Comparative Criminology
Code: 103952 ECTS Credits: 6| Degree | Type | Year | Semester |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2500257 Criminology | OT | 4 | 1 |
Contact
- Name:
- Albert Pedrosa Bou
- Email:
- albert.pedrosa@uab.cat
Use of Languages
- Principal working language:
- english (eng)
- Some groups entirely in English:
- Yes
- Some groups entirely in Catalan:
- No
- Some groups entirely in Spanish:
- No
Other comments on languages
The subject will be in English. This course requires a B2 level of English.Prerequisites
This course requires a B2 level of English.
Objectives and Contextualisation
- Understand the methodological problems related to the comparisons of crime across nations.
- Understand the way in which crime data are collected across nations.
- Understand the theoretical explanations of the evolution of crime across time and space.
- Understand how a historical and cultural approach can help to explore differences in crime and the use of punishment in different countries.
Competences
- Ability to analyse and summarise.
- Accessing and interpreting sources of crime data.
- Drawing up an academic text.
- Generating innovative and competitive proposals in research and professional activity.
- Reflecting on the foundations of criminology (theoretical, empirical and ethical-political ones) and expressing this in analysis and propositions.
- Students must be capable of autonomously updating their criminological knowledge.
- Students must demonstrate they comprehend the criminological theories.
- Students must demonstrate they know a variety of criminal policies in order to face criminality and its different foundations.
- Verbally transmitting ideas to an audience.
- Working autonomously.
- Working in teams and networking.
Learning Outcomes
- Ability to analyse and summarise.
- Applying the variety of criminal policies and their foundations in the criminological field.
- Drawing up an academic text.
- Effectively using the theoretical foundations of criminology.
- Finding and analysing crime databases.
- Generating innovative and competitive proposals in research and professional activity.
- Inferring the scientific knowledge of criminology in the applied field.
- Students must show interest for the scientific updates in the criminological field.
- Verbally transmitting ideas to an audience.
- Working autonomously.
- Working in teams and networking.
Content
1. Historical development of comparative criminology.
2. Methodology of international comparisons of crime.
3. Theories in comparative criminology and the effects of culture on delinquency.
4. Long-term trends in violence.
5. Police statistics in comparative perspective.
6. Conviction and prosecution statistics in comparative perspective.
7. Prison statistics in comparative perspective.
8. Probation statistics in comparative perspective.
9. Self-reported delinquency studies in comparative perspective.
10. Victimization studies in comparative perspective.
11. Victimization of women and of ethnic minorities in comparative perspective.
12. Criminal policy in comparative perspective.
Methodology
- The course combines lectures and seminars. It requires reading a series of scientific articles for their discussion in class. In the seminars papers and other assignments will be discussed and submitted by the students.
- Before the starting of the course a detailed weekly schedule of activities will be provided.
Annotation: Within the schedule set by the centre or degree programme, 15 minutes of one class will be reserved for students to evaluate their lecturers and their courses or modules through questionnaires.
Activities
| Title | Hours | ECTS | Learning Outcomes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Type: Directed | |||
| Evaluation | 5 | 0.2 | 2, 6, 7, 3, 1, 9, 10, 11, 5, 4 |
| Lectures | 18 | 0.72 | 2, 6, 7, 8, 5, 4 |
| Seminar | 18 | 0.72 | 2, 7, 8, 3, 1, 9, 11, 5, 4 |
| Type: Autonomous | |||
| Required readings | 54.5 | 2.18 | 10 |
| Written assignment | 54.5 | 2.18 | 6, 3, 1, 10, 4 |
Assessment
Evaluation assignments:
- The evaluation takes into consideration:
- A paper summary and its presentation (20%).
- Seminars participation activities (15%).
- Cultural analysis exercice (10%).
- A final academic essay of the course and its presentation (30%).
- Multiple-choice exam (25%)
Evaluation criteria:
- Essays out of time will not accepted and the student will get a fail mark (0), without possibility of late assignment. Only excuses based on illness or similar reasons may be accepted under proper justification.
- Plagiarism in essays will conduct to a fail mark (0) and the student will lose the right of a new assessment. In case of relapse, the student will obtain a fail mark for the whole course (0) and will lose the right of a new assessment.
- It's necessary to obtain a final mean grade of 5 in order to pass the course.
