CRIM11005 - Crime, Media and Power

Showing: 2026 HE Term 1
General Information

Unit Synopsis

In a pluralist society, criminal justice policy is heavily influenced by public perception of crime and in particular fear of crime. In this unit you will explore the media’s role in constructing an image of crime and critique the ways in which forms of power control this process. You will discuss different representations of crime from the early print news media through to the growth of social media and the rise of ‘fake news’. This unit discusses the forms of media regulation that seek to govern the way truth is presented particularly within news media. You will apply this knowledge by developing an organisational media response to a complex issue.

Details

Level Undergraduate
Unit Level 1
Credit Points 6
Student Contribution Band SCA Band 4
Fraction of Full-Time Student Load 0.125
Pre-requisites or Co-requisites There are no pre-requisites for the unit.

Important note: Students enrolled in a subsequent unit who failed their pre-requisite unit, should drop the subsequent unit before the census date or within 10 working days of Fail grade notification. Students who do not drop the unit in this timeframe cannot later drop the unit without academic and financial liability. See details in the Assessment Policy and Procedure (Higher Education Coursework).

Class Timetable View Unit Timetable
Residential School No Residential School

Unit Availabilities from Term 1 - 2026


Attendance Requirements

All on-campus students are expected to attend scheduled classes - in some units, these classes are identified as a mandatory (pass/fail) component and attendance is compulsory. International students, on a student visa, must maintain a full time study load and meet both attendance and academic progress requirements in each study period (satisfactory attendance for International students is defined as maintaining at least an 80% attendance record).

Assessment Overview

Recommended Student Time Commitment

Each 6-credit Undergraduate unit at CQUniversity requires an overall time commitment of an average of 12.5 hours of study per week, making a total of 150 hours for the unit.

Assessment Tasks

Assessment Task Weighting
1. Written Assessment 40%
2. Practical Assessment 30%
3. Learning logs / diaries / Journal / log books 30%

This is a graded unit: your overall grade will be calculated from the marks or grades for each assessment task, based on the relative weightings shown in the table above. You must obtain an overall mark for the unit of at least 50%, or an overall grade of ‘pass’ in order to pass the unit. If any ‘pass/fail’ tasks are shown in the table above they must also be completed successfully (‘pass’ grade). You must also meet any minimum mark requirements specified for a particular assessment task, as detailed in the ‘assessment task’ section (note that in some instances, the minimum mark for a task may be greater than 50%).

Consult the University's Grades and Results Policy for more details of interim results and final grades

Past Exams

Previous Feedback

Term 2 - 2021 : The overall satisfaction for students in the last offering of this course was 43.48% (`Agree` and `Strongly Agree` responses), based on a 27.38% response rate.

Feedback, Recommendations and Responses

Every unit is reviewed for enhancement each year. At the most recent review, the following staff and student feedback items were identified and recommendations were made.

Source: Student feedback
Feedback:
 Assessment requirements could have been clearer.

Recommendation:
 Workshops will be developed around assessment items to ensure students are able to complete all of the components to an assessment item. We will also provide students with exemplars.

Action Taken:
 Workshops were split with half of each workshop focussed on assessment tasks (challenges) and other half on content and theory discussion. As these were new assessment tasks exemplars were not able to be provided, however sentence stems and suggested structures were provided.
Source: Student feedback
Feedback:
 More resources are required

Recommendation:
 We currently provide a large number of resources in journal, audio and visual with recommended text books( optional).New resources will be added as they become available on the various media platforms

Action Taken:
 Mixed media resources were utilised and provided through Moodle. CQU now has access to a much wider range of media through the Clickview.
Source: Student feedback
Feedback:
 Have learning modules available earlier

Recommendation:
 This unit has now been rewritten so the material will all be available at the start of term.

Action Taken:
 In Progress
Source: Student feedback
Feedback:
 Suggested structure was helpful, have available for all assessments

Recommendation:
 Provide suggested structures for each assessment but highlight it is a suggestion not a requirement to allow for students to demonstrate creativity and critical thinking.

Action Taken:
 In Progress
Source: Self-reflection
Feedback:
 Students were unsure about expectations and time commitments for study.

Recommendation:
 Provide explicit guided instructions from week one relating to the time required by students for the unit each week. Include suggestions on how this time could be structured. Continue to reinforce each week.

Action Taken:
 In Progress
Unit Learning Outcomes

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

  1. Critique the different forms of power that shape media institutions and networks
  2. Develop strategies for managing organisational media presence in traditional and social media
  3. Discuss the regulatory structures that govern media institutions
  4. Explain the role of media in the construction of social attitudes to crime and the justice system
  5. Explain the ways in which social media has changed the way that we understand crime.

No external accreditation is relevant to this award.

Alignment of Assessment Tasks to Learning Outcomes
Assessment Tasks Learning Outcomes
1 2 3 4 5
1 - Written Assessment • • •
2 - Practical Assessment • • •
3 - Learning logs / diaries / Journal / log books • • • •
Alignment of Graduate Attributes to Learning Outcomes
• Introductory Level
• Intermediate Level
• Graduate Level
Graduate Attributes Learning Outcomes
1 2 3 4 5
1 - Communication •
2 - Problem Solving •
3 - Critical Thinking • • • •
4 - Information Literacy • • • •
6 - Information Technology Competence • •
7 - Cross Cultural Competence •
8 - Ethical practice • •
9 - Social Innovation •
Alignment of Assessment Tasks to Graduate Attributes
• Introductory Level
• Intermediate Level
• Graduate Level
Assessment Tasks Graduate Attributes
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 10
2 - Practical Assessment • • • • • • • •
3 - Learning logs / diaries / Journal / log books • • • • • • • •
1 - Written Assessment • • • •