Course

Policing - LAWS3789

Faculty: Faculty of Law

School: Faculty of Law

Course Outline: http://www.law.unsw.edu.au/

Campus: Sydney

Career: Undergraduate

Units of Credit: 6

EFTSL: 0.12500 (more info)

Indicative Contact Hours per Week: 3

Enrolment Requirements:

Pre-requisite: Crime & Criminal Process (LAWS1021/JURD7121) & Criminal Laws (LAWS1022/JURD7122) OR Crim. Law 1 (LAWS1001/JURD7101) & Crim. Law 2 (LAWS1011/JURD7111). Co-requisite: Litigation 1 [LAWS2311/ JURD7211] OR Res. Civil Disp. (LAWS2371/JURD7271)

Equivalent: JURD7506, LAWS8106

Excluded: CRIM2014, JURD7789, LAWX1789

CSS Contribution Charge: 1 (more info)

Tuition Fee: See Tuition Fee Schedule

Further Information: See Class Timetable

View course information for previous years.

Description

Focuses on policing as a set of social and legal practices and institutions, including beyond the public police. The approach is comparative and inter-disciplinary, drawing on a wide range of historical, socio-legal and criminological research. Policing is placed in its social and historical contexts by assessing conflicting interpretations of its history and of police public relations and the particular character policing in Australia. Topics include: police culture, the policing of social divisions, police corruption and deviance, the policing of public order, the policing of young people, drug policing, fictional representations of policing, developments in community, private, hybrid and international policing, and the limits and possibilities of police reform in the wake of the Royal Commission into the NSW Police Service.

Course Objectives

  • To introduce students to the inter-disciplinary field of policing studies
  • To encourage critical examination of policing in Australia, within and beyond the public police
  • To develop inter-disciplinary study in criminology and socio-legal areas

Main Topics

  • histories of policing
  • police culture
  • the policing of social divisions
  • police corruption and deviance
  • the policing of public order
  • the policing of young people
  • drug policing
  • fictional representations of policing
  • developments in community
  • private, hybrid and international policing
  • the limits and possibilities of police reform in the wake of the Royal Commission into the NSW Police Service

Assessment

Class Participation 10%
Seminar Paper and Presentation 20%
Research Essay (4,000 words) 70%
 

Course Texts

Prescribed
The course is based on materials to be provided. Order from the UNSW bookshop.

Students wishing to have an introduction to the issues covered by the course should consult:
  • Newburn, T (ed.) (2003) Handbook of Policing (Cullompton, UK: Willan)
  • Newburn, T (ed.) (2005) Policing: Key Readings (Cullompton, UK: Willan)
Students on quad lawn

Study Levels

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