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Justice Responses to Difference
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CRJUS3303 - Justice Responses to Difference
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20260600
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Course
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4.0
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2026-09-10
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2026-09-10
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Humanities and Social Science
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Institute of Education, Arts & Community
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Humanities and Social Sciences
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Undergraduate
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15
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.125
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099903
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Criminology
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099903 - Criminology
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<a href="http://www.federation.edu.au/locate/unit/crjus3303">View unit fees</a>
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<p>This unit critically considers the ways in which criminal justice systems respond to difference, with particular attention to the ways in which access to justice and justice outcomes are influenced by issues of power, inequality and institutional practices. Drawing on critical criminology and socio-legal perspectives, the unit explores how minoritised groups engage with, experience and are positioned within justice systems, and how these processes reveal the social, legal and institutional dynamics through which justice is produced and contested. Students are encouraged to question justice as a contested concept and to think critically about the assumptions, practices and limitations that characterise contemporary responses to injustice.</p>
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<p><strong>Conceptual foundations of justice and difference</strong></p><ul><li>Competing understandings of justice, difference, equality, and equity</li><li>Critical criminological and socio‑legal perspectives on justice</li><li>Human rights and access to justice frameworks</li></ul><p><br></p><p><strong >Colonialism and First Peoples' justice</strong></p><ul><li>Historical and contemporary relationships between law, government, and First Peoples </li><li>Criminal justice as a technology of governance and social control</li><li>First Peoples' justice perspectives and state justice responses</li><li>Key inquiries, reforms, and justice initiatives</li></ul><p><br></p><p><strong>Power, gender, and justice</strong></p><ul><li>Feminist and critical perspectives on law and justice</li><li>Gendered patterns of harm, victimisation, and criminalisation</li><li>Justice system responses to violence, harm, and protection</li><li>Contemporary debates and reform approaches relating to gender and justice</li></ul><p><br></p><p><strong>Sexuality, gender diversity, and justice</strong></p><ul><li>Queer and critical perspectives on law, crime, and social control</li><li>Criminalisation, protection, and recognition of LGBTIQA+ people within justice systems</li><li>Violence, harm, and justice responses affecting sexuality‑ and gender‑diverse communities</li><li>Tensions between legal protection, policing, and institutional inclusion</li></ul><p><br></p><p><strong>Disability justice</strong></p><ul><li>Disability theories and social constructions of capacity and responsibility</li><li>Historical approaches to disability within legal and justice systems</li><li>Vulnerability, risk, protection, and criminalisation</li><li>Barriers to justice and justice system responses relating to disability</li></ul><p><br></p><p><strong>Justice reform, critique, and futures</strong></p><ul><li>Reform‑based approaches to justice and their intended aims</li><li>Structural and institutional constraints on reform</li><li>Critical perspectives on punishment‑centred and state‑focused justice</li><li>Emerging debates about justice beyond reform</li></ul><p><br></p><p><strong>Beyond‑the‑human justice perspectives</strong></p><ul><li>Limits of human‑centred justice frameworks</li><li>Green criminology, environmental and animal harm</li><li>More‑than‑human, relational, and ecological approaches to justice</li><li>Rethinking harm, responsibility, and accountability beyond the human</li></ul>
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<p>Where supplementary assessment is available a student must have failed overall in the Unit but gained a final mark of 45 per cent or above, has completed all major assessment tasks (including all sub-components where a task has multiple parts) as specified in the Unit Description and is not eligible for any other form of supplementary assessment.</p>
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2027
