Course Coordinator:Emily Moir (emoir@usc.edu.au) School:School of Law and Society
UniSC Sunshine CoastUniSC Moreton Bay |
Blended learning | Most of your course is on campus but you may be able to do some components of this course online. |
Online |
Online | You can do this course without coming onto campus, unless your program has specified a mandatory onsite requirement. |
Please go to unisc.edu.au for up to date information on the
teaching sessions and campuses where this course is usually offered.
You will be introduced to key issues and developments in official responses to offenders. This includes the history and theories of punishment, including the evolution of prisons and punishment in Australia. You will also examine modern correctional systems, the social costs and benefits of imprisonment, and the personal impacts of incarceration. In addition, you will examine processes of rehabilitation, probation, parole and partial release. Issues such as indigenous incarceration, deaths in custody and the treatment of offenders with mental illnesses will be analysed.
| Activity | Hours | Beginning Week | Frequency |
| Blended learning | |||
| Learning materials – Weekly online learning materials | 1hr | Week 1 | 11 times |
| Tutorial/Workshop 1 – On campus | 2hrs | Week 1 | 11 times |
| Online | |||
| Learning materials – Weekly online learning materials | 1hr | Week 1 | 11 times |
| Tutorial/Workshop 1 – Online | 2hrs | Week 1 | 11 times |
Theories of punishment, History of corrections in Australia, Custodial corrections, Community corrections, Offender rehabilitation and reintegration, Understanding and addressing Indigenous over-representation, Youth justice, Special populations (mature content applies to every course topic)
100 Level (Introductory)
12 units
| Course Learning Outcomes On successful completion of this course, you should be able to... | Graduate Qualities Completing these tasks successfully will contribute to you becoming... | |
| 1 | Apply key theoretical justifications of punishment to historical and contemporary correctional practices | Knowledgeable |
| 2 | Identify the specific needs of different correctional clients and groups |
Knowledgeable Ethical |
| 3 | Develop and support their own arguments using evidence-based research and critical analysis |
Knowledgeable Empowered |
| 4 | Outline and explain the main contemporary processes involved in addressing offending behaviour |
Knowledgeable Empowered |
| 5 | Apply scholarly writing, research, and reference practice | Empowered |
Refer to the UniSC Glossary of terms for definitions of “pre-requisites, co-requisites and anti-requisites”.
Not applicable
Not applicable
Not applicable
Not applicable
Not applicable
Standard Grading (GRD)
| High Distinction (HD), Distinction (DN), Credit (CR), Pass (PS), Fail (FL). |
Formative activities will be undertaken in preparation for Assessment Task 1. This will include experiential learning activities, peer review and feedback.
| Delivery mode | Task No. | Assessment Product | Individual or Group | Weighting % | What is the duration / length? | When should I submit? | Where should I submit it? |
| All | 1 | Artefact - Creative | Individual | 20% | 500 words |
Week 4 | Online Assignment Submission with plagiarism check |
| All | 2 | Case Study | Individual | 30% | 1000 words |
Week 7 | Online Assignment Submission with plagiarism check |
| All | 3 | Case Study | Individual | 50% | 1,500 word sentence plan and 500 word reflection |
Week 12 | Online Assignment Submission with plagiarism check |
| All - Assessment Task 1:Pamphlet | ||||||||||||||||
| Goal: | This assessment task requires you to design a pamphlet on the justifications and aims of punishment within a historical Australian prison. The task is also intended to provide you with early feedback. |
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| Product: | Artefact - Creative | |||||||||||||||
| Authorship Statement: | ||||||||||||||||
| Format: | This is an individual assessment item where you will create a pamphlet with a standard referencing requirement. You are encouraged to be creative in the design of your pamphlet and include photos and figures. Further details are given on the course site, including a list of prisons for you to choose from. |
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| Criteria: |
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| Generic Skills: | ||||||||||||||||
| All - Assessment Task 2:Screening Assessment | |||||||||||||
| Goal: | The purpose of this assessment is to complete a screening assessment of a correctional client to identify offending risks and criminogenic needs. You will use this screening assessment to develop a whole of sentence plan as part of Task 3. |
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| Product: | Case Study | ||||||||||||
| Authorship Statement: | |||||||||||||
