Module ANTM109 for 2021/2
- Overview
- Aims and Learning Outcomes
- Module Content
- Indicative Reading List
- Assessment
Postgraduate Module Descriptor
ANTM109: Animal Criminology
This module descriptor refers to the 2021/2 academic year.
Module Aims
The module aims:
- To provide students with a theoretically and empirically grounded understanding of the historical development and contemporary significance of legislation pertaining to animals
- To facilitate critical engagement with diverse scholarly and legal approaches to the treatment of animal abuse
- To develop students’ understanding of the interactions between animal ethics, law and crime
On successfully completing the programme you will be able to: | |
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Module-Specific Skills | 1. Demonstrate a comprehensive understanding of diverse theoretical and legal approaches to the study of animal abuse and crime 2. Demonstrate reflexive awareness of how animals have been conceptualised by the legal system in various historical periods and contemporary jurisdictions 3. Critically evaluate the effects and dimensions of legal and extra-legal solutions to animal abuse in a variety of contexts |
Discipline-Specific Skills | 4. Demonstrate a capacity to apply a critical and theoretically-informed anthrozoological perspective to case study examples 5. Demonstrate an understanding of the intersections between animal ethics, law and criminology |
Personal and Key Skills | 6. Effectively communicate complex ideas in a clear, accessible and academic manner in both oral and written form 7. Synthesise and analyse material from a full range of sources 8. Work independently and manage time efficiently in preparing for scheduled learning activities, exercises and assessments |
Module Content
Syllabus Plan
Whilst the module’s precise content may vary from year to year, it is envisaged that the syllabus will cover some or all of the following topics:
- The history of anti-cruelty and animal welfare legislation
- Theoretical approaches to the study of animal cruelty, abuse and suffering
- Forms and measures of animal harm
- The changing status of animals before the law: animals as criminals, deviants, hazards, property, rights-bearers/legal persons
- Animal abuse and inter-human violence: the graduation thesis, domestic violence and child abuse
- Green criminology, critical criminology and non-speciesist criminology
- International wildlife crime – wildlife trafficking, elephant ivory poaching, the trade in rhino horn and commercial whaling
- Wildlife crime in the UK: forms of persecution and the enactment and enforcement of legislation
- Prevention, regulation, prosecution and extra-legal solutions to animal abuse
- ‘Ecoterrorism’ and the criminalisation of animal advocacy
Learning and Teaching
This table provides an overview of how your hours of study for this module are allocated:
Scheduled Learning and Teaching Activities | Guided independent study | Placement / study abroad |
---|---|---|
20 | 130 | 0 |
...and this table provides a more detailed breakdown of the hours allocated to various study activities:
Category | Hours of study time | Description |
---|---|---|
Scheduled Learning & Teaching activities | 10 | 10 x 60-minute podcast audio lectures with accompanying powerpoint presentations |
Scheduled Learning & Teaching activities | 7.5 | 5 x 90-minute discussion/seminar participations (fortnightly) |
Scheduled Learning & Teaching activities | 2.5 | 5 x 30-minute oral presentation slots within seminar groups in weeks 5 and 7 |
Guided Independent Study | 35 | Preparation and reading for weekly lectures, seminars & ELE forum discussions |
Guided Independent Study | 15 | Preparation for oral presentations |
Guided Independent Study | 80 | Research and writing of summative assessment |
Online Resources
This module has online resources available via ELE (the Exeter Learning Environment).
ELE - vle.exeter.ac.uk
How this Module is Assessed
In the tables below, you will see reference to 'ILO's. An ILO is an Intended Learning Outcome - see Aims and Learning Outcomes for details of the ILOs for this module.
Formative Assessment
A formative assessment is designed to give you feedback on your understanding of the module content but it will not count towards your mark for the module.
Form of assessment | Size of the assessment (eg length / duration) | ILOs assessed | Feedback method |
---|---|---|---|
Non-assessed exercises | Weekly Q&A discussions on the ELE discussion forums | 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8 | Peer-assessed (via postings on ELE) and written feedback from lecturer on discussion forums |
Summative Assessment
A summative assessment counts towards your mark for the module. The table below tells you what percentage of your mark will come from which type of assessment.
Coursework | Written exams | Practical exams |
---|---|---|
100 | 0 | 0 |
...and this table provides further details on the summative assessments for this module.
Form of assessment | % of credit | Size of the assessment (eg length / duration) | ILOs assessed | Feedback method |
---|---|---|---|---|
Essay | 75 | 3,000 words | 1-8 | Written feedback |
Oral case-study presentation | 25 | 10-15 minute presentation (with Powerpoint slides) plus 15-minute discussion with the seminar group. | 1-8 | Oral feedback from lecturer after the presentation |
0 | ||||
0 | ||||
0 | ||||
0 | ||||
0 |
Re-assessment
Re-assessment takes place when the summative assessment has not been completed by the original deadline, and the student has been allowed to refer or defer it to a later date (this only happens following certain criteria and is always subject to exam board approval). For obvious reasons, re-assessments cannot be the same as the original assessment and so these alternatives are set. In cases where the form of assessment is the same, the content will nevertheless be different.
