COURSE DESCRIPTION:

Crime is both a popular and controversial subject. Political debates (and stalemates) over the death penalty, drugs, ”tough on crime” laws, inner-city violence, and white-collar crime are regular newspaper fodder. Among domestic concerns, being ”soft” on crime is one of the most damaging characterizations one can make of a politician. Crime is also a central cultural focus: we seem fascinated by movies and television shows focusing on criminals, criminal investigators, lawyers, and prisons.

This course serves as a general introduction to the study of crime, largely from a criminological perspective rooted from sociological framework. The course might be summarized by a series of (seemingly) simple questions:

\n
• What is crime? How do we decide what is criminal?
\n
• How do we study or measure crime?
\n
• What causes crime?
\n
• How do we perceive crime? Why do these perceptions matter?
\n
• How do our reactions to crime affect future crime?
\n

The course has been designed to provide useful skills and knowledge for students with a variety of long-term interests and goals. For those interested in crime research, this course will provide a solid foundation of criminological theory and an introduction to the methods used for studying crime issues. For those students interested in careers related to criminal/legal policy, the course will provide an understanding of how to read and evaluate criminology theory and research, and how theory and research can be applied to policy. For those interested in criminal justice practice either locally, nationally, or internationally, this course will provide a general overview of the state of our knowledge about the cause of crime, as well as a brief overview of some of the ways current criminal justice practices play both positive and negative roles in the causation of crime. For all students, the course will provide a framework for critically assessing media and political discussions of crime and crime policy.

COURSE OBJECTIVES:

This course has been designed to help you achieve the following objectives:

\n
• To provide you with an understanding of the practice of criminology
\n

        specifically...

\n
• How and why we create explanations for observed phenomena through theory.
\n
• How and why we evaluate these explanations through research.
\n

\n
• To provide you with an understanding of some of the major theories used to explain the causes of crime
\n

\n
• Including theories about…
\n
• The effect of social structure on crime rates.
\n
• The effect of social influences on individual criminal acts.
\n
• How our reactions to crime may either deter or facilitate future crime.
\n

\n
• Make you a critical consumer of media reports on, politicians’ claims about, and media depictions of crime and crime policies.
\n

COURSE LEARNING OUTCOMES:

Upon completion of this course students will have acquired new skills, knowledge, and or attitudes as demonstrated by being able to:  

\n
1. Understand the basic theoretical perspectives on crime,
\n
2. Discuss criminological theories,
\n
3. Apply criminological theories to real life situations,
\n
4. Write papers evaluating and applying criminological theories,
\n
5. Make critical assessments of and draw logical conclusions about readings on criminological theories, and
\n
6. Understand the contemporary and historical issues regarding the criminal justice system and connect these issues to theoretical perspectives.
\n

Human Rights and Discrimination Law - Legal Intersection, Construction and Creative Exposition

Human rights are indivisible and extend to all. Yet all human beings are not accepted as 'equal' or treated equally, by reason of discriminatory attitudes, long-held assumptions or beliefs, stereotyping and practices. Hence, discrimination laws enter the field to address inequalities that undermine human rights and humans' rights to equal treatment in the true meaning of 'equal' when human rights are  in issue. Areas focused on in discrimination law include employment, education, provision of services (or 'services'), accommodation (or 'premises'), clubs (or 'associations'). Characteristics or attributes covered include sex/gender, race/ethnicity, disability, age, family responsibilities, pregnancy and maternity, marital status, sexual or gender identity: these are generally standard in discrimination laws in common law and civil law countries. However, some discrimination laws go further, nominating industrial activity, political activity, criminal record and more. In addition, sexual harassment (and sexist harassment), bullying, vilification, and victimisation are generally included.

Underpinning domestic laws - in the United Kingdom the Equality Act 2010, and the Human Rights Act 1998 - are international conventions and treaties, including the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) upon which the Human Rights Act 1998 is based, and UN covenants and conventions such as the Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, the Convention on the Rights of the Child, the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women, the Declaration of Human Rights, the Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights ... In some instances, the Convention on the Law of the Sea may be called upon, or international bodies such as the UN Committee on Human Rights, or regional bodies such as (for Africa) the African Commission on Human and Peoples' Right, and the African Court on Human and Peoples' Rights (effecting the African Human and Peoples' Rights Charter), or (for Europe) the ECHR and European Court of Justice.

