Unit Outline

This unit is designed to introduce students to the issues and processes associated with working with offenders, particularly those in prisons or under the supervision of community corrections. The unit explores issues pertaining directly to how best to work with a wide variety of people with offending histories. Topics to be covered include duty of care, 'special populations' of prisoners, risk management and difficult situations, safety and security, working with involuntary clients, inter-agency collaboration, prison culture, assessment tools, mental illness and drug use, restorative justice, victim interests, children and families of prisoners, worker self-care and professional report writing. The unit also examines how and why people stop offending and change (desistance from crime). International examples of innovation are showcased from key jurisdictions such as England and Wales, Scotland, Canada, the US, Australia and New Zealand. The unit is intended to be relevant and familiar for those already working in the field, in prison and in the community, as well as to introduce contemporary principles and practices to those wishing to do so in the future. Engaging presentations from experienced guest speakers who are senior practitioners in the field are one of the popular features of this unit.

Intended Learning Outcomes

As per the Assessment and Results Policy 1.3, your results will reflect your achievement against specified learning outcomes.

On completion of this unit, you will be able to:


1.	Explain the socio-economic and individual factors that contribute to criminal offending, and analyse the potential costs and harms associated with offending.
2.	Apply major criminological offender rehabilitation models, approaches and concepts to practical examples.
3.	Evaluate the work contexts and institutional dynamics of the courts, community corrections, prisons and community sector organisations, and how these may shape offender-worker relationships.
4.	Communicate your ideas clearly in written and verbal form.

Requisites


REQUISITE TYPE	REQUISITES
Anti-requisite (mutual excl)	HGA332, HGA532

Alterations as a result of student feedback

Each year student feedback is sought in order to help improve the unit offering and the student experience. Based on feedback from 2023 the following changes have been made:

Fewer guests on each day to give more time for discussion and analysis of guest presentations;

The three online synchronous tutorials have been replaced by online asynchronous activities and one online synchronous tutorial. Student feedback indicated that tutorials were not convenient, required too many hours of commitment and were not valuable to understanding of content. One online synchronous tutorial will be offered at the start of the intensive to welcome online students, discuss requirements and assessments, and answer questions. All other participation will be via asynchronous activities;

Format of assessments has been changed considering winter intensive period being shorter than regular semesters.

How will I be Assessed?

For more detailed assessment information please see MyLO.

Assessment schedule


ASSESSMENT TASK #	ASSESSMENT TASK NAME	DATE DUE	WEIGHT	LINKS TO INTENDED LEARNING OUTCOMES
Assessment Task 1:	Critical Reflection	Refer to Assessment Description	20 %	LO4
Assessment Task 2:	Case Study Analysis	Refer to Assessment Description	20 %	LO2, LO3, LO4
Assessment Task 3:	Class participation	Refer to Assessment Description	25 %	LO1, LO2, LO4
Assessment Task 4:	Presentation and Summary	Refer to Assessment Description	35 %	LO1, LO2, LO3, LO4

Assessment details

Assessment Task 1: Critical Reflection

Task Description:

Complete a 750-word reflection task before and a 750-word reflection task after completing the intensive. You will be asked to reflect on your responses after you have participated in the taught portion of the unit. The questions to answer before beginning participation in the face-to-face or online component of the unit are:
1) What associations do you have to the word “offender”? (i.e. what do you think of when you hear the word “offender”?)
2) What learnings do you hope to take out of this unit?
3) How will you ensure you actively participate in this unit?

The questions to answer after finishing the face-to-face and online participation component of the unit are:
1) After reviewing your earlier reflection what associations do you now have with the word “offender”? How has this changed from earlier?
2) In your view how does theory inform practice and vice-versa?
3) What is your main learning from this unit?
4) Do you believe you participated to the best of your abilities?

Task Length:

1500 words

Due Date:

Refer to Assessment Description

Weight:

20 %

CRITERION #

CRITERION

MEASURES INTENDED

LEARNING OUTCOME(S)


1	Communicate your ideas prior to and on-completion of this unit	LO4

Assessment Task 2: Case Study Analysis

Task Description:

Short Answer Assignment
The Assignment will contain two (2) sections – Section A and Section B.
Section A Requires you to use professional writing in the form of case notes. You do not need to include academic-style responses and definitions of concepts in this task, write it as though you are actually employed in the work role that is given in the scenario.

Section B Requires you to provide rehabilitation recommendations using academic writing, including some in-text referencing where other people’s concepts or definitions are cited. The questions will be made available on MyLO.

Both parts of the assessment are due at the same time.

