Clinical Approachs of Conflicts' and crisis' situations [ LCRIM2302 ]

The aim of this course is to bring together the different strands of the Criminology courses and provide an overview through a particular area of application.

The course also aims to introduce students to: the theoretical underpinnings (explicit and implicit) of criminological practices; the aims as distinct from the practices; notions of what one can expect from a particular theory, in terms of understanding the issues, and from a particular practice, in terms of its effectiveness; an ethical approach to targeted effectiveness; intra - and interdisciplinary issues of confrontation; the adequacy of theories and actions as a response to "society's problems"; appropriate ways of interrelating the various theoretical approaches through integrated models, the linking of individual practices and theories etc; the different situations in which one type of action is to be preferred over another, possible links between the processes involved in containment, accommodation and resistance; the question of how to evaluate these practices and the issues this raises.

By the end of the course the student will be able to :
- proceed with the clinical analysis of the specific stakes and expressions of various conflicts and crises
- mention the occurences in their context and trace back the historical background (individual, family-tradition, social or collective) and to foresee the probable development and outcome
- define in a critical approach the continuity, efficiency and limits of intervention in fonflicts and crises and their impacts in individual and group life
- discover the possibilities of change and transformation during the crisis and find out the clinical value of truth which sometines raises a crisis as indicator of lacking functional relations or institutional systems

Or by an elaborated preparation performed during the course, or by an oral exam based on a script which constitutes a reflection on the synthesis or thorough examination of the questions worked out during the year. More precise and personal details will be imparted following the contents of the course.

Regard for the clinical situations for which methods and theories of intervention have been elaborated.

Actice participation of students by reading on the subject.

Importance of interactivity between teacher and students e.g. from the student's specializing period.

An invitation of one of those active in the concerned sectors is always possible.

Themes will be chosen in function of the study options or research - work of the students.

More in detail will be treated the theory and practice considering
- conflicts and crisis linked to aggressiveness and violence studied from their origin until their realization (individual aggressions, sexual abuse, matrimonial violence, collective crisis) as well as the reactions resulting from intervening groups such as mediation groups, crime-victim support, comprehensible justice, etc.)
- analysis of tensions between different peoples causing conflicts and wars or civil wars or genocide, the clinical and historical analysis of situations like one in Rwanda which enables us to question the sources of violence, barbarism, fanaticism as well as to analyse the models of justice in place focused on sanction versus reconciliation (Gacaca Juridictions in Rwanda and Transitional Justice in Burundi)
- traumatisms linked to personal, family or collective situations (wars) and their treatment while specifying the working of justice and therapeutic interventions.