- A minimum of 80% attendance to lectures and seminaris is requited to be assessed (only absences due to illneess or similar reasons are accepted).
- Classes start on time. Late arrival is not admitted. Also, leaving the class before its end without proper justification is not permitted.
Assessment Activities
| Title | Weighting | Hours | ECTS | Learning Outcomes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Academic essay | 30% | 0 | 0 | 2, 6, 7, 8, 3, 1, 9, 10, 5, 4 |
| Article summary and presentation | 20% | 0 | 0 | 3, 1, 9, 10, 5, 4 |
| Cultural analysis exercice | 10% | 0 | 0 | 6, 8, 3, 1, 10, 4 |
| Multiple-choice exam | 25% | 0 | 0 | 2, 7, 8, 5, 4 |
| Saminars participation activities | 15% | 0 | 0 | 2, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 5, 4 |
Bibliography
Required readings:
- Aebi M.F. & Linde A. (2015). The epistemological obstacles in comparative criminology: A special issue introduction. European Journal of Criminology, 12(4), 381-385.
- Aebi, M.F. (2010). Methodological issues in the comparison of police-recorded crime rates. In Shoham S.G., Knepper P. & Kett M. (Eds.). International handbook of criminology, 211-227. CRC Press, Taylor & Francis Group.
- Aebi, M.F. & Linde, A. (2014). The persistence of lifestyles: Rates and correlates of homicide in Western Europe from 1960 to 2010. European Journal of Criminology, 11(5), 552-577.
- Aebi, M.F. & Linde, A. (2016). Long-term trends in crime: Continuity and change. In Knepper P. & Johansen A. (Eds.). The Oxford handbook of the history of crime and criminal justice, 57-87. Oxford University Press.
- Dünkel, F. (2017). European penology: the rise and fall of prison population rates in Europe in times of migrant crises and terrorism. European Journal of Criminology, 14(6), 629-653.
- von Hofer, H. (2000). Crime statistics as constructs: The case of swedish rape statistics. European Journal on Criminal Policy and Research, 8(1), 77‐89.
- Lappi-Seppälä, T. (2011). Explaining imprisonment in Europe. European journal of Criminology, 8(4), 303-328.
- Rodríguez-Menés, J., & López-Riba, J. M. (2020). The impact of the 2008 economic crisis on imprisonment in Europe. European Journal of Criminology, 17(6), 845-876.
Complementary readings:
- Aebi M.F. & Linde A. (2012). Crime trends in Western Europe according to official statistics from 1990 to 2007. Invan Dijk J., Tseloni A. & Farrell G. (Eds.). The international crime drop: New directions in research, 37-75. Palgrave Macmillan.
- Aebi, M.F. (2009). Self-reported delinquency surveys in Europe, 1-68. CRIMPREV
- Aebi, M.F. & Linde, A. (2010). Is there a crime drop in Western Europe? European Journal on Criminal Policy and Research, 16(4), 251-277.
- Aebi, M.F. & Linde, A. (2012). Conviction statistics as an indicator of crime trends in Europe from 1990 to 2006. European Journal on Criminal Policy and Research, 18(1), 103-144.
- Aebi, M.F. & Linde, A. (2014). National victimization surveys. In Bruinsma G. & Weisburd D. (Eds.). Encyclopedia of criminology and criminal justice, 3228-3242. Springer.
- Aebi, M.F., Delgrande, N. i Marguet, Y. (2015). Have community sanctions and measures widened the net of the European criminal justice systems? Punishment & Society, 17(5), 575–597.
- Aebi, M.F., Linde, A., & Delgrande, N. (2015). Is there a relationship between imprisonment and crime in Western Europe? European Journal on Criminal Policy and Research, 21(3), 425-446.
- Campistol C. & Aebi M.F. (2018). Are juvenile criminal justice statistics comparable across countries? A study of the data available in 45 European nations. European Journal on Criminal Policy and Research, 24(1), 55-78.
- Caneppele, S. & Aebi, M. F. (2019). Crime drop or police recording flop? On the relationship between the decrease of offline crime and the increase of online and hybrid crimes. Policing: A Journal of Policy and Practice, 13(1), 66-79.
- Hayward, K. J., & Young, J. (2004). Cultural criminology: Some notes on thescript. Theoretical Criminology, 8(3), 259-273.
Software
The course does not requires of specific software.