Global Crimes of the Powerful

Unit code: LCR6008 | Study level: Postgraduate

Credit points

(One credit point is usually equivalent to one hour of study per week)

Location

City Queen

Prerequisites

N/A

Overview

This subject introduces students to criminological debate and theory on crimes of the powerful. Students will move beyond the construction of the offender as an individual who commits crime on the “street” and moves to examine organisations occupying the most influential and privileged positions in society. State Crime, State-Corporate Crime and Corporate Crime will be at the centre of a unit where students will examine genocide, war crimes, crimes against humanity and other atrocities. The course will also examine responses to these crimes at a variety of levels including international criminal justice, domestic prosecution and individual resistance. The course will integrate the roles of gender, race and class in relation to power and victimisation.

Learning Outcomes

On successful completion of this unit, students will be able to:

Understand state and state-corporate crime, including the role it plays in the criminal justice system and its relationship with power;
Analyse critically the challenges involved in regulating, prosecuting and punishing these crimes from a global and local perspective;
Demonstrate a critical understanding of the forms of individual business or corporate and/or State crime, including such forms of financial crime, genocide and corruption.

Assessment

For Melbourne campuses

Assessment type: Exercise

Grade: 20%

Outline - 500 words

Assessment type: Literature Review

Grade: 30%

1,000 words

Assessment type: Essay

Grade: 50%

2,000 words

Required reading

State-corporate crime: Wrongdoing at the intersection of business and government.

Michalowski, R. J., & Kramer, R. C. (2006). | Rutgers University Press.

The corporate criminal: Why corporations must be abolished.

Tombs, S., & Whyte, D. (2015).| Routledge.

State crime and resistance.

Stanley, E., & McCulloch, J. (Eds.). (2012).| Routledge.

As part of a course

This unit is not a compulsorily taken as part of any specific course. Depending on the course you study, this unit may be taken as an elective.