Darker shades of crime

John Dobson, Weekend CourierWeekend Kwinana Courier

The new course is one of several soon to start at the campus, along with early childhood education, photography or business.

Heading the criminology studies is School of Law senior lecturer Jaimie Zander, who said the world standard course focused on the sociology, biology and psychology behind crime.

‘Unlike other criminology degrees, ours is truly multi-disciplinary and focuses on all the major theories of criminal behaviour,’ she said.

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‘Students will learn about what increases the likelihood that someone will engage in criminal behaviour, what can be done to reduce their re-offending and how we can prevent crime from happening.’

Dr Zander said assignments would cover the darker side of human behaviour.

‘I have read assignments on everything from strange paraphilia through to cannibal serial killers,’ she said. ‘The topic is inherently interesting, but it is also one of the most versatile degrees.

‘My research focuses on the causes of abuse and tries to uncover means to prevent abuse.’

It is hard to turn on a television without finding a crime show, but Dr Zander said many were inaccurate.

‘I often use TV programs when I teach, if only to demonstrate how the writers got it wrong,’ she said.

‘I am also fascinated by the level of misinformation in the community about criminal justice issues. I would love to get good quality information about crime to the public and this degree is one way to do that.’

Visit www.murdoch.edu.au.