This course will consider areas of activity and characteristics or attributes in the context of cases/authorities from the United Kingdom, Australia and the United States, with some reference to Canada and Aotearoa/New Zealand, and reference to legislation principally of the United Kingdom but also other jurisdictions, particularly Australia. It will canvass 'standard' areas of the law - such as race/ethnicity, disability, age and sex/gender in the context of employment, education, services, accommodation - and developing areas such as environment and climate change, housing and homelessness or rough sleeping, food sustainability, and national emergencies. Consideration will be given to ‘standard’ analysis and application of the laws, and creative construction in considering how they may be interpreted and applied to advance human rights.

This lecture introduces students to the Common-Law legal system, its legal history, peculiarities (from the perspective of people used to a Civil-Law legal system), and methodology. We will also look at various sources of law, legal institutions, and professions. Examples will be taken from different Common-Law jurisdictions such as the Australia, England and Wales, or the US.

This course offers students an introduction to the functioning of law within its real-world institutional context. Rather than focusing solely on theoretical legal concepts, the course emphasises experiential learning through guided excursions to a range of legally relevant institutions in North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW), such as courts, administrative bodies and other public or private organisations engaged in legal processes.

By engaging directly with practitioners and observing institutional practices, students gain insight into how legal norms are applied, interpreted, and enforced in practice. The excursions are complemented by reflective sessions that situate each visit within broader legal and socio-political frameworks.

Assessment is based on a short written report in which students reflect on the institutions visited, analyse their functions, and connect their observations to key legal concepts discussed during the course.

Description: In this course students will review general principles of English contract law (i.e. what makes a binding contract under English law) and the current position as regards contract interpretation under English law based on recent and topical cases from England and Wales and the wider commonwealth. Students will learn about best practice for drafting a contract under English law and in English generally, particularly around the use of "plain English" as a matter of drafting for clarity and to reduce uncertainty and ambiguity. Students will review examples of English contracts and create and review contract clauses to avoid ambiguity and improve clarity. 

Course Outcomes: at the end of this course students will have an understanding of basic principles of English contract law, as well as the current states of English law on contract interpretation, how to read an English contract for the purpose of interpretation and argument building, and how to design and draft a contract under English law according to current best practice. Students should be able to consider how English law differs from German law as regards contract law.

COURSE DESCRIPTION:

Crime is both a popular and controversial subject. Political debates (and stalemates) over the death penalty, drugs, ”tough on crime” laws, inner-city violence, and white-collar crime are regular newspaper fodder. Among domestic concerns, being ”soft” on crime is one of the most damaging characterizations one can make of a politician. Crime is also a central cultural focus: we seem fascinated by movies and television shows focusing on criminals, criminal investigators, lawyers, and prisons.

This course serves as a general introduction to the study of crime, largely from a criminological perspective rooted from sociological framework. The course might be summarized by a series of (seemingly) simple questions:

\n
• What is crime? How do we decide what is criminal?
\n
• How do we study or measure crime?
\n
• What causes crime?
\n
• How do we perceive crime? Why do these perceptions matter?
\n
• How do our reactions to crime affect future crime?
\n

The course has been designed to provide useful skills and knowledge for students with a variety of long-term interests and goals. For those interested in crime research, this course will provide a solid foundation of criminological theory and an introduction to the methods used for studying crime issues. For those students interested in careers related to criminal/legal policy, the course will provide an understanding of how to read and evaluate criminology theory and research, and how theory and research can be applied to policy. For those interested in criminal justice practice either locally, nationally, or internationally, this course will provide a general overview of the state of our knowledge about the cause of crime, as well as a brief overview of some of the ways current criminal justice practices play both positive and negative roles in the causation of crime. For all students, the course will provide a framework for critically assessing media and political discussions of crime and crime policy.

COURSE OBJECTIVES:

This course has been designed to help you achieve the following objectives:

\n
• To provide you with an understanding of the practice of criminology
\n

        specifically...

