This is a shelf course. A shelf course comprises a number of modules related to this broad area of study. Each module is a separate semester of study in this area and is offered in rotation. You can study TWO modules but you cannot study the same module twice.

Subject Area: Criminology

Topics will vary according to modules. Individual modules are likely to concentrate on one or more 'diversity category' and explore different aspects of the criminal justice system, or different themes in victimisation and offending in relation to that category.

Module: "Indigenous Perspectives in Criminal Justice"
This course traces the use of the criminal justice system in Australia to control Aboriginal people, from the period of colonial dispossession to contemporary times. Looking at crime and criminal justice through a post-colonial lens, we will hear from Aboriginal voices about experiences of crime and criminal justice, identify emerging trends in Indigenous justice from Australia and elsewhere, and consider the possible role of self determination and reconciliation in the 'decolonisation' of criminal justice.

Module: "Disability in the Criminal Justice System" (Semester 2, 2011)
All anglo-western criminal justice systems have significant over-representation, at all levels, of people with mental health disorders and cognitive disability. This course explores the life-pathways persons with these disabilities take into the criminal justice system and into prison in particular; examines the institutional contributions to these persons' offending and enmeshment in the system; analyses policy and legislation governing this area; applies critical criminology and critical disability theoretical perspectives to the area; and debates alternative understandings and frameworks.