Hate Crime and Sexual Violence (912M3)

30 credits, Level 7 (Masters)

Spring teaching

On this module, you’ll study issues around hate crime, sexual violence and the criminal justice system.

First, you’ll explore:

• how and why hate crime’s definition is different across jurisdictions
• the growing responses in law to hate-motivated offences in the UK and US
• whether it’s fair to give harsher punishments for crimes motivated by prejudice – such as racism, homophobia, hatred of religion, or ableism
• the main theories that explain the cause of hate crime
• how hate crime harms both victims and minority communities more broadly.

The second part of the module focuses on sexual violence.

You’ll examine:

• the reforms made to the law
• issues that remain today, focusing on attrition and attitude problems
• the arguments for and against labelling sexual violence as a hate crime – and how this would effect legal responses
• the use of alternative criminal justice measures for hate crime and sexual violence
• the use, benefits and disadvantages of restorative justice.

Contact hours and workload

This module is approximately 300 hours of work. This breaks down into about 30 hours of contact time and about 270 hours of independent study. The University may make minor variations to the contact hours for operational reasons, including timetabling requirements.

We regularly review our modules to incorporate student feedback, staff expertise, as well as the latest research and teaching methodology. We’re planning to run these modules in the academic year 2025/26. However, there may be changes to these modules in response to feedback, staff availability, student demand or updates to our curriculum.

We’ll make sure to let you know of any material changes to modules at the earliest opportunity.