| Format: | This is an individual assessment item. Further details will be given in class and on the course site, including the case studies for correctional clients. Students will be required to submit this task on Cadmus. |
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| Criteria: |
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| Generic Skills: | Information literacy |
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| All - Assessment Task 3:Whole of Sentence Plan | |||||||||||||
| Goal: | Develop a whole of sentence plan based on the risk factors and criminogenic needs identified as part of Task 2: Screening Assessment. The plan will outline programs and requirements for effective offender rehabilitation. |
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| Product: | Case Study | ||||||||||||
| Authorship Statement: | |||||||||||||
| Format: | This is an individual assessment item. Further details will be given in class and on the course site, including the case studies for correctional clients. Students will be required to submit this task on Cadmus. |
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| Criteria: |
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| Generic Skills: | Communication, Problem solving |
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A 12-unit course will have total of 150 learning hours which will include directed study hours (including online if required), self-directed learning and completion of assessable tasks. Student workload is calculated at 12.5 learning hours per one unit.
| Period and Topic | Activities |
Topic 1 |
Introduction to course Theories of punishment History of corrections in Australia |
Topic 2 |
Custodial corrections |
Topic 3 |
Community corrections |
Topic 4 |
Offender rehabilitation and reintegration |
Topic 5 |
Understanding and addressing Indigenous over-representation |
Topic 6 |
Youth justice and special populations |
Please note: Course information, including specific information of recommended readings, learning activities, resources, weekly readings, etc. are available on the course Canvas site– Please log in as soon as possible.
You need regular access to the resource(s) below. Many texts are available as ebooks through the Library at no additional cost.
| Required? | Author | Year | Title | Edition | Publisher |
| Recommended | Michael Cavadino,James Dignan,George Mair,Jamie Bennett | 2020 | The Penal System | 6th edn | SAGE Publications Limited |
Not applicable
Academic integrity is the ethical standard of university participation. It ensures that students graduate as a result of proving they are competent in their discipline. This is integral in maintaining the value of academic qualifications. Each industry has expectations and standards of the skills and knowledge within that discipline and these are reflected in assessment.
Academic integrity means that you do not engage in any activity that is considered to be academic fraud; including plagiarism, collusion or outsourcing any part of any assessment item to any other person. You are expected to be honest and ethical by completing all work yourself and indicating in your work which ideas and information were developed by you and which were taken from others. You cannot provide your assessment work to others. You are also expected to provide evidence of wide and critical reading, usually by using appropriate academic references.
In order to minimise incidents of academic fraud, this course may require that some of its assessment tasks, when submitted to Canvas, are electronically checked through Turnitin. This software allows for text comparisons to be made between your submitted assessment item and all other work to which Turnitin has access.
Eligibility for Supplementary Assessment
Your eligibility for supplementary assessment in a course is dependent of the following conditions applying:
(a) The final mark is in the percentage range 47% to 49.4%; and
(b) The course is graded using the Standard Grading scale
Late submissions may be penalised up to and including the following maximum percentage of the assessment task’s identified value, with weekdays and weekends included in the calculation of days late:
(a) One day: deduct 5%;
(b) Two days: deduct 10%;
(c) Three days: deduct 20%;
(d) Four days: deduct 40%;
(e) Five days: deduct 60%;
(f) Six days: deduct 80%;
(g) Seven days: A result of zero is awarded for the assessment task.
The following penalties will apply for a late submission for an online examination:
Less than 15 minutes: No penalty
From 15 minutes to 30 minutes: 20% penalty
More than 30 minutes: 100% penalty
For more information on Academic Learning & Teaching categories including:
For more information, visit https://www.usc.edu.au/explore/policies-and-procedures#academic-learning-and-teaching
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