PSYC13021 - Forensic Psychology

General Information

Unit Synopsis

Forensic Psychology is the area of behavioural science concerned with psychology and the law. In this unit, you will discuss how psychological principles and practices can be applied to topics such as personality and crime, suspect interviewing, pathways to offending, courtroom practices and witness reliability, understanding criminal behaviour, mental competency, and justice. You will also discuss general psychological principles as they relate to the legal systems within Australia and other countries as well as specific case studies.

Details

Level Undergraduate
Unit Level 3
Credit Points 6
Student Contribution Band SCA Band 4
Fraction of Full-Time Student Load 0.125
Pre-requisites or Co-requisites

96 credit points

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).

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Residential School No Residential School

Unit Availabilities from Term 3 - 2024

Term 2 - 2025 Profile
Online
Term 2 - 2026 Profile
Online

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

This information will not be available until 8 weeks before term.
To see assessment details from an earlier availability, please search via a previous term.

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

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Previous Feedback

Term 2 - 2024 : The overall satisfaction for students in the last offering of this course was 87.50% (`Agree` and `Strongly Agree` responses), based on a 50% 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: Personal reflection.
Feedback
The current marking criteria and associated rubric for the end-of-term take-home test need to be clearer.
Recommendation
The Unit Coordinator will review the marking criteria for the end-of-term take-home test to ensure it is clear.
Action Taken
The unit coordinator reviewed the marking criteria for the end-of-term test and made changes to ensure the test requirements were clear.
Source: Student unit teaching evaluations.
Feedback
Students requested a more detailed rubric for the group assessment.
Recommendation
The Unit Coordinator will review the marking rubric for the group assessment task to ensure it is clear and at an appropriate level of detail.
Action Taken
The unit coordinator reviewed the group project information sheet, marking criteria, and marking rubric and made changes to ensure students were given clear and detailed instructions about the group project and marking criteria.
Source: Student comments in class and personal reflection.
Feedback
Students found doing a violence risk assessment (group project) on a person from a real-world case thought-provoking and enhanced their understanding of the importance of accurate risk assessments.
Recommendation
Continue to utilise a real-world case for the risk assessment group project.
Action Taken
In Progress
Source: Student unit teaching evaluations.
Feedback
Some students found the group project challenging due to the large number of students in the group (six). They suggested that it would be easier for group members to navigate timetables if the number was limited to four.
Recommendation
Reduce the number of students assigned to each group.
Action Taken
In Progress
Unit learning Outcomes
This information will not be available until 8 weeks before term.
To see Learning Outcomes from an earlier availability, please search via a previous term.