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Surveillance, Security and the State

Module description

This landscape of criminology is rapidly changing. This module examines new challenges and controversies in criminological practices in order to think about how criminology can learn from past to and help realise social justice.

This necessitates a critical reappraisal of the discipline itself as we engage with new methodologies, theories and paradigms. The module draws on real-world contemporary examples of surveillance and security, policing protest and crowd conflict and innovations in policing tactics, strategies and technologies. The module considers the impact of such practices on the civil liberties and human rights of the communities they are applied to. It is suitable for non-specialist students and those on interdisciplinary pathways.

Module aims - intentions of the module

The aim of this module is to introduce students to new developments in criminological practices (strategic and technological) as well as applying new methods for adapting research to this evolving environment.  The module will enable students to learn about the socio-legal landscape of criminological practices with a focus on the implications of new technologies for human rights.

Intended Learning Outcomes (ILOs)

ILO: Module-specific skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

• 1. Engage in understanding contemporary human rights controversies in criminology
• 2. Understand and apply appropriate theories and concepts to an analysis of human rights within criminological practices

ILO: Discipline-specific skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

• 3. Demonstrate an understanding of human rights implications of new practices and technologies in policing and security
• 4. Demonstrate an understanding of the legislative and framework for the use of new technologies in policing and security
• 5. Apply and evaluate a range of methods to analyse new criminological practices

ILO: Personal and key skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

• 6. Demonstrate collaborative skills, in presentations and group discussions of course materials
• 7. Critically evaluate own work and the work of others
• 8. Present a clear and effective argument, in oral and written form
• 9. Work independently, within a set time frame, to complete an analytical task

Syllabus plan

Whilst the precise content may vary from year to year, it is envisaged that the syllabus will cover all or some of the following topics:

• Legislative and regulatory framework of intelligence-led policing
• Political repression, surveillance and spying
• Policing protest movements, social movement organisations and industrial disputes
• Impacts of new technologies such as facial recognition and movement prediction software in CCTV on public spaces and civil society 
• Impact of profiling technologies for minority communities.
• Policing social media and digital rights

Learning activities and teaching methods (given in hours of study time)

Details of learning activities and teaching methods

Formative assessment

Summative assessment (% of credit)

Details of summative assessment

Details of re-assessment (where required by referral or deferral)

Indicative learning resources - Basic reading

Green, P. J., & Ward, T. (2000). State crime, human rights, and the limits of criminology. Social Justice, 27(1 (79), 101-115.

Lubbers, E. (2012). Secret Manoeuvres in the Dark. London: Pluto Press.

Lubbers, E. (2015). Undercover Research: Corporate and police spying on activists. An introduction to activist intelligence as a new field of surveillance. Surveillance & Society, 13(3/4), 338-353.

Marx, G. T. (1988). Undercover: police surveillance in America. Univ of California Press.

Marx, G. T. (2016). Windows into the soul: Surveillance and society in an age of high technology. University of Chicago Press.

Powell, A., Stratton, G., & Cameron, R. (2018). Digital criminology: Crime and justice in digital society. Routledge.

Smith, G. J., Bennett Moses, L., & Chan, J. (2017). The challenges of doing criminology in the big data era: Towards a digital and data-driven approach. The British journal of criminology, 57(2), 259-274.

Woodman, C. (2018). Spycops in context: A brief history of political policing in Britain. Centre for Crime and Justice Studies.

Key words search

Criminology, human rights, civil liberties, surveillance and the state