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Overview
Key information
Requisites
Learning outcomes
Assessment
FedTASK
Parent Region
Overview
Unit description
<p>This unit critically considers the ways in which criminal justice systems respond to difference, with particular attention to the ways in which access to justice and justice outcomes are influenced by issues of power, inequality and institutional practices. Drawing on critical criminology and socio-legal perspectives, the unit explores how minoritised groups engage with, experience and are positioned within justice systems, and how these processes reveal the social, legal and institutional dynamics through which justice is produced and contested. Students are encouraged to question justice as a contested concept and to think critically about the assumptions, practices and limitations that characterise contemporary responses to injustice.</p>
Unit content
<p><strong>Conceptual foundations of justice and difference</strong></p><ul><li>Competing understandings of justice, difference, equality, and equity</li><li>Critical criminological and socio‑legal perspectives on justice</li><li>Human rights and access to justice frameworks</li></ul><p><br></p><p><strong >Colonialism and First Peoples' justice</strong></p><ul><li>Historical and contemporary relationships between law, government, and First Peoples </li><li>Criminal justice as a technology of governance and social control</li><li>First Peoples' justice perspectives and state justice responses</li><li>Key inquiries, reforms, and justice initiatives</li></ul><p><br></p><p><strong>Power, gender, and justice</strong></p><ul><li>Feminist and critical perspectives on law and justice</li><li>Gendered patterns of harm, victimisation, and criminalisation</li><li>Justice system responses to violence, harm, and protection</li><li>Contemporary debates and reform approaches relating to gender and justice</li></ul><p><br></p><p><strong>Sexuality, gender diversity, and justice</strong></p><ul><li>Queer and critical perspectives on law, crime, and social control</li><li>Criminalisation, protection, and recognition of LGBTIQA+ people within justice systems</li><li>Violence, harm, and justice responses affecting sexuality‑ and gender‑diverse communities</li><li>Tensions between legal protection, policing, and institutional inclusion</li></ul><p><br></p><p><strong>Disability justice</strong></p><ul><li>Disability theories and social constructions of capacity and responsibility</li><li>Historical approaches to disability within legal and justice systems</li><li>Vulnerability, risk, protection, and criminalisation</li><li>Barriers to justice and justice system responses relating to disability</li></ul><p><br></p><p><strong>Justice reform, critique, and futures</strong></p><ul><li>Reform‑based approaches to justice and their intended aims</li><li>Structural and institutional constraints on reform</li><li>Critical perspectives on punishment‑centred and state‑focused justice</li><li>Emerging debates about justice beyond reform</li></ul><p><br></p><p><strong>Beyond‑the‑human justice perspectives</strong></p><ul><li>Limits of human‑centred justice frameworks</li><li>Green criminology, environmental and animal harm</li><li>More‑than‑human, relational, and ecological approaches to justice</li><li>Rethinking harm, responsibility, and accountability beyond the human</li></ul>
Key information
Institute / school:
Institute of Education, Arts & Community
Discipline:
Humanities and Social Sciences
Study level:
Undergraduate
Credit points:
15
EFTSL:
0.125
Field of education:
099903 - Criminology
Offering:
<p><strong>Semester 2</strong><p>Ballarat - Mt Helen (On Campus)</p><p>Berwick (On Campus)</p><p>Gippsland - Churchill (On Campus)</p><p>On-line Learning</p></p>
Grade scheme:
Graded (e.g. HD, D, C, etc)
Placement component:
No
Fee information:
<a href="http://www.federation.edu.au/locate/unit/crjus3303">View unit fees</a>
Requisites
Prerequisite
<p>must have completed all of CRJUS1284/CRJUS1283 OR must have completed all of <a href="/ords/r/curriculum/catalogue/course?p6_code=CRJUS1285" target="_blank">CRJUS1285</a>/<a href="/ords/r/curriculum/catalogue/course?p6_code=CRJUS1287" target="_blank">CRJUS1287</a> OR must have completed all of ATSGC1284/ATSGC1283 AND must have completed 4 of <a href="/ords/r/curriculum/catalogue/course?p6_code=CRJUS2100" target="_blank">CRJUS2100</a>/<a href="/ords/r/curriculum/catalogue/course?p6_code=CRJUS2300" target="_blank">CRJUS2300</a>/<a href="/ords/r/curriculum/catalogue/course?p6_code=CRJUS2472" target="_blank">CRJUS2472</a>/<a href="/ords/r/curriculum/catalogue/course?p6_code=CRJUS2474" target="_blank">CRJUS2474</a>/<a href="/ords/r/curriculum/catalogue/course?p6_code=CRJUS2475" target="_blank">CRJUS2475</a></p>
Corequisite
None
Exclusion
None
Learning outcomes
Learning outcomes
<p>On successful completion of this unit, students are expected to gain the following [K]nowledge, [S]kills and [A]pplication of knowledge & skills</p>
Learning Outcomes
Ref
Outcome
K1
