Criminal Justice: Policy and Practice (SP0009)

? Credit Points : 20 ? SCQF Level : 10 ? Acronym : SPS-3-SPCRIM

In Scotland, as well as in the rest of the UK, the criminal justice system has been undergoing substantial transformations: the privatisation of prisons and adjunct services; the responsibilisation of individuals and communities; the return to the centrality of custody in the sentencing tariff; and major adjustments to the provision of public funded legal services (legal aid). It has also been subject to intermittent crises due to: judgments as to the human rights of prisoners; concerns as to the capacity of the criminal courts and prosecution services; charges of institutional racism. Inadequacies in the criminal justice system have led to calls for change - or have strengthened resolve to resist change. All of these actual or proposed changes, however, reflect recurrent themes and exhibit core issues in relation to social policy in general, and the criminal justice system in particular. This course presents students with an opportunity to subject the criminal justice system to critical examination from a distinctly social policy perspective. It also presents students with the opportunity to examine social policy-in-the-making by exploring the dilemmas and constraints facing social policy makers with regard to the criminal justice system.