Postgraduate Course: Responding to Global Crime and Insecurity (LAWS11293)
Course Outline
| School | School of Law |
College | College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences |
| Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 11 (Postgraduate) |
Availability | Not available to visiting students |
| SCQF Credits | 20 |
ECTS Credits | 10 |
| Summary | Responding to Global Crime and Insecurity is one of two core courses on the MSc programme in Global Crime, Justice and Security and is available to students on LLM programmes, the MSc in Criminology and Criminal Justice and other MSc programmes subject to agreement between the course convenor and relevant programme director.
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| Course description |
The focus of the course is on legal, political and policy responses to international and transnational forms of crime, insecurity and injustice. The course is delivered in two sections focusing on transnational forms of crime and secondly on atrocity crime (broadly, those defined by international criminal law).
Responding to Global Crime and Insecurity is one of two core courses on the MSc programme in Global Crime, Justice and Security and is available to students on other LLM and programmes in accordance with their degree programme timetables.
The course is divided largely into two parts handling political, policy and legal responses to transnational and international crimes. Under the heading of transnational crimes, topics can include responses to specific crimes such as human trafficking, international money laundering, piracy, terrorism and transnational organised crime, broadly defined. International crimes focus on acts criminalised by international agreement. Under both headings issues of processes of agreeing definitions, investigating, preventing and prosecuting will be examined. Specific sessions may change from year to year, and will be outlined in the course handout.
The course is taught through seminars, with reading and focus set out in advance, and while led by a lecturer, there is an expectation that students use their engagement with material to advance their knowledge and thinking by engaging in collaborative discussions.
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Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
| Pre-requisites |
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Co-requisites | |
| Prohibited Combinations | |
Other requirements | Students should have some background in a cognate discipline, for example Criminology, History, Law, International Relations, Politics/Political Science, Sociology or other Social Science subjects. If you are uncertain, you can contact the course organiser.
Students might consider taking the first semester course, Global Crime and Insecurity, but it is not a requirement.
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Course Delivery Information
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| Academic year 2021/22, Not available to visiting students (SS1)
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Quota: 44 |
| Course Start |
Semester 2 |
Timetable |
Timetable |
| Learning and Teaching activities (Further Info) |
Total Hours:
200
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Seminar/Tutorial Hours 20,
Programme Level Learning and Teaching Hours 4,
Directed Learning and Independent Learning Hours
176 )
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| Assessment (Further Info) |
Written Exam
0 %,
Coursework
100 %,
Practical Exam
0 %
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| Additional Information (Assessment) |
One essay of 5000 words worth 100% |
| Feedback |
Each course will provide the opportunity for at least one piece of formative assessment with associated feedback. This will be provided within an appropriate timescale to enable students to learn from this prior to the summative assessment.
The formative feedback exercise for this course will be as follows: during the penultimate week of the semester (by 2PM on 19th March 2021 at the latest), you will be offered the opportunity to submit a one-page overview of your proposed structure of your Assessed Essay, on which you will then receive feedback, comments and suggestions. The overview will not be graded; rather, the aim of the exercise is for you to gain feedback on your essay structure before you begin to write your essay.
Feedback on the 5,000 word essay is given under the following headings:
Critical and conceptual analysis
Strength and cohesion of argument
Use of sources/evidence
Structure and organisation
Breadth and relevance of reading
Clarity of expression, presentation and referencing
General comments
Students are invited to discuss any feedback with the course convenor during advertised office hours or another mutually convenient time.
Feedback on both formative and summative in-course assessed work will be provided in time to be of use in subsequent assessments within the course.
Feedback on the summative assessment will be provided in written form via Learn, the University of Edinburgh's Virtual Learning Environment (VLE).
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| No Exam Information |
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
- A broad sense of research literature across a range of disciplines dealing with responses to international and transnational forms of crime and a strategy to access relevant literature.
- An advanced understanding of different disciplinary logics in the fields of law and political science/international relations
- A substantive knowledge of legal and political approaches to transnational and international crime and the ability to critically assess these in terms of their underlying logics, aims and effectiveness
- The ability to select a clear and bounded issue from a broad framework and to give a short summary focussing on the essential points
- The ability to formulate and present a coherent and evidenced argument in an extended written format
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Reading List
The following works have been selected as good examples of cross-disciplinary thinking in relation to global problems of crime and insecurity
* Dorn, Nicholas (2009) Governance through corruption: cosmopolitan complicity, in A. Halpin and V. Roeben (eds), Theorising the Global Legal Order. Oxford: Hart, pp. 233:51.
* Halliday, T. and Osinsky, P. (2006) Globalization of law. Annual Review of Sociology 32: 447-70.
* Loader, I. and Percy, S. (2012) Bringing the 'outside' in and the 'inside' out: crossing the criminology/IR divide. Global Crime 13(4): 213-18.
* Williams, M. (2012) The new economy of security. Global Crime 13(4): 312-19. |
Additional Information
| Graduate Attributes and Skills |
Generic cognitive skills
While international criminal justice and transnational law enforcement now have a significant background, the cross disciplinary study of these phenomenon is relatively new. Students are expected to develop an appreciation of different approaches and to synthesising theory and knowledge to support independent conclusions.
The course is structured to encourage students to access a range of sources and to synthesise these in understanding particular responses to international and transnational forms of crime. In required (but unassessed) elements of the course, students will make connections across different disciplines and responses to different forms of crime.
The field is characterised by often inconsistent approaches and students will be expected to deal with this, formulating a view on the coherence of the phenomenon of global crime and implications on how we respond to international and transnational forms of crime.
Communication skills
Students are expected to communicate appropriately with peers and experts, including practitioners, in seminars which are predominantly based around discussions and group tasks. High level communication skills are developed through the extended essay format.
Autonomy, accountability and working with others
Students develop autonomy through preparation for seminars and assessments where, beyond a core minimum, they are expected to direct their own reading, and define their approach to questions, selection of cases and examples. Group work in seminars encourages the development of peer working, including exercising leadership in groups, working as part of a team to effectively realise goals and producing outputs that enjoy group support and consensus.
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| Keywords | Crime,Justice,International,Law,Organised Crime,Policing,Politics,Prosecution,Strategy |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Dr Andy Aitchison
Tel: (0131 6)51 4563
Email: andy.aitchison@ed.ac.uk |
Course secretary | Miss Chloe Culross
Tel: (0131 6)50 9588
Email: Chloe.Culross@ed.ac.uk |
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