KRIM4953 – Criminological and Socio-legal Perspectives on Sexual Violence

Course content

This course addresses gender, violence and sexuality through presenting and discussing literature, analytical perspectives and empirical case studies on sexual violence.

The course critically addresses criminalization processes and presentations of gender, sexuality and violence in research, policy and media. The course crosses disciplinary boundaries and emphasizes a variety of approaches to the issue, although with a criminological and socio-legal starting point.

With the course literature as a point of departure, lectures will present and discuss the historical development and current status of theory and empirical research on sexual violence. This will include - but not be limited to - relevant research questions, dominating and alternative approaches and research challenges relevant to the overall thematic.

Learning outcome

The course emphasizes the special contribution that criminological and socio-legal research can offer to the understanding of gender, violence and sexuality, and the relation and intersection between these at individual, symbolical and institutional levels. National, transnational and international contexts are addressed, with a primary focus on (re)presentations of sexual violence, the actors involved and gender in research and public and political debates on causes, consequences and responses.?

Knowledge,?at the end of the course, students are expected to:

  • have a thorough understanding of the central discussions and positions in contemporary social scientific research on sexual violence.

  • know how sexual acts, relations and violence are met by law and society

  • know and be able to discuss the contributions of different theoretical perspectives on sexual violence

  • know how presentations of violence, perpetrators and victimization processes are often gender-specific and be able to reflect on potential consequences such gendered understandings may have.

Skills,?at the end of the course, students are expected to:

  • be able to apply central concepts, theories and empirical examples in analysis of sexual violence

  • be able to discuss and problematize central themes addressed through the course

  • be able to critically discuss how gender and sexuality constructs intersect and affect social and legal responses to sexual violence

  • be able to present and discuss historical trends and developments addressed in lectures and literature

  • be able to reflect around the relationship between theory and empirical data.

Competences, at the end of the course, students will have:

  • enhanced their respect and understanding for social scientific critical thinking and inquiry

  • learned what it entails to interpret, analyze and discuss scholarly texts from a gendered perspective

  • developed their capability to critically reflect on the meaning and intersection of gender and sexuality constructs in relation to violence and in relation to the ways in which societies and policies address such violence.

Admission to the course

Students who are admitted to study programmes at UiO must each semester register which courses and exams they wish to sign up for in Studentweb.

Students enrolled in other Master`s Degree Programmes can, on application, be admitted to the course if this is cleared by their own study programme.

If you are not already enrolled as a student at UiO, please see our information about admission requirements and procedures.

General knowledge of gender and crime is recommended.

Overlapping courses

Teaching

Teaching on the course is given in the form of eight lectures. The students are also encouraged to form study groups and the teachers will facilitate this during the first lecture.

Examination

Students are graded on the basis of a 4-day written home exam and an oral exam.?

Size: Maximum 4000 words.

Maximum length for a written home exam on Master’s level is 4000 words. Front page, contents page (optional) and bibliography are not included. If footnotes are used in the text (at the bottom of each page), they are included in the 4000 word limit.

Papers that exceed the 4000 word limit may be rejected.?

The oral examination is held after the home examination and will consist of a discussion of the assignment and a hearing of the student on the syllabus. The oral examination will also verify that the student has written the assignment. The student will receive a graded mark after the written examination, which may be adjusted after the oral examination. Preliminary grades and the time and place of the oral examination will be published in Canvas the day before.

You must familiarize yourself with the rules that apply to exam support materials, and?the use of sources and citations. If you violate these rules, you may be suspected of cheating or attempted cheating.?You can read about what the university considers cheating, and the consequences of cheating here.

General rules on cheating and plagiarism apply during all exams. You must provide a reference whenever you draw upon another person’s ideas, words or research in your answer to the exam question(s). You cannot copy text directly from textbooks, journal articles, court judgments etc. without highlighting that the text is copied. Verbatim quotes must be put in quotation marks, italicised or otherwise highlighted to clearly mark that they are not the candidate’s own words. Failure to cite sources or highlight quotes in your exam answer constitutes a breach of exam regulations, and will be regarded as cheating.

See an example of how to cite correctly here:?Sources and referencing

Any exam at the University of Oslo is being checked for both correct word count and incidents of cheating.

Submit assignments in Inspera

You submit your assignment in the digital examination system Inspera. Read about how to submit your assignment.

Examination support material

Guidelines on the use of?Artificial Intelligence (AI) in exams:

If all exam support materials and resources are permitted, and the responsible teacher does not specify otherwise, the following applies to the use of AI during exams:

It is permitted to use artificial intelligence as an aid for:

  • Checking spelling and grammar, as long as this does not lead to substantial changes in the text's content.

  • Finding source material.

Text and other material that are generated entirely or partially using artificial intelligence are not considered the candidate's own work. If you use artificial intelligence to produce any part of the work you submit, you must therefore cite this in your paper. It must also be clearly stated how you have used the specific AI tool. If you do not reference correctly, you may be?suspected of cheating.

Candidates should also familiarize themselves with?information regarding ethical considerations and social responsibility in regard to the the use of AI, as well as the?University’s website on how to use AI as a student.

Language of examination

The examination text is given in English.

You may submit your response in Norwegian, Swedish, Danish or English.

Grading scale

Grades are awarded on a scale from A to F, where A is the best grade and F is a fail. Read more about the grading system.

Resit an examination

If the candidate has submitted a home exam but has a valid reason for missing the oral exam, they will be given the opportunity to take the oral exam as a deferred exam, if such an exam is held. The candidate may sit the next regular exam at their own request, but in that case they must retake the entire exam.

More about examinations at UiO

You will find further guides and resources at the web page on examinations at UiO.

Last updated from FS (Felles studentsystem) Apr. 5, 2026 12:17:59 AM

Facts about this course

Level
Master
Credits
10
Teaching
Spring
Examination
Spring
Teaching language
English

Contact

The Information Centre at The Faculty of Law