NURS28002 - Understanding Offenders
Unit Synopsis
This unit focuses on understanding the person who offends. You will examine the historical origins of current approaches to crime and punishment in Australia and the way crime and offenders are conveyed in the media. You will explore the biopsychosocial and cultural factors that inform the likelihood that a person will commit a crime and be punished for it, including: social inequality, trauma, gender, drug use, unemployment, family history, mental health issues, ethnicity and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander heritage. The impact of imprisonment on the offender will also be analysed and you will evaluate different ways to minimise this impact.
Details
| Level | Postgraduate |
|---|---|
| Unit Level | 8 |
| Credit Points | 6 |
| Student Contribution Band | 7 |
| 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 |
Be Different Intakes
Higher Education Unit Availabilities from Term 1 - 2026
Recommended Student Time Commitment
Each 6-credit Postgraduate 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. Online Quiz(zes) | 20% |
| 2. Case Study | 40% |
| 3. Case Study | 40% |
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%).
Past Exams
All University policies are available on the Policy web site, however you may wish to directly view the following policies below.
This list is not an exhaustive list of all University policies. The full list of policies are available on the Policy web site .
Term 2 - 2021 : The overall satisfaction for students in the last offering of this course was 100.00% (`Agree` and `Strongly Agree` responses), based on a 22.22% 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: Informal student communication
The readings highlighted areas that students stated they had not previously considered in relation to the unit content.
Readings will be reviewed and updated to ensure current evidence is explored within the unit context. Readings will also be selected to challenge existing understandings, and stimulate discussions to enhance learning.
All resources, especially academic sources, have been reviewed and updated where possible.
Source: Informal student communication
Although there were multiple Australian focused readings, students would like to see more literature related to the Australian context where possible.
There is a lack of literature focussing on correctional nursing generally, and Australian specific papers comprise few of the existing body of work. However, where possible, readings that highlight the Australian context will be sought and included.
Literature relating specifically to the Australian context continues to be sought and added to the resources for the unit.
Source: Student feedback
I found going through modules very engaging and stimulating. At times, though, I thought I would not mind if study material was more concise.
Ongoing review of unit content and presentation will include consideration of the conciseness to promote student engagement.
In Progress
Source: Student feedback
Extremely helpful given my circumstances during study time
Effective communication with students and provision of support will continue to be a priority, which will include, where possible, embedding of student support strategies into the unit resources.
In Progress
On successful completion of this unit, you will be able to:
- Explain the history behind Australia’s approach to crime and punishment and analyse how this history is reflected in contemporary practices
- Describe the relationship between types of offending and media portrayal of these offences
- Analyse the association between biopsychosocial and cultural factors, including being of Aboriginal and Torres Strait heritage, and the likelihood of committing a crime and being punished
- Analyse the impact of imprisonment on the offender and evaluate strategies to minimise this impact
- Explain the phenomena of recidivism and its relationship to quality of life outcomes.
| Assessment Tasks | Learning Outcomes | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | |
| 1 - Online Quiz(zes) | • | ||||
| 2 - Case Study | • | • | • | ||
| 3 - Case Study | • | • | |||
| Graduate Attributes | Learning Outcomes | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | |
| 1 - Knowledge | • | • | • | • | |
| 2 - Communication | • | • | |||
| 3 - Cognitive, technical and creative skills | • | • | • | • | |
| 4 - Research | • | ||||
| 6 - Ethical and Professional Responsibility | • | ||||
| Assessment Tasks | Graduate Attributes | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 8 | |