills associated with the learning outcomes in the unit. While the unit includes an exam, the exam includes varied assessment tasks (multiple choice, short answer and short essay) to test different learning outcomes.
Feedback on Learning and Assessment
Students in this unit are provided with focused feedback on all assessment items. All assessment will receive formative feedback in the form of detailed written comments and all assessment will be summative in that it will contribute to the students' final grade in the unit. General feedback (including comments about what was done well and what required improvement) about each assessment item will also be provided to all students in the discussion forum on the Canvas site.
Assessment
Overview
Assessment in this unit requires critique of crime texts and their classification according to certain genres of crime.
It is expected that all assessment will evidence engagement with current literature in this area and that students adhere to the QUT Harvard referencing style. Students need to refer to the extended Unit Information document for the unit for more detailed information about all assessment items for this unit. All assessment in this unit is to be submitted electronically only (using Turnitin and the assignment upload areas on the Canvas unit site), as per the guidelines in the Unit Information document.
Unit Grading Scheme
7- point scale
Assessment Tasks
Assessment: Text Review
Students will produce a critique of a film or literary text representing crime/justice, selecting this text from a set of possible options provided. Students will be asked to explain why the text is relevant to an analysis of how crime and justice are represented in popular culture, with reference to unit concepts. Students will critically evaluate the text in terms of relevant cultural representations (such as gender, ethnicity, class, power relations, subculture).
This is an assignment for the purposes of an extension.
Assessment: Examination (closed book)
The exam will require you to respond to multiple choice questions and to provide both short answers and short essay responses. It will examine your critical reaction to the material encountered during the semester. There will be some element of choice of topics for the short essay questions, e.g. review, comparative response etc. (Templates will be provided in class for the short essay format.)
Academic Integrity
Students are expected to engage in learning and assessment at QUT with honesty, transparency and fairness. Maintaining academic integrity means upholding these principles and demonstrating valuable professional capabilities based on ethical foundations.
Failure to maintain academic integrity can take many forms. It includes cheating in examinations, plagiarism, self-plagiarism, collusion, and submitting an assessment item completed by another person (e.g. contract cheating). It can also include providing your assessment to another entity, such as to a person or website.
You are encouraged to make use of QUT’s learning support services, resources and tools to assure the academic integrity of your assessment. This includes the use of text matching software that may be available to assist with self-assessing your academic integrity as part of the assessment submission process.
Further details of QUT’s approach to academic integrity are outlined in the Academic integrity policy and the Student Code of Conduct. Breaching QUT’s Academic integrity policy is regarded as student misconduct and can lead to the imposition of penalties ranging from a grade reduction to exclusion from QUT.
Resources
Risk Assessment Statement
There are no out-of-the-ordinary risks associated with this unit.