Original form of assessment | Form of re-assessment | ILOs re-assessed | Timescale for re-assessment |
---|---|---|---|
Essay | Essay (3,000 words) | 1-8 | August/September reassessment period |
Oral case study presentation | Oral case study presentation (10 15 mins) | 1-8 | August/Sept reassessment period |
Indicative Reading List
This reading list is indicative - i.e. it provides an idea of texts that may be useful to you on this module, but it is not considered to be a confirmed or compulsory reading list for this module.
Arluke, A. (2004) Brute Force: Animal Police and the Challenge of Cruelty. West Lafayette, Indiana: Purdue University Press.
Ascione, F. and Arkow, P. (1999) Child abuse, domestic violence, and animal abuse: Linking the circles of compassion for prevention and intervention. West Lafayette, Indiana: Purdue University Press.
Beirne, P., O’Donnell, I. and Janssen, J. (2018) Murdering Animals: Theriocide, Homicide and Nonspeciesist Criminology. London: Palgrave Macmillan.
Beirne, P. (2009) Confronting Animal Abuse: Law, Criminology and Human-Animal Relationships. Lanham, Md: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers.
Beirne, P. (2004) From animal abuse to interhuman violence? A critical review of the progression thesis. Society & Animals. 1:1. 39-65.
Beirne, P. (1999) For a nonspeciesist criminology: Animal abuse as an object of study. Criminology. 37:1. 117-147.
Benton, T. (1998) Rights and justice on a shared planet: more rights or new relations? Theoretical Criminology. 2:2. 149-175.
Cazaux, G. (1999) Beauty and the beast: Animal abuse from a non-speciesist criminological perspective. Crime, Law & Social Change. 31:2. 105-126.
Evans, E.P. (1906/1987) The Criminal Prosecution and Capital Punishment of Animals. Boston: Faber and Faber.
Fitzgerald, A.J. (2005) Animal abuse and family violence: researching the interrelationships of abusive power. Mellen Studies in Sociology. 48. Lampeter, Wales: The Edwin Mellen Press.
Francione, G. (1995) Animals, property and the law. Philadelphia: Temple University Press.
Grugan, S.T. (2017) The Companions We Keep: A Situational Analysis and Proposed Typology of Companion Animal Cruelty. Deviant Behavior.
Hall, M., Wyatt, T., South, N., Nurse, A., Potter, G., and Maher, J. (eds.) (2016) Greening Criminology in the 21st Century. London: Ashgate.
Linzey, A. (ed.) (2009) The link between animal abuse and human violence. Brighton: Sussex Academic Press.
Maher, J., Pierpoint, H., and Beirne, P. (eds.) (2017) The Palgrave International Handbook of Animal Abuse Studies. London: Palgrave Macmillan.
Nurse, A. (2017) Criminalising the right to hunt: European law perspectives on anti-hunting legislation. Crime, Law and Social Change. 67:4.
Nurse, A. (2016) A global movement: NGOs and the policing of international wildlife trafficking. Journal of Trafficking, Organized Crime and Security. 2:1. 50-61.
Nurse, A. (2015) Policing Wildlife: perspectives on the enforcement of wildlife legislation. London: Palgrave Macmillan.
Nurse, A. (2013) Species justice: The future protection of wildlife and the reform of wildlife laws. The Green Criminology Monthly. 6.
Nurse, A. (2012) Repainting the Thin Green Line: The Enforcement of Wildlife Legislation. Internet Journal of Criminology.
Potter, G.R., Nurse, A., and Hall, M. (2016) The geography of environmental crime: conservation, wildlife crime and environmental activism. London: Palgrave.
Roeschke, J.E. (2009) Eco-terrorism and piracy on the high seas: Japanese whaling and the rights of private groups to enforce international conservation law in neutral waters. The Villanova Environmental Law Journal. XX:1. 99-136.
Schaffner, J.E. (2011) An Introduction to animals and the law. London: Palgrave Macmillan.
Taylor, N. (2011) Criminology and the Human-Animal Violence Research: The Contribution and the Challenge. Critical Criminology. 19:3.
Warchol, G., Zupan, L. and Clack, W. (2003) Transnational criminology: An analysis of the illegal wildlife market in southern Africa. International Criminal Justice Review. 13.
Wellsmith, M. (2011) Wildlife crime: the problems of enforcement. European Journal on Criminal Policy and Research. 17:2. 125-148.
Wyatt, T. (2013) Wildlife trafficking: a deconstruction of the crime, the victims, and the offenders. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.