Criminology at SSFC

🧠 How reliable is your memory?
Stockton Sixth Form College

This week, my students took a deep dive into the fascinating—and sometimes flawed—world of Eyewitness Testimony (EWT).

We explored the strengths and weaknesses of EWT, with a powerful case study: Ronald Cotton, a man wrongly convicted based on eyewitness misidentification. His story sparked thoughtful discussions about justice, memory, and the human mind.

To bring theory to life, we ran three hands-on memory experiments: Students memorised 25 items from the board before they vanished—testing short-term recall under pressure. We watched a clip from The Fall, where students jotted down key details, then answered 15 targeted questions to see how much they truly remembered. In pairs, students tackled EFIT image reconstruction: one viewed a series of faces for 10 seconds each, while their partner—facing the wall—had to draw the face based solely on verbal description.

The results? Bloody hilarious! But also, insightful and a brilliant reminder of how tricky accurate recall can be.

This session blended critical thinking, real-world relevance, and a healthy dose of creativity. It’s amazing to see students challenge assumptions and reflect on how memory shapes justice.

🔍 How confident are you in your own eyewitness memory? Let’s just say… it’s not always as reliable as we think!

An amazing 'crime in the news' piece that links to the advancement of technology and the usefulness of DNA testing and forensics in criminal investigations (Unit 3 AC1.2) published today

Good luck to my Year 13 Criminologists doing their controlled assessment today! Super proud of you all. You are 75% of the way through your qualification!

'Soph Recommends'

If you're into crime and punishment, then this is the doc for you! This is the perfect introduction to Unit 4 for our second years as it talks about the process of being brought to prison, how HMPPS work with offenders to rehabilitate them, a closer look at prison and prisoner categorisation, and you may even see some familiar faces along the way in the form of some case studies! Look out for Danilo Restivo (The Haircut Killer), Des Nilsen and Ian Huntley.

Add the Crim taster session to your diaries, year 11! Come meet the staff and discover more about studying Criminology at college😁

Today, my year 12s discussed how the media stereotype criminals. We had three short activities this afternoon that considered of assessing whether or not people were criminals by using only a photograph- we linked this to eye witness ID parades, we discussed typifications and the impact on society, and finally, we had a go at drawing typical criminals in accordance with the media's stereotypes. Such a fun lesson!

October is Black History Month and I would like to make a conscious effort to introduce and engage in discussions around racism, the treatment of people of colour in our justice system and how we must take action to erase inequalities.

Today I'm back with another recommendation and this time it's my favourite novel, To Kill a Mockingbird. This was the first novel I