<p>Examine the historical factors that have shaped justice system responses in Australia to social difference and inequality.</p>
K2
<p>Critique how state, national, and international criminal justice systems respond to and produce processes of minoritisation.</p>
K3
<p>Analyse the impacts of criminal justice responses on minoritised populations, and how these responses shape ongoing relationships between communities and the justice system.</p>
K4
<p>Examine state and international human rights frameworks relating to access to justice.</p>
K5
<p>Critically analyse legislative and policy responses to minoritised populations.</p>
S1
<p>Critically analyse legislative and policy responses to processes of difference and minoritisation in criminal justice settings.</p>
S2
<p>Consolidate and synthesise knowledge about access to justice issues and their implications for justice institutions and minoritised populations.</p>
S3
<p>Analyse key theories and concepts that underpin justice responses to difference.</p>
S4
<p>Develop high‑order written and oral communication skills to critically advocate for improved access to justice for minoritised populations</p>
A1
<p>Research, synthesise, and present information clearly and effectively, using coherent, logical, and engaging communication appropriate to criminological and justice contexts</p>
A2
<p>Reflect critically on debates about how justice systems respond to processes of difference and minoritisation.</p>
A3
<p>Demonstrate critical reasoning through sustained written and verbal engagement with contested debates and perspectives about justice and power.</p>
Assessment
Learning Tasks and Assessment
Ref
Learning task
Assessment type
Weighting
Learning outcomes assessed
1
<p>Critique of theories/concepts that underpin difference in the justice system</p>
<p>Critical Annotated Bibliography</p>
<p>20%-30%</p>
K2, K4, S2, S3, S4, A1, A2, A3
2
<p>Development of a digital presentation centred on access to justice for a selected minoritised group </p>
<p>Presentation</p>
<p>30%-40%</p>
K1, K2, K3, K4, K5, S1, S2, S3, S4, A1, A2, A3
3
<p>Development of a position paper advocating for reform for a selected minoritised group</p>
<p>Position Paper</p>
<p>40%-50%</p>
K1, K2, K3, K4, K5, S1, S2, S3, S4, A1, A2, A3
Supplementary assessment available:
Yes
Supplementary assessment information:
<p>Where supplementary assessment is available a student must have failed overall in the Unit but gained a final mark of 45 per cent or above, has completed all major assessment tasks (including all sub-components where a task has multiple parts) as specified in the Unit Description and is not eligible for any other form of supplementary assessment.</p>
FedTASK
FedTASK
Description of FedTASK outcome
Level
FedTASK 1: Interpersonal
The ability to effectively communicate, interact and work with others both individually and in groups.
<p>Level 2 - Student demonstrates some independence within provided guidelines</p>
FedTASK 2: Leadership
The ability to apply professional skills and behaviours in leading others.
<p>Level 3 - Student works independently with limited guidance or works within self-determined guidelines appropriate to context</p>
FedTASK 3: Critical Thinking and Creativity
The ability to work in complexity and ambiguity using imagination to create new ideas.
<p>Level 3 - Student works independently with limited guidance or works within self-determined guidelines appropriate to context</p>
FedTASK 4: Digital Literacy
The ability to work fluently across a range of tools and applications to achieve a range of skills.
<p>Level 2 - Student demonstrates some independence within provided guidelines</p>
FedTASK 5: Sustainable and Ethical Mindset
The ability to consider and assess the consequences and impact of ideas and actions in enacting ethical and sustainable decisions.
<p>Level 3 - Student works independently with limited guidance or works within self-determined guidelines appropriate to context</p>
FedTASK
<p>Federation University recognises that students require key transferable employability skills to prepare them for their future workplace and society. FedTASKs (<strong>T</strong>ransferable <strong>A</strong>ttributes <strong>S</strong>kills and <strong>K</strong>nowledge) provide a targeted focus on five key, transferable Attributes, Skills, and Knowledge that are embedded within curriculum, developed gradually towards successful measures and interlinked with cross-discipline and co-operative learning opportunities.</p>
Key information
Institute / school:
Institute of Education, Arts & Community
Discipline:
Humanities and Social Sciences
Study level:
Undergraduate
Credit points:
15
EFTSL:
0.125
Field of education:
099903 - Criminology
Offering:
<p><strong>Semester 2</strong><p>Ballarat - Mt Helen (On Campus)</p><p>Berwick (On Campus)</p><p>Gippsland - Churchill (On Campus)</p><p>On-line Learning</p></p>
Grade scheme:
Graded (e.g. HD, D, C, etc)
Placement component:
No
Fee information:
<a href="http://www.federation.edu.au/locate/unit/crjus3303">View unit fees</a>
Additional information
Add Info Static Text
Internal reference: CRJUS3303 - U4.0