LW0CAS: Crime and Society

Module code: LW0CAS

Module provider: School of Law

Credits: 20

Level: F

When you’ll be taught: Semester 1

Module convenor: Dr Abigail Rowe, email: a.e.rowe@reading.ac.uk

Pre-requisite module(s):

Co-requisite module(s):

Pre-requisite or Co-requisite module(s): BEFORE OR WHILE TAKING THIS MODULE YOU MUST TAKE LW0UJ (Compulsory)

Module(s) excluded:

Placement information: NA

Academic year: 2026/7

Available to visiting students: No

Talis reading list: Yes

Last updated: 6 May 2026

Overview

Module aims and purpose

This module aims to help students develop a sociological understanding of crime and victimisation, exploring questions about the nature and causes of crime and asking critical questions about how we come to know about and make sense of it. The module will introduce students to key principles and practices of social scientific inquiry and support them to develop the skills and understanding to apply them in their own academic work.

Module learning outcomes

By the end of the module, it is expected that students will be able to:

1. Demonstrate knowledge and understanding of the competing and contested definitions of crime.
2. Apply sociological concepts and definitions of crime to real-world examples.
3. Search for and work effectively with a range of social scientific evidence.
4. Formulate clear criminological questions, explanations and arguments.

Module content

The module explores the core question, ‘What does it mean to think sociologically about crime?’ through two key themes: Structure and agency and Power and inequality.

Lecture topics will include:

1. What is crime?
2. Thinking sociologically about crime.
3. How does crime differ over time and place?
4. Individual explanations for crime.
5. Social explanations for crime.
6. Thinking sociologically about victims and victimisation.
7. Knowing about and making sense of crime.
8. Crime and the media.
9. Hidden crimes and crimes of the powerful.
10. Social harm and alternative perspectives to crime.
11. Module review.

Workshops will:

• Introduce and explore core principles of social scientific inquiry.
• Explore key module themes.
• Consolidate concepts introduced in lectures.
• Provide opportunities for hands-on exploration of criminological questions and evidence.
• Teach and develop assessment skills. 

NB: The focus of some lectures and workshops may vary between years.

Structure

Teaching and learning methods

Lectures
Presentation-led overview of literature and concepts.
11 weekly two-hour long lectures (22 hours).

Workshops
Practical, applied tasks focusing on core academic skills, assessment preparation.
6 fortnightly two-hour workshops (12 hours).

Blended-learning
Online blended-learning activities will primarily be used to review and consolidate learning. from lectures and core readings.

Study hours

At least 34 hours of scheduled teaching and learning activities will be delivered in person, with the remaining hours for scheduled and self-scheduled teaching and learning activities delivered either in person or online. You will receive further details about how these hours will be delivered before the start of the module.

Please note the independent study hours above are notional numbers of hours; each student will approach studying in different ways. We would advise you to reflect on your learning and the number of hours you are allocating to these tasks.

Semester 1 The hours in this column may include hours during the Christmas holiday period.

Semester 2 The hours in this column may include hours during the Easter holiday period.

Summer The hours in this column will take place during the summer holidays and may be at the start and/or end of the module.

Assessment

Requirements for a pass

Students need to achieve an overall module mark of 40% to pass this module.

Summative assessment

Penalties for late submission of summative assessment

The Support Centres will apply the following penalties for work submitted late:

Assessments with numerical marks

• where the piece of work is submitted after the original deadline (or a DAS-agreed extension as a reasonable adjustment indicated in your Individual Learning Plan): 10% of the total marks available for that piece of work will be deducted from the mark for each calendar day (or part thereof) following the deadline up to a total of three calendar days;
• where the piece of work is submitted up to three calendar days after the original deadline (or a DAS-agreed extension as a reasonable adjustment indicated in you Individual Learning Plan), the mark awarded due to the imposition of the penalty shall not fall below the threshold pass mark, namely 40% in the case of modules at Levels 4-6 (i.e. undergraduate modules for Parts 1-3) and 50% in the case of Level 7 modules offered as part of an Integrated Masters or taught postgraduate degree programme;
• where the piece of work is awarded a mark below the threshold pass mark prior to any penalty being imposed, and is submitted up to three calendar days after the original deadline (or a DAS-agreed extension as a reasonable adjustment indicated in your Individual Learning Plan), no penalty shall be imposed;
• where the piece of work is submitted more than three calendar days after the original deadline (or a DAS-agreed extension as a reasonable adjustment indicated in your Individual Learning Plan): a mark of zero will be recorded.

Assessments marked Pass/Fail

• where the piece of work is submitted within three calendar days of the deadline (or a DAS-agreed extension as a reasonable adjustment indicated in your Individual Learning Plan): no penalty will be applied;
• where the piece of work is submitted more than three calendar days after the original deadline (or a DAS-agreed extension as a reasonable adjustment indicated in your Individual Learning Plan): a grade of Fail will be awarded.

Where a piece of work is submitted late after a deadline which has been revised owing to an extension granted through the Assessment Adjustments policy and process (self-certified or otherwise), it will be subject to the maximum penalty (i.e., considered to be more than three calendar days late). This will also apply when such an extension is used in conjunction with a DAS-agreed extension as a reasonable adjustment.

The University policy statement on penalties for late submission can be found at: /cqsd/-/media/project/functions/cqsd/documents/qap/penaltiesforlatesubmission.pdf

You are strongly advised to ensure that coursework is submitted by the relevant deadline. You should note that it is advisable to submit work in an unfinished state rather than to fail to submit any work.

Formative assessment

Formative assessment is any task or activity which creates feedback (or feedforward) for you about your learning, but which does not contribute towards your overall module mark.

Students will have the opportunity to participate in a formative discussion and peer review exercise based on preliminary work towards their summative essay assessment.

Reassessment

Additional costs