Overview

Module Content: (1) introductory lecture; (2) early theories of criminal behaviour, (3) psychological assessments and offender profiling, (4) deception in clinical forensic psychology, (5) victimology and offending behaviour, (6) treatment and rehabilitation of offenders, (7) sexual and violent offending behaviour, (8) mental health and offending behaviour, (9) substance misuse and offending behaviour, and (10) Intellectual developmental difficulties and offending behaviour.

Assessment Strategy

-threshold -Shows a poor coverage of the topic area. Has poor clarity of argument and expression. Demonstrates a weak insight into theoretical issues. Shows limited background reading and study. A poorly focused answer that is unstructured and not written in the required academic/APA manner/style. Many grammatical and punctuation errors. Fails to show any original thought, interpretation and deliberation. Fails to evaluate the evidence base presented, it is just a shallow over-view without any depth of understanding or meaning. Has a weak evidence base (Grade level: C+ to C-).

-good -Reasonable coverage of the topic area. Shows a reasonable level of clarity of argument and expression. Demonstrates a reasonable level of depth of insight into theoretical issues. Shows a reasonable level of background reading and study. A reasonably focused answer that is reasonably structured and written in the required academic/APA manner/style. Some grammatical and punctuation errors. Shows some level of original thought, interpretation and deliberation. Shows some evaluation of the evidence base presented, rather than just being a shallow over-view. Has a reasonable evidence base (Grade level: B- to B+).

-excellent -Shows a comprehensive and accurate coverage of the topic area. Shows good clarity of argument and expression. Demonstrates depth of insight into theoretical issues. Shows extensive background reading and study. A highly focused answer that is well structured and written in the required academic/APA manner/style. Few grammatical and punctuation errors. Shows original thought, interpretation and deliberation. Evaluates the evidence base presented, rather than being a shallow over-view without any depth of understanding. Has a good evidence base (Grade level: A- to A*).

Learning Outcomes

• To be able to critically evaluate and synthesize the evidence base for different interventions which are designed to treat and rehabilitate criminal offenders.

• To be able to understand how scientific and research methodologies are employed in Forensic Psychology.

• To be able to understand, evaluate and critically review the main psychological theories related to the occurrence of criminal behaviour.

• To understand, know and be able to evaluate the main concepts of Forensic Psychology.