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Study masters degree online with Griffith University through Open Universities Australia. Explore all degrees, subjects and short courses now.

Postgraduate studies in criminology and criminal justice provide a pathway to professional advancement for those working in these fields. The degrees are designed to provide an overview of criminological theory and research, the workings of the criminal justice system and allied organisations, insight into key policy debates and an understanding of research methods.
The degrees introduce social and psychological explanations of crime, as well as contemporary debates in criminological theory. Beyond the core elements of the degree in policing, community development, crime prevention, law and behaviour and social science research methods you will have the opportunity to study electives from criminal justice, research practice, policing, corrections and crime prevention.

Deepen your knowledge of the justice system and gain insight into key policy debates and contemporary research methods. Graduates find roles in criminal justice related fields such as crime prevention, community health and local government.

Master of Criminology and Criminal Justice

Forensic Science & Criminal Justice

Homicide

Fraud and Cybercrime

Introduction to Criminology and Criminal Justice

Risk Assessment and Management in Forensic Mental Health

White Collar Crime

Gender, Crime and Justice

Race, Crime and Justice

Youth Justice

Punishment, Justice and Reform

The subject considers the most widely accepted approaches, in Forensic Mental Health (FMH), to risk assessment. Subject content primarily focuses upon the prediction of an individual&#39;s likelihood of harming other or being harmed by others. Risk and protective factors are examined beyond that of a present based individual level to include an understanding of developmental and environmental factors. The utility and applicability of different risk assessment tools is also considered as a component of an effective functional analysis and more broadly risk management in Forensic Mental Health.

Research risk assessment approaches and evaluate their application. Gain the skills to articulate which tools and methods are appropriate for different situations. Learn how to use risk management strategies to inform decision your making.

This subject helps students develop deep understanding of the organising categories and central claims of a range of modern criminological perspectives of criminology. The main problems, questions and ideas that have shaped modern criminological thought are explored and attention is paid throughout to the contexts that shape the emergence and reception of modern criminological theory and to the modes of social intervention that different criminological perspectives expressly or implicitly propose. Topics covered will vary from year to year but are likely to include: crime and the urban environment, developmental and control theories, routine activities and rational choice theories, crime, inequality and opportunity, crime and culture, and social reactions to crime.

Critically evaluate criminological theory and empirical research for crime policy and practice. Study crime and the urban environment, control and rational choice theories, inequality and opportunity, and social reactions to crime.

Advanced Criminological Theories

This subject was previously known as CCJ741.
Forensic mental health is an area of specialisation that involves the assessment and treatment of client&#39;s who are both mentally disordered and whose behaviour has led to or could possibly lead to offending. Forensic mental health as a field therefore represents the interface between community safety and client centred practice. The two key intervention targets in FMH are mental disorders and problem behaviours. This degree will address the first of these targets by providing students with knowledge of general mental health interventions and components of recovery/recovery processes. Students will also be provided with skills in the delivery of specific intervention strategies targeting the most common mental health presentations in FMH. Students will also be provided with the opportunity to practice the skill of treatment plan development and role play delivery of specific strategies.

Gain an overview of the role of mental health and offending in the forensic mental health client population. Examine and evaluate psychiatric interventions that are useful in a forensic mental health system. 

Interventions and Recovery in Forensic Mental Health (Clinical)

This subject was previously known as Research, Evaluation and Policy Analysis.
This subject is designed to teach students the logic of research methodology in the social sciences. Students will learn how to articulate a researchable problem, formulate research hypotheses, logically determine what research methodology provides the best avenue to test these hypotheses and carry out research. Students will also develop the necessary skills to analyse and write criminal justice policies.
The subject is designed to make students of criminology &#39;intelligent users&#39; of research, and provide fundamental concepts to those planning to conduct research. The subject combines reading and a series of practical written assignments. By the end of the subject, students will be provided with knowledge of how to design and execute research and evaluation projects, and how to critically assess criminal justice and criminology research, policies and programs.

Take a look at the logic behind research methodology in criminal justice and criminology. Use your skills in analysis and writing criminal justice policies and interventions to plan, develop and justify a research project.

Research and Evaluation Methods

This subject identifies, examines and evaluates current and emerging policies and structures of the criminal justice system. It focuses on debates and problematic issues in the provision of criminal justice. Components of the system are examined in terms of fairness, justice and effectiveness. The extent to which the Australian system is effective in maintaining maximum levels of social harmony is explored. Alternative models of criminal justice are critically examined within the context of liberal-democratic society.
Assessment details will be advised at the beginning of the subject offering.

