CRIM 310 : Paradoxes of Crime Technology

Arts

2024 Semester Two (1245) (15 POINTS)

Course Prescription

Explores the limits and contradictions of crime prevention technologies. Focuses on the tension between the promises of such technologies and their consequences. Limits are explored via critical analyses of DNA typing, fingerprint comparison, forecasting or prediction, security technologies, and environmental controls, such as ‘target hardening’, ‘guardianship’ and ‘environmental design’.

Course Overview

This course explores the limits and contradictions of crime prevention technologies. It focuses on the tension between the promises of such technologies and their consequences. Limits are explored via critical analyses of DNA typing, fingerprint comparison, forecasting or prediction, security technologies, and environmental controls, such as “target hardening,” “guardianship,” and “environmental design.”
Crime control efforts are overwhelmingly driven by faith in technology. That is, it is commonly accepted that technological innovation can stop crime. The history of crime control is witness to this faith. Technologies such as fingerprint matching, lie detection, DNA profiling, actuarial predictions of dangerousness and future offending, hi- and low-tech surveillance and, amongst others, environmental modifications litter the past and present (and foreseeable future) of crime control. Some technologies predate criminology as a modern discipline; many are coterminous with it. In some shape or form, all such technologies promise crime’s resolution.
This course will explore the paradoxes and ironies of technological fetishism and its promise to provide social security by eradicating crime. Many paradoxes and unanticipated consequences can be discerned: technological strategies often produce new forms of criminalised behaviour, undermine important legal frameworks and concepts that safeguard individual and group liberties, presuppose the very criminality that they seek to control, assume a “legal-illegal” distinction that ensures the classification of behaviour as either legal or illegal. In these respects, the faith deposited in technology is brought into the spotlight and subject to critical interrogation. Throughout, the course will also consider what alternatives, if any, exist to a technology fetishism that requires the criminality it supposedly controls.

Course Requirements

Prerequisite: 90 points passed from BA courses, including 30 points at Stage II

Capabilities Developed in this Course

Capability 2: Sustainability
Capability 3: Knowledge and Practice
Capability 4: Critical Thinking
Capability 5: Solution Seeking
Capability 6: Communication
Graduate Profile: Bachelor of Arts

Learning Outcomes

By the end of this course, students will be able to:
  1. Evaluate the reasoning behind crime prevention technologies and their limits (Capability 3 and 4)
  2. Develop a critical sensibility concerning the notion of "crime" and crime control efforts (Capability 3 and 4)
  3. Develop a strong understanding of different criminological ways of understanding the world (Capability 3 and 4)
  4. Be confident writing a 1750 word essay that critically engages with criminological theories and practices (Capability 3, 4, 5 and 6)
  5. Understand and analyse the power relations that inform crime control practices (Capability 2, 3 and 4)

Assessments

Assessment Type Percentage Classification
Essay 1 (comprehension piece) 20% Individual Coursework
Essay 2 (analytical piece) 30% Individual Coursework
Final Exam 50% Individual Examination

Workload Expectations

This course is a standard [15] point course and students are expected to spend 10 hours per week involved in each 15 point course that they are enrolled in.

For this course, you can expect [2] hours of lectures, a [1] hour tutorial, [3.5] hours of reading and thinking about the content and [3.5] hours of work on assignments and/or test preparation.

Delivery Mode

Campus Experience

Attendance is expected at scheduled activities .
Lectures will be available as recordings. Other learning activities including tutorials will not be available as recordings.
The course will not include live online events.
Attendance on campus is required for the exam.
The activities for the course are scheduled as a standard weekly timetable.

This course is not available for delivery to students studying remotely outside NZ in 2024.

Learning Resources

Course materials are made available in a learning and collaboration tool called Canvas which also includes reading lists and lecture recordings (where available).

Please remember that the recording of any class on a personal device requires the permission of the instructor.

Student Feedback

At the end of every semester students will be invited to give feedback on the course and teaching through a tool called SET or Qualtrics. The lecturers and course co-ordinators will consider all feedback and respond with summaries and actions.

Your feedback helps teachers to improve the course and its delivery for future students.

Class Representatives in each class can take feedback to the department and faculty staff-student consultative committees.

N/A

Academic Integrity

The University of Auckland will not tolerate cheating, or assisting others to cheat, and views cheating in coursework as a serious academic offence. The work that a student submits for grading must be the student's own work, reflecting their learning. Where work from other sources is used, it must be properly acknowledged and referenced. This requirement also applies to sources on the internet. A student's assessed work may be reviewed for potential plagiarism or other forms of academic misconduct, using computerised detection mechanisms.

Class Representatives

Class representatives are students tasked with representing student issues to departments, faculties, and the wider university. If you have a complaint about this course, please contact your class rep who will know how to raise it in the right channels. See your departmental noticeboard for contact details for your class reps.

Inclusive Learning

All students are asked to discuss any impairment related requirements privately, face to face and/or in written form with the course coordinator, lecturer or tutor.

Student Disability Services also provides support for students with a wide range of impairments, both visible and invisible, to succeed and excel at the University. For more information and contact details, please visit the Student Disability Services’ website http://disability.auckland.ac.nz

Well-being always comes first
We all go through tough times during the semester, or see our friends struggling. There is lots of help out there - for more information, look at this Canvas page https://canvas.auckland.ac.nz/courses/33894, which has links to various support services in the University and the wider community.

Special Circumstances

If your ability to complete assessed coursework is affected by illness or other personal circumstances outside of your control, contact a member of teaching staff as soon as possible before the assessment is due.

If your personal circumstances significantly affect your performance, or preparation, for an exam or eligible written test, refer to the University’s aegrotat or compassionate consideration page https://www.auckland.ac.nz/en/students/academic-information/exams-and-final-results/during-exams/aegrotat-and-compassionate-consideration.html.

This should be done as soon as possible and no later than seven days after the affected test or exam date.

Learning Continuity

In the event of an unexpected disruption, we undertake to maintain the continuity and standard of teaching and learning in all your courses throughout the year. If there are unexpected disruptions the University has contingency plans to ensure that access to your course continues and course assessment continues to meet the principles of the University’s assessment policy. Some adjustments may need to be made in emergencies. You will be kept fully informed by your course co-ordinator/director, and if disruption occurs you should refer to the university website for information about how to proceed.

Student Charter and Responsibilities

The Student Charter assumes and acknowledges that students are active participants in the learning process and that they have responsibilities to the institution and the international community of scholars. The University expects that students will act at all times in a way that demonstrates respect for the rights of other students and staff so that the learning environment is both safe and productive. For further information visit Student Charter https://www.auckland.ac.nz/en/students/forms-policies-and-guidelines/student-policies-and-guidelines/student-charter.html.

Disclaimer

Elements of this outline may be subject to change. The latest information about the course will be available for enrolled students in Canvas.

In this course students may be asked to submit coursework assessments digitally. The University reserves the right to conduct scheduled tests and examinations for this course online or through the use of computers or other electronic devices. Where tests or examinations are conducted online remote invigilation arrangements may be used. In exceptional circumstances changes to elements of this course may be necessary at short notice. Students enrolled in this course will be informed of any such changes and the reasons for them, as soon as possible, through Canvas.

Published on 11/10/2023 04:48 p.m.