Task Length:

Task 2a: 500 words Task 2b: 700 words

Due Date:

Refer to Assessment Description

Weight:

20 %

CRITERION #

CRITERION

MEASURES INTENDED

LEARNING OUTCOME(S)


1	Communicate ideas clearly and appropriately for the professional context of the criminal justice system, or in academic writing as required by the task.	LO4
2	Analyse major criminological offender rehabilitation models (e.g. the Risk-Need-Responsivity Model; Good Lives Model), approaches (e.g. therapeutic jurisprudence, restorative justice) and concepts (e.g. criminogenic risk, desistance, social capital).	LO2
3	Evaluate the work contexts and institutional dynamics of the courts, community corrections, prisons and community sector organisations, and how these may shape offender-worker relationships.	LO3

Assessment Task 3: Class participation

Task Description:

Class participation - Throughout the unit:
Throughout the unit you will be expected to remain engaged with your peers and teaching staff. Your participation will be measured throughout the unit whether you are on-campus or online, synchronous or asynchronous.
On-campus students: Participation is not attendance but how actively you listened, engaged, and participated in written and oral, small and large group activities during the teaching intensive. You will be asked to complete individual as well as group tasks during the on-campus portion of the Winter School. Your participation will be measured via the following rubric:

Online students: You will receive prompts via the discussion forum on MyLO or other applications embedded in MyLO, e.g., Padlet. You are expected to respond to these prompts and demonstrate engagement with other asynchronous peers. Your participation will be measured via the following rubric:

Task Length:

n/a

Due Date:

Refer to Assessment Description

Weight:

25 %

CRITERION #

CRITERION

MEASURES INTENDED

LEARNING OUTCOME(S)


1	Demonstrate professional interpersonal communication and listening skills.	LO4
2	Explain using criminological terminology and language the factors that contribute to criminal offending, and explain the potential harms and costs of offending	LO1
3	Apply the various major rehabilitation models, approaches and concepts of offending and rehabilitation to practical examples	LO2

Assessment Task 4: Presentation and Summary

Task Description:

Further details on the format of the presentation and summary will be outlined on MyLO.

Task Length:

1000 words (+ reference list no included in word count) + presentation

Due Date:

Refer to Assessment Description

Weight:

35 %

CRITERION #

CRITERION

MEASURES INTENDED

LEARNING OUTCOME(S)


1	Explain socio-economic and individual factors found to contribute to offending as well as associated harms and costs	LO1
2	Apply major criminological rehabilitation models, approaches and concepts to examples from Australia and Internationally.	LO2
3	Evaluate work contexts and institutional dynamics of courts, Community Corrections, Prisons and Community Sector Organisations on the ability to deliver effective outcomes for offenders and the community	LO3
4	Articulate your personal position on the topic and communicate clearly both verbally and in writing	LO4

How your final result is determined

To pass this unit, you need to demonstrate your attainment of each of the Intended Learning Outcomes, achieve a final unit grade of 50% or greater, and pass any hurdle tasks.

Submission of assignments

Where practicable, assignments should be submitted to an assignment submission folder in MYLO. You must submit assignments by the due date or receive a penalty (unless an extension of time has been approved by the Unit Coordinator). Students submitting any assignment in hard copy, or because of a practicum finalisation, must attach a student cover sheet and signed declaration for the submission to be accepted for marking.

Academic integrity

Academic integrity is about acting responsibly, honestly, ethically, and collegially when using, producing, and communicating information with other students and staff members.

In written work, you must correctly reference the work of others to maintain academic integrity. To find out the referencing style for this unit, see the assessment information in the MyLO site, or contact your teaching staff. For more detail about Academic Integrity, see Important Guidelines & Support.

Requests for extensions

If you are unable to submit an assessment task by the due date, you should apply for an extension.

A request for an extension should first be discussed with your Unit Coordinator or teaching support team where possible. A request for an extension must be submitted by the assessment due date, except where you can provide evidence it was not possible to do so. Typically, an application for an extension will be supported by documentary evidence: however, where it is not possible for you to provide evidence please contact your Unit Coordinator.

The Unit Coordinator must notify you of the outcome of an extension request within 3 working days of receiving the request.

Late penalties

Assignments submitted after the deadline will receive a late penalty of 5% of the original available mark for each calendar day (or part day) that the assignment is late. Late submissions will not be accepted more than 10 calendar days after the due date, or after assignments have been returned to other students on a scheduled date, whichever occurs first. Further information on Late Penalties can be found on the Assessments and Results Procedure.

Review of results and appeals

You are entitled to ask for a review of the marking and grading of your assessment task if there is an irregularity in the marking standards or an error in the process for determining the outcome of an assessment. Details on how to request a review of a mark for an assignment are outlined in the Review and Appeal of Academic Decisions Procedure.