Postgraduate Course: Penal Politics (LAWS11215)
Course Outline
| School | School of Law | 
College | College of Humanities and Social Science | 
 
| Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 11 (Postgraduate) | 
Availability | Available to all students | 
 
| SCQF Credits | 20 | 
ECTS Credits | 10 | 
 
 
| Summary | This course introduces students to the politics of punishment in the   
UK and elsewhere today. The course addresses topics of distinct   
public interest in domestic, comparative and trans-national   
perspective and engages with a vigorous and growing body of scholarly literature and policy documents. 
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| Course description | 
    
    Indicative course/seminar topics: 
 
1. Penal histories 
2. Theories of penal politics 
3. Key comparative issues and trends 
4. Penal lobbies, social movements and pressure groups 
5. Knowledge, expertise and influence 
6. Penal populism 
7. Penal moderation 
8. The politics of the death penalty 
9. The restorative justice movement 
10. Prison abolitionism
    
    
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Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
| Pre-requisites | 
 | 
Co-requisites |  | 
 
| Prohibited Combinations |  | 
Other requirements |  None | 
 
 
Information for Visiting Students 
| Pre-requisites | None | 
 
 
Course Delivery Information
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| Academic year 2015/16, Available to all students (SV1) 
  
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Quota:  25 | 
 
| Course Start | 
Semester 2 | 
 
Timetable  | 
	
Timetable | 
| Learning and Teaching activities (Further Info) | 
 
 Total Hours:
200
(
 Seminar/Tutorial Hours 20,
 Programme Level Learning and Teaching Hours 4,
Directed Learning and Independent Learning Hours
176 )
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| Assessment (Further Info) | 
 
  Written Exam
0 %,
Coursework
100 %,
Practical Exam
0 %
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| Additional Information (Assessment) | 
Two essays, each of 2,500 words maximum. 
Essay 1: One essay chosen from a short list of questions. 
Essay 2: One academically-referenced analysis or advocacy essay, on   
an approved penal political topic of the student's own choosing. 
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| Feedback | 
Not entered | 
 
| No Exam Information | 
 
Learning Outcomes 
    By the end of the course, students will be able to: 
 
- describe, compare and evaluate different political positions on   
punishment. 
- explain and critique some key theories of penal politics 
- identify key international patterns and trends in punishing, and   
suggest possible explanations of these 
- describe and explain how national penal politics and policy are   
shaped by supra-national and sub-national forces 
- make sense of the contributions of scholarly literatures,   
scientific evidence and popular culturual influences in developing   
debates on penal politics and policy. 
 
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Additional Information
| Graduate Attributes and Skills | 
Not entered | 
 
| Keywords | Not entered | 
 
 
Contacts 
| Course organiser | Prof Richard Sparks 
Tel: (0131 6)50 2059 
Email:  | 
Course secretary | Ms Ginny Spencer 
Tel: (0131 6)51 4246 
Email:  | 
   
 
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© Copyright 2015 The University of Edinburgh -  27 July 2015 11:30 am 
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