Criminal Psychology
Code: 100449 ECTS Credits: 6| Degree | Type | Year | Semester |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2500257 Criminology | FB | 1 | 2 |
Contact
- Name:
- Elena Garrido Gaitán
- Email:
- elena.garrido@uab.cat
Teaching groups languages
You can check it through this link. To consult the language you will need to enter the CODE of the subject. Please note that this information is provisional until 30 November 2023.
Teachers
- Andrea Riera Campillo
- Manuel Casado Gómez
- Maria Ines Lovelle Iglesias
- Rocío Pina Ríos
Prerequisites
Reading comprehension in English
Objectives and Contextualisation
The main goals of the subject assume some of the primary objectives of the degree, such as knowing the psychological basis of criminology and introducing the lexicon of the Criminal and Forensic Psychology. Specifically, students will have to understand the psychological processes and personality factors related to the criminological study from a psychological point of view.
Students will learn the the most important psychological processes and personality factors, in order to understand the criminal behaviour.
Competences
- Ability to analyse and summarise.
- Drawing up an academic text.
- Properly using the legal, psychological, pedagogical and sociological language.
- Students must demonstrate they comprehend the criminological theories.
- Students must demonstrate they know the psychological and sociological concepts and foundations of criminology.
- Using research methods in social sciences in order to diagnose criminality problems.
- Working autonomously.
- Working in teams and networking.
Learning Outcomes
- Ability to analyse and summarise.
- Applying the vocabulary of legal psychology.
- Drawing up an academic text.
- Effectively interpreting theoretical written texts in English.
- Laying the foundations for the psychological foundations of criminology.
- Using research methods in those psychological fields related with criminology.
- Working autonomously.
- Working in teams and networking.
Content
BASIC PSYCHOLOGY SECTION
- Basis of Psychology Applied to the Criminal Context
- Models and Theories of Psychology applied in the criminological field
- Applications of Psychology to the Crime Study
- Relevance of the Psychological basis in the study of crime.
- Basic psychological principles (Motivation and Emotion, Thought and Language, Development and Learning)
PSYCHOLOGY OF PERSONALITY SECTION
- History of Psychology of personality in criminology. Basic concepts
- Dispositional, biological and learning basis in Personality Perspectives
- Assessment of personality and personality disorder
- Personality and crime. Prevention and prediction of criminal behavior
NOTE: Students will be able to consult a calendar of sessions and a schedule with deluvery dates through the "Moodle" Virtual Campus at the beginning of the course.
Methodology
In lecture classes, students will receive theoretical and technical information. In the seminar sessions (practice), they will recieve tools to assume the theoretical concepts in a more applied way. Finally, under supervision, students will have to write the course essays.
There is a scheduled start time for the sessions, for which it is required punctuality. Therefore, the entry (without any kind of justification) is not accepted after the beginning of the lecture nor leaving before it finishes.
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 | |||
| Assessment | 5 | 0.2 | 2, 5, 4, 3, 1, 7, 8, 6 |
| Lectures | 18 | 0.72 | 2, 5, 1 |
| Seminar | 18 | 0.72 | 2, 5, 4, 1, 8 |
| Type: Autonomous | |||
| Deduction / Discussion Papers | 30 | 1.2 | 5, 4, 3, 1, 7, 6 |
| Group Paper (Final Paper) | 25 | 1 | 2, 5, 4, 3, 1, 7, 8, 6 |
| Group Workshop | 33 | 1.32 | 2, 5, 4, 1, 7, 8, 6 |
| Reading Documents and Writing papers | 21 | 0.84 | 2, 5, 4, 3, 1, 7, 6 |
Assessment
The approach we propose aims to bring different marks on participation in the course in a continuous assessment of students. Therefore we will create discussion tasks in which we will be assessing the students. A continuous assessment, measured through practice, written comments and a final exam it will be held.
Requirements to pass de course
To pass the course students will have pass with at least a mark of 5 each of the tasks evaluated:
a) Essays on readings (30% of final mark)
This work will be requested during the semester and will focus on answering questions about two papers (Available on Moodle), and/or in the assessment of the seminar contents.
b) 1 group essay (30% of final mark)
Students will analyze a case / conference proposed at the beginning of the course. According to this, students will develop some aspects throughout the semester.
c) 1 final exam (40% of final mark)
Focused on the theoretical content taught in the course.
. In case classes may not be provided due to students or teachers strike, students shall be required to prepare the content on their own and will be assessed. Teachers can provide students with specific material to prepare the content that had been discussed in the lecture class. (Students-Teachers Commissions, June 2012).
Resit
Those who fail in the continuous assessment, will have the chance to pass the course in the final weeks of the course. The maximum grade at the reassessment exam (in case any student had failed the first one) will be 7. There's no chane to assit to the resit in order to increase the final mark.
Fraudulent conduct
If during an exam, any student is detected cheating from another student or from any other material, automatically will fail the course without the option of resit at the end of the semester. In case of plagiarism in a paper, each case will be analyzed, and the student could eventually fail the entire course without the option of resit. According to papers, in the event that a plagiarism behavior is detected, the paper will be failed (0) and the student will be notified. If the behavior persists, the course will be suspended without an option for resit.
Unique assessment
If the student wants to be assessed in one attempt, he/she must inform the teaching staff. At the begining of the semester you will find more information at the Moodle Campus. The assessment will consist of:
- Written exam (40% of the final mark). There will be an exam at the end of the course on the contents of the two blocks of the subject. During the course, the evaluable contents will be detailed.
- Practical exam (30% of the final mark). With questions about the papers that can be found on the campus
- Case analisys Paper and Presentation about the case (30% of the final grade)
To pass the course students will have pass with at least a mark of 5 each of the tasks evaluated
Universitat a l'abast
Because of their special status in this course, we begthe students of the Universitat a l'Abast to contact the head of the subjectat the beginning of the course to set targets for evaluation.
Assessment Activities
| Title | Weighting | Hours | ECTS | Learning Outcomes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Deduction / discussion papers | 30% | 0 | 0 | 2, 5, 4, 3, 1, 7, 6 |
| Exam | 40% | 0 | 0 | 2, 5, 4, 1, 7, 6 |
| Group Paper (Final Paper) | 30% | 0 | 0 | 2, 5, 4, 3, 1, 7, 8, 6 |
Bibliography
In the virtual platform, students will find the compulsory reading material for this course. For each topic, we will analyze texts from the following bibliographical sources.
Casal, G. (coord.) (2006). Psicología Forense: manual de técnicas y aplicaciones. Biblioteca Nueva.
Garrido, E; Masip, J. & Herrero, M.C. (coords.) (2006). Psicología Jurídica. Pearson Educación.
Garrido, V. (2005). ¿Qué es la psicología criminológica? Biblioteca Nueva
Rodríguez, C. & Ávila, A. (1999) Evaluación, psicopatología y tratamiento en Psicología Forense. Fundación Universidad.
Urra, J. (Comp.) (2002). Tratado de Psicología Forense. Siglo XXI.
Software
Moodle System