Year
2020
Units
4.5
Contact
1 x 1-hour on-line exercises weekly
1 x 1-hour on-line lecture weekly
1 x 1-hour on-line tutorial weekly
Prerequisites
1 CRIM1102 - Criminal Justice System
2 CRIM1101 - Crime and Criminology
2a LEGL1201 - Law in Australian Society
2b LEGL1101 - Australian Justice System
3 CRIM2201 - Punishment and Society
3a CRIM2202 - Policing and Society
3b CRIM2301 - Criminal Law in Context
3c CRIM2204 - Criminal Process and the Courts
4 SOCI2025 - Social Scientific Research: Design, Methods and Ethics
4a LEGL3113 - Socio-Legal Research Methods
4b CRIM2205 - Basics of Research Design and Methods
Must Satisfy: (1 and (2 or 2a or 2b) and (3 or 3a or 3b or 3c) and (4 or 4a or 4b))
Assessment
Assignment(s), Examination(s) (% weighting = 40), Tutorial participation
Topic description
This topic provides students with an advanced understanding of research explaining how crime is organised and controlled, with particular emphasis on exploring recent developments in the area of criminal network analysis. It offers a overview of the application of network theories to the field of criminology, an assessment of empirical work examining and explaining specific forms of criminality (e.g. cybercrime, terrorism, organised crime), as well as applied methodological and analytical training in the interpretation of network crime data.
Educational aims
  • Introduce students to the central concepts relevant to the criminological literature and theories about how crime is organised and how it can be controlled.

  • Provide an advanced conceptual and applied understanding of how criminal networks form, operate and proliferate in various contexts.

  • Examine the practical implications of research into criminal networks for crime control.
Expected learning outcomes
On completion of this topic students will be able to:

  • Identify the key principles and theoretical debates surrounding the analysis of criminal networks.

  • Apply network principles to the study of crime in specific contexts.

  • Analyse and interpret social network data using various software packages.

  • Contribute to key debates surrounding the analysis and disruption of criminal networks.