Course description
* Thesis 12,000 words (37.5 points)
* One compulsory subject (12.5 points)
* One core methods subject (12.5 points)
* Three elective subjects (37.5 points)
Total 100 points - subjects are 12.5 points each, unless indicated otherwise.
Thesis subject
Subject Semester Credit Points
191-517 Socio-Legal Studies Thesis
Students undertaking the Socio-Legal Studies Thesis should demonstrate a clear understanding of a specific field of study at an advanced level. They should demonstrate clear thinking and an ability to integrate theory and method in a logical manner. ... Semester 1, Semester 2 37.50
Compulsory subject
Subject Semester Credit Points
166-558 Social Science Research Seminar
This subject is designed to develop research skills for students planning and writing research theses in the School of Political Science, Criminology and Sociology. The subject explores contemporary research strategies, differing methodological appro... Semester 1 12.50
Core methods subjects
Students must select one of the following subjects
Subject Semester Credit Points
191-420 Qualitative Research Methods
This subject forms an advanced overview of theories, methods and ethical issues in qualitative research. The subject will focus on the techniques of field studies, intensive interviewing, and case studies. Students will carry out small scale qualitat... Semester 1 12.50
166-554 Social Research Design and Evaluation
This subject provides a critical and practical engagement with social research design and evaluation, in a range of societal contexts including, but not limited to, social policy. As such, it provides theoretical frameworks and research skills for an... Semester 1 12.50
Elective subjects
Subject Semester Credit Points
191-435 Drugs and Justice
This subject introduces students to a range of historical and contemporary issues surrounding the measurement of drug use and the popular and scientific construction of the health, crime and social consequences of drug use. The subject is concerned w... Semester 2 12.50
191-438 Texts and Violence
Violence is an issue of great social, individual and cultural concern. This subject investigates some of the ways in which violence is represented, talked about, and interpreted. The subject focuses on two issues: how to interpret textual representat... Semester 2 12.50
191-440 The New Punitiveness?
This subject focuses on the idea that since the 1970s there has been a rise in punitiveness right across the developed nations of the west. The subject asks students to identify and understand the different domains in which punitiveness might reside ... Semester 2 12.50
166-411 Australian Politics:Democracy & Justice
This subject will investigate how Australian constitutional democracy has been structured and how it has defined and developed citizenship and protected human rights. To address these issues students will investigate questions such as, How was Austra... Semester 2 12.50
166-416 Justice, Democracy and Difference
This subject provides a critical examination of contemporary debates about ideas of justice, democracy and the politics of difference. The subject critically explores both the major liberal approaches to justice alongside critiques of liberal approac... Semester 1 12.50
166-442 Rights and Public Policy
This subject aims to assist students with the development of skills relevant in the policy-making process. This is carried out by familiarising students with legal and political developments within a variety of rights fields and by requiring them to ... Semester 2 12.50
191-520 Compliance, Regulation & Crime
There is increasing public and political demand that harms and risks to people, the environment, financial systems, and the like, be reduced, if not eliminated altogether. Tighter regulation, including in some cases use of the criminal law, is often ... Semester 2 12.50
191-536 Criminology and Sociology Internship
This subject is designed to provide students with hand-on research experience in the context of the everyday operations of a social or criminal justice or community-based agency. The internship takes place over two semesters and constitutes a structu... Semester 1, Semester 2 25
191-537 Genocide, State Crime and the Law
This subject will not be available in 2009 12.50
191-538 Law, Race and Indigenous Peoples
This subject examines the historical underpinnings of the contemporary over-representation of Indigenous peoples in the criminal justice systems of settler states (including Australia, New Zealand, Canada, United States of America, and South Africa).... Semester 2 12.50
166-418 Corruption in Today's World
This subject focuses on definitions, types and theories of corruption, and on its political, social and economic effects in various parts of the world, particularly since the 1980s. The subject asks students to problematise the concept of corruption ... Semester 1 12.50
166-423 Organisations and Management
This subject examines the modern public sector management function through a range of practical and theoretical perspectives. Focusing on placing public sector management into surrounding historical and quasi-ideological debates, the subject explores... Semester 2 12.50
