Punishment, Justice and Reform
UndergraduateGRF-CCJ3062024
Previously GRF-CCJ36
Course information for 2024 intake
Enrolments for this course are closed, but you may have other options to start studying now. Book a consultation to learn more.
- Study method
- 100% online
- Assessments
- 100% online
- Entry requirements
- Prior study needed
- Duration
- 13 weeks
- Loan available
- HECS-HELP and FEE-HELP available
Punishment, Justice and Reform
About this subject
After successfully completing this subject you should be able to:
- Describe the diversity of punishment and sentencing options that are available in Australia.
- Compare and contrast the key penological principles that inform sentencing and punishment and identify their strengths and limitations.
- Compare and contrast the arguments of key social theorists of punishment and identify their strengths and limitations.
- Distinguish between penological principles and social theories concerned with punishment.
- Apply these principles and theories in the analysis and assessment of programs of sentencing and punishment.
- Course introduction: Why do we punish?
- Social Perspectives on Punishment: retribution and deterrence
- Social Perspectives on Punishment: incapacitation and rehabilitation
- Its Not Just about the Prison
- Totalizing Institutions
- Incarceration as Punishment
- Experiences of Imprisonment and Prisonisation
- Therapeutic Jurisprudence: drug courts and mental health courts
- Restorative Justice: theories
- Restorative Justice: practices
- Punishment and Power: gender
- Punishment and Power: race, ethnicity, and indigeneity
This subject explores the major sociological theories of punishment, and it examines the intended and unintended social and psychological consequences of imprisonment. Variation in the experience of institutions of criminal justice, especially prison, is explored with reference to social relations and classifications of gender, race-ethnicity, age, and mental health.
This subject surveys the major analytical interpretations of punishment and sentencing. Case studies are used to provide applied examples of the distinctive questions that various theoretical perspectives pose, summarise major interpretive themes, and identify the kinds of insights social theory has to offer for the understanding of particular examples of modern penality and changes that have occurred in this field.
- Weekly Review of Readings: Part 1 (20%)
- Weekly Review of Readings: Part 2 (40%)
- Quiz 1 (20%)
- Quiz 2 (20%)
For textbook details check your university's handbook, website or learning management system (LMS).
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Entry requirements
Equivalent subjects
You should not enrol in this subject if you have successfully completed any of the following subject(s) because they are considered academically equivalent:
GRF-CCJ36 (Not currently available)
Others
This is not an introductory subject, it is a third year subject. You should complete other first and second year criminology subjects before starting this subject. Students who have completed more than 2 OUA units (GPA 4.0+) and are planning on completing the Bachelor of Criminology and Criminal Justice are strongly encouraged to enrol in the degree. Part of this process will involve registering your study plan with Griffith University, which will help to ensure that you are studying the required units.
Additional requirements
No additional requirements
Study load
- 0.125 EFTSL
- This is in the range of 10 to 12 hours of study each week.
Equivalent full time study load (EFTSL) is one way to calculate your study load. One (1.0) EFTSL is equivalent to a full-time study load for one year.
Find out more information on Commonwealth Loans to understand what this means to your eligibility for financial support.
What to study next?
Once you’ve completed this subject it can be credited towards one of the following courses
UndergraduateGRF-ART-DEG
Bachelor of Criminology and Criminal Justice
UndergraduateGRF-CCJ-DEG
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