\n
• How and why we create explanations for observed phenomena through theory.
\n
• How and why we evaluate these explanations through research.
\n

\n
• To provide you with an understanding of some of the major theories used to explain the causes of crime
\n

\n
• Including theories about…
\n
• The effect of social structure on crime rates.
\n
• The effect of social influences on individual criminal acts.
\n
• How our reactions to crime may either deter or facilitate future crime.
\n

\n
• Make you a critical consumer of media reports on, politicians’ claims about, and media depictions of crime and crime policies.
\n

COURSE LEARNING OUTCOMES:

Upon completion of this course students will have acquired new skills, knowledge, and or attitudes as demonstrated by being able to:  

\n
1. Understand the basic theoretical perspectives on crime,
\n
2. Discuss criminological theories,
\n
3. Apply criminological theories to real life situations,
\n
4. Write papers evaluating and applying criminological theories,
\n
5. Make critical assessments of and draw logical conclusions about readings on criminological theories, and
\n
6. Understand the contemporary and historical issues regarding the criminal justice system and connect these issues to theoretical perspectives.
\n

Human Rights and Discrimination Law - Legal Intersection, Construction and Creative Exposition

Human rights are indivisible and extend to all. Yet all human beings are not accepted as 'equal' or treated equally, by reason of discriminatory attitudes, long-held assumptions or beliefs, stereotyping and practices. Hence, discrimination laws enter the field to address inequalities that undermine human rights and humans' rights to equal treatment in the true meaning of 'equal' when human rights are  in issue. Areas focused on in discrimination law include employment, education, provision of services (or 'services'), accommodation (or 'premises'), clubs (or 'associations'). Characteristics or attributes covered include sex/gender, race/ethnicity, disability, age, family responsibilities, pregnancy and maternity, marital status, sexual or gender identity: these are generally standard in discrimination laws in common law and civil law countries. However, some discrimination laws go further, nominating industrial activity, political activity, criminal record and more. In addition, sexual harassment (and sexist harassment), bullying, vilification, and victimisation are generally included.

Underpinning domestic laws - in the United Kingdom the Equality Act 2010, and the Human Rights Act 1998 - are international conventions and treaties, including the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) upon which the Human Rights Act 1998 is based, and UN covenants and conventions such as the Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, the Convention on the Rights of the Child, the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women, the Declaration of Human Rights, the Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights ... In some instances, the Convention on the Law of the Sea may be called upon, or international bodies such as the UN Committee on Human Rights, or regional bodies such as (for Africa) the African Commission on Human and Peoples' Right, and the African Court on Human and Peoples' Rights (effecting the African Human and Peoples' Rights Charter), or (for Europe) the ECHR and European Court of Justice.

This course will consider areas of activity and characteristics or attributes in the context of cases/authorities from the United Kingdom, Australia and the United States, with some reference to Canada and Aotearoa/New Zealand, and reference to legislation principally of the United Kingdom but also other jurisdictions, particularly Australia. It will canvass 'standard' areas of the law - such as race/ethnicity, disability, age and sex/gender in the context of employment, education, services, accommodation - and developing areas such as environment and climate change, housing and homelessness or rough sleeping, food sustainability, and national emergencies. Consideration will be given to ‘standard’ analysis and application of the laws, and creative construction in considering how they may be interpreted and applied to advance human rights.

This lecture introduces students to the Common-Law legal system, its legal history, peculiarities (from the perspective of people used to a Civil-Law legal system), and methodology. We will also look at various sources of law, legal institutions, and professions. Examples will be taken from different Common-Law jurisdictions such as the Australia, England and Wales, or the US.

This course offers students an introduction to the functioning of law within its real-world institutional context. Rather than focusing solely on theoretical legal concepts, the course emphasises experiential learning through guided excursions to a range of legally relevant institutions in North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW), such as courts, administrative bodies and other public or private organisations engaged in legal processes.

By engaging directly with practitioners and observing institutional practices, students gain insight into how legal norms are applied, interpreted, and enforced in practice. The excursions are complemented by reflective sessions that situate each visit within broader legal and socio-political frameworks.

Assessment is based on a short written report in which students reflect on the institutions visited, analyse their functions, and connect their observations to key legal concepts discussed during the course.

Description: In this course students will review general principles of English contract law (i.e. what makes a binding contract under English law) and the current position as regards contract interpretation under English law based on recent and topical cases from England and Wales and the wider commonwealth. Students will learn about best practice for drafting a contract under English law and in English generally, particularly around the use of "plain English" as a matter of drafting for clarity and to reduce uncertainty and ambiguity. Students will review examples of English contracts and create and review contract clauses to avoid ambiguity and improve clarity. 

Course Outcomes: at the end of this course students will have an understanding of basic principles of English contract law, as well as the current states of English law on contract interpretation, how to read an English contract for the purpose of interpretation and argument building, and how to design and draft a contract under English law according to current best practice. Students should be able to consider how English law differs from German law as regards contract law.