Criminal Psychology at QLS Level 3

Unit 1 Introduction

• Defining criminal psychology
• Scope of criminal psychology
• Roles of the criminal psychologist

Unit 2 Researching Criminal Behaviours

• The scientific method of psychological research
• Ethical considerations of psychological research
• Designing a research study/experiment:
• Focus of the research
• The hypothesis
• Data collection methods
• Analysing the data
• Reaching conclusions
• Reporting the results
• The usefulness of psychological research

Unit 3 How Criminal Psychology can be used to understand Crime

• Factors that influence the incidence of criminal activity
• The major perspectives that try to explain causes of criminal behaviour:
• Biological/physiological theories
• Cognitions theories
• Behavioural theories
• Developmental theories

Unit 4 How Criminal Psychology can be used in Criminal Investigations

• Investigating a crime
• Witness reliability
• Factors that affect memory acquisition
• Factors that affect memory retention
• Factors that affect memory retrieval
• Interviewing witnesses
• Interviewing suspects
• Detecting lies
• Detecting false confessions
• Offender profiling
• Geographic profiling

Unit 5 How Criminal Psychology can be used in Prosecutions

• An overview of courtroom procedures
• How witnesses can affect a jurys decision
• How child witnesses can affect a jurys decision
• How expert witnesses can affect a jurys decision
• How the judicial system can affect a jurys decision
• How the juror reaches a decision
• Group decision making
• Group behaviour

Unit 6 How Criminal Psychology can be used with convicted criminals

• A brief history of punishments
• The range of punishments
• Imprisonment
• Problems inmates encounter in prison
• Support available in prisons
• Alternatives to imprisonment
• Rehabilitating prisoners
• Offender behaviour programmes

At the end of this course successful learners will be given the option to receive a Certificate of Achievement from the Quality Licence Scheme and a Learner Unit Summary (which lists the components the learner has completed as part of the course).

The course has been endorsed under the Quality Licence Scheme.  This means that Kendal Publishing Ltd has undergone an external quality check to ensure that the organisation and the courses it offers, meet defined quality criteria. The completion of this course alone does not lead to a regulated qualification* but may be used as evidence of knowledge and skills gained. The Learner Unit Summary may be used as evidence towards Recognition of Prior Learning if you wish to progress your studies in this subject. To this end the learning outcomes of the course have been benchmarked at Level 3 against level descriptors published by Ofqual, to indicate the depth of study and level of demand/complexity involved in successful completion by the learner.

The course itself has been designed by Kendal Publishing Ltd to meet specific learners’ and/or employers’ requirements which cannot be satisfied through current regulated qualifications.   The Quality Licence Scheme endorsement involves robust and rigorous quality audits by external auditors to ensure quality is continually met.  A review of courses is carried out as part of the endorsement process.

The Quality Licence Scheme is part of the Skills and Education Group, a charitable organisation that unites education and skills-orientated organisations that share similar values and objectives. With more than 100 years of collective experience, the Skills and Education Group’s strategic partnerships create opportunities to inform, influence and represent the wider education and skills sector.

The Skills and Education Group also includes two nationally recognised awarding organisations; Skills and Education Group Awards and Skills and Education Group Access. Through our awarding organisations we have developed a reputation for providing high-quality qualifications and assessments for the education and skills sector. We are committed to helping employers, organisations and learners cultivate the relevant skills for learning, skills for employment, and skills for life.

Our knowledge and experience of working within the awarding sector enables us to work with training providers, through the Quality Licence Scheme, to help them develop high-quality courses and/or training programmes for the non-regulated market.

*Regulated qualification refers to those qualifications that are regulated by Ofqual / CCEA / Qualification Wales

Paper Based Version

The course comes to you as a paper-based pack delivered by courier.

You will be given guidance through the Study Guide on the nuts and bolts of studying and submitting assignments.

Postal assignments cannot be accepted without prior permission from the tutor.

The course contains a number of assignments which your tutor will mark and give you valuable feedback on. We call these Tutor Marked Assignments (TMAs). You need only send the TMAs to your tutor for comment, not the self-assessment exercises which are also part of the course to help you gauge your progress.

This course can be taken over a 12 month period but you can complete it as fast or as slowly as you wish.

You will have access to a tutor via email who will mark your work and guide you through the course and will assist you with any problems you may have. In addition you will be supplied with a comprehensive Study Guide which will help you through the study and assessment process.