How the MA is Organised The MA consists of four taught modules taken over one year by full-time students, or two years for part-time students. The Major Project is completed at the end of the taught part of the course. Teaching runs over two semesters of 12 weeks each, September to December and February to May. Weekly sessions of two hours usually take place Monday 4 to 6pm and Thursday 4 to 6pm. Semester 1 Compulsory Modules Organised Illicit Trade (30 credits) Postgraduate Major Project (60 credits)
Optional Modules Policing Transnational Crime (30 credits) Or Crime and Control in Late Modernity (30 credits)
Semester 2 Compulsory Modules Postgraduate Research Methods (30 credits) Postgraduate Major Project (60 credits)
MA Transnational Crime Transnational Crime includes activities that violate the laws of more than one country, for example money laundering, terrorist activities, illicit traffic in arms, environmental crimes, and illicit drug and people trafficking. The MA in Transnational Crime will allow you to explore practical and theoretical aspects of transnational criminal activities, including models and methods of detection, policing, social control and sanctions. A range of theoretical standpoints will enable students to understand western legal and social traditions and customs in order to develop a comparative framework; but students will also be encouraged to develop vocational and applied approaches. Themes on the MA include: the structure and nature of organised illicit trade and criminal enterprise; the concept of the risk society; responses to transnational crimes through policing initiatives, agreements and treaties; western legal practices and sentencing frameworks; critical enquiries into the effects of changing serious crime levels, terrornews, moral panics and the mobilisation of nations.
791_ARU_Trans_crime_6ppdl_v3.ind1-3 1-3
Optional Modules Comparative Sentencing and Retribution (30 credits) Or Terror as Crime (30 credits)
Compulsory Modules: Organised Illicit Trade: This module explores the structure and nature of organised illicit trade, and facilitates discussions of the concept of criminal networks, including criminal opportunity and routine activities, to analyse different case studies. Case studies will include: financial crime, drug trafficking, human trafficking, child abuse, toxic waste and smuggling. Students will measure and evaluate the scale of illicit trade in order to analyse the regulatory issues involved and potential preventative mechanisms. Postgraduate Research Methods: This module provides students with the research skills and techniques needed both to critically evaluate the literature they will be using in their Masters course and to put into practice in their own dissertations. It will explore the methodologies and methods applied in contemporary social science research to enable students to select an appropriate range for their own needs. Major Project: This module enables students to demonstrate their ability to raise and investigate significant questions in relation to their specialist research area either through
empirical research or sustained theoretical investigation. Based on their initial project proposal students will be expected to negotiate a learning contract with their supervisor, which outlines title, research question, assessment weighting and criteria, and the form of the project.
Other Modules: Policing Transnational Crime: This module will explore the concept of the risk society in a global, abstract context, in relation to prevention and minimisation. Contemporary forms of policing and security will be evaluated against the backdrop of societies that are built on the notion of risk, its quantification and avoidance. Risk from the perspective of corruption within organisations tasked with managing cross border and transnational crime will also be considered. Comparative Sentencing and Retribution: This module aims to identify and explore convergences and divergences in sentencing policies for serious and organised crimes, and their rationales in western countries. The module will explore legal traditions and the application of a variety of styles of theoretical penal theories, as well as sentencing frameworks; the range and justification for particular punishments within a selected range of jurisdictions and co-operation agreements between states. Terror as Crime: This module will explore and evaluate the effects of changing crime levels and their contribution towards moral panics in contrast to the impact of more serious crime waves in societies and their collective or individual reactions. The notion of mobilising a nation through terror-information will be evaluated in relation to the recent adoption and acceptance of regular risk assessment and analysis measures, as well as propaganda. Crime and Control in Late Modernity: This module will engage with contemporary and enduring theories of crime and deviance that are of primary importance to the concept of late modernity. Starting with the claim that modernity is now characterised by globalization, a heightened sense of risk, and reflexivity, we will focus on two broad themes of contemporary criminology: ‘governance, control, and risk’ and ‘cultural criminology’.
30/7/10 10:03:00