Examine the principal components of the criminal justice system and question the competing tensions of fairness, justice and effectiveness in a liberal-democracy. Identify emerging issues and analyse the response of allied systems to selected crimes.

Making Sense of Criminal Justice

This subject provides an opportunity for students to integrate theoretical knowledge and empirical analytic skills acquired in their program through a practical research problem. Students will be expected to complete a small research project (based on topics provided by the degree convenor).
This subject integrates the knowledge and skills acquired through the Master of Criminology and Criminal Justice or Master of Forensic Mental Health. As a capstone degree, it provides an opportunity for students to put into practice this knowledge and skills through conducting a small research project. For feasibility and ethical reasons, the degree convenor will provide a list of research problems. Under the supervision of the degree convenor, students will select a problem, develop and implement a design, and write up a report. Although the project is an individual responsibility, students will work collaboratively to discuss problems and issues at different stages of the process.
CCJ747 should be completed in the final session of study. Students must have permission of the Program Director or Advisor to enrol earlier in their program.

Combine your criminological knowledge and research skills into your individual project. You’ll define a complex crime or criminal justice problem, then develop and implement a project design, and write up your research report.

Individual Project

This subject examines the major, cutting-edge questions for criminology today. These include penal politics, policing, media and crime, restorative justice, the prison and state crime. It introduces students to the contemporary key thinkers and contributors in the field in Australia and overseas. Attention is given to the relationship between research, policy and politics in linking knowledge to social change.In this subject, students will read and discuss challenging and thought-provoking work of both Australian and international scholars in the field of criminology and criminal justice. As the purpose of the subject is to deepen students&#39; understanding of criminolology through examining cutting-edge theory and research, the issues of focus will vary, but may include penal politics, policing, restorative justice and other emerging innovations, trafficking, transnational crime and state crime.Assessment details will be advised at the beginning of the subject offering.

Contemporary key thinkers present cutting-edge criminology questions on penal politics, policing, media and crime, restorative justice and state crime. Probe the relationship between research and  policy in linking knowledge to social change.

Justice and Crime

This subject is designed to consolidate the knowledge gained in the previous degrees by analysing a live crime problem. Students working as a group will generate hypotheses, apply various analytic techniques to test these, prepare a report to be presented to the relevant command team.
This subject will focus on a managerial model used by police and other enforcement agencies known as Intelligence Led Policing. The core concepts of of the 3i model (interpreting the criminal environment, influencing decision makers and impacting the criminal environment) underpin the learning objective and the assessment.

Work in a group to analyse a live crime problem. Generate hypotheses, test them, prepare a report and present to a command team. Work to the 3i model: interpret the criminal environment, influence decision makers and impact the criminal environment.

Intelligence Led Policing

This subject examines strategies for changing criminal behaviour. The interventions explored in the subject are most frequently observed within the correctional system in both custodial and community settings; however, programs utilised in other sectors of the criminal justice system (i.e. police, courts) and in affiliated social service organisations are also included in the course where forensic populations are their target treatment group. The subject draws on psychological principles and research evidence, linking theories of crime causation to foundations of behaviour modification and propensity-reducing interventions. A review of specific programs is presented, although the focus of the subject is on the overarching design principles associated with positive client outcomes.Assessment details will be advised at the beginning of the subject offering.

Draw on psychological principles and research to identify strategies to change behaviour within the correctional system. Probe specific rehabilitation programs used in both in community and institutional settings to question the rehabilitation ideal.

Interventions for Correctional Clients

This subject focuses on developmental prevention to construct a framework for thinking about the prevention of crime and associated problems at the individual, family and local level. The challenges of implementing a package of evidence-based programs for disadvantaged communities in a way that influences multiple risk and protective factors as well as empowering the local residents and changing developmentally relevant institutions and social policies are discussed in this subject. Assessment will include developing a proposal for a relevant crime prevention project as well as demonstrating evidence of knowledge of relevant theory, methods for intervening in developmental pathways, and implementing and evaluating projects.

Understand the relationship between policy objectives and crime prevention programs to be able to apply criminological theories to research outcomes. You’ll design a prevention program within resource, funding and methodological limitations. 

Course results for Griffith University Postgraduate Criminal justice Degrees

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