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Hate Crime and Sexual Violence (912M3)

30 credits, Level 7 (Masters)

Spring teaching

This module will focus on issues relating to hate crime, sexual violence and the criminal justice system. 

In the first part of the module, you'll explore:

• concepts of hate crime and how and why its definition has differed between jurisdictions
• the growing legislative responses to hate-motivated offences in the UK and US
• whether it’s fair to give harsher punishments when crimes are motivated by certain types of prejudice, like racism, homophobia, hatred of religion, or discrimination against disabled people
• the main criminological theories that have been put forward to explain the cause of hate crime
• research that has evidenced the often heightened levels of harm that such offences cause to both victims and minority communities more broadly.

The second part of the module focuses on sexual violence.

You'll examine:

• the reforms made to the law and practice with regards to sexual assault
• remaining issues, highlighting attrition and problems of attitude
• the arguments for and against the inclusion of sexual violence under the label of hate crime, noting both the impacts that inclusion/exclusion under the label may have on the state’s responses to such crimes
• the use of alternative criminal justice measures for hate crime and sexual violence
• the use of restorative justice, assessing the potential benefits and pitfalls of using such an approach.

Contact hours and workload

This module is approximately 300 hours of work. This breaks down into about 30 hours of contact time and about 270 hours of independent study. The University may make minor variations to the contact hours for operational reasons, including timetabling requirements.

We regularly review our modules to incorporate student feedback, staff expertise, as well as the latest research and teaching methodology. We’re planning to run these modules in the academic year 2024/25. However, there may be changes to these modules in response to feedback, staff availability, student demand or updates to our curriculum.

We’ll make sure to let you know of any material changes to modules at the earliest opportunity.