74927 - Sociology of Deviance and Criminology

Academic Year 2018/2019

  • Teaching Mode: Traditional lectures
  • Campus: Bologna
  • Corso: First cycle degree programme (L) in Political, Social and International Sciences (cod. 8853)

Course contents

The course will analyse the most important criminological theories in order to understand how they can explain crimes that continuously evolve not only from a quantitative point of view but also from a qualitative one.
Moreover, because of social change, the study of crime cannot be separated from the investigation methods in the fight against it. Such a kind of analysis also demands a particular attention towards the victims of crime who are usually exposed to superficial explanations and interpretations that ignore real causes of victimization.
With the help of multimedial material, particular attention will be paid both to crimes traditionally neglected by criminology and to topical ones.

Readings/Bibliography

1) Balloni A., Bisi R., Sette R., Principi di Criminologia - Le Teorie, Wolters Kluwer, Padova, 2015.
2) Balloni A., Bisi R., Sette R., Principi di Criminologia - Criminalità, Controllo, Sicurezza, Wolters Kluwer, Padova, 2015.

Compulsory PowerPoint presentations at:

http://www.cedam.com/aggiornamenti.aspx

Compulsory videos at:

http://shop.wki.it/Cedam/Libri/Principi_di_Crimonologia_Le_teorie_s560384.aspx

For regular attendees, bibliography will be provided during class hours.

Teaching methods

Lectures and class discussions.
Even not compulsory, course attendance is recommended.

Assessment methods

The aim of final exam is to verify the achievement of the following goals:

1) knowledge of the main criminological and victimological theories;

2) the ability to use these theories in order to analyze crime and victimization processes.

 

The final exam will consist of a written text composed of four open questions (exam duration: 2 hrs). Grades are expressed in thirtiets.

For students with good attendance records (attending at least 70% of the lectures), 2 midterm written examinations will be administered during class hours. Texts will be composed of open questions. The final grade will be calculated by doing the arithmetic mean of the midterm grades.
Students who will not pass the midterm exams have to sit final exam during final examination periods.

 

The student’s ability to find information in the literature and other educational materials, in order to ascertain whether the learning objectives have been met, will be highly evaluated. The student’s attainment of a complete view of the topics covered in the course, along with their critical analysis, a demonstration of having an adequate expressive mastery and a specific language, will be evaluated with high marks. Less well articulated knowledge mostly from memory, the ability to understand, analyse, and summarise, a language not always appropriate, will be evaluated with lower marks. If the study of the topics covered in the course is basic but is accompanied by educational gaps and inappropriate language, the marks will not be more than passing grades. Educational gaps, inappropriate language, lack of capacity to find information in the literature and other educational materials will lead to negative marks.

 

It is forbidden to use books, notes and electronic appliances during the written exams.

 

It is possible to have a look to the written texts during office hours. The registration of the final mark is also made in the student’s absence only if they had previously agreed to it.

Students applying for graduation who have passed the exam and need the registration of the mark within a specific date are invited to communicate it to teachers during the exam.

Teaching tools

Policy on the Use of Technology in the Classroom. Technology is useful, only when aimed to improve performance in the classroom. Therefore all hand held devices (cell phones, cameras, etc.) should be turned off and packed away during class sessions. Computers in the classroom are a tool for work, and should be used for note-taking only. If computers are used for texting, e-mail, or Internet connection (without the explicit permission of the professor), the professor may stop the use of a computer in that class. Students who would like to use voice recorders for class lectures are kindly invited to ask for the explicit permission of the professor in order to do so.

 

PC, and videoprojector.

During lectures, the professor will use Powerpoint presentations that will be published on the website:
https://iol.unibo.it/course/view.php?id=23314


These documents do not substitute the compulsory reading materials, but they are supplementary and constitute a study guide to help gain a better understanding of the course contents.

Links to further information

http://www.vittimologia.it ; http://www.cirvis.eu

Office hours

See the website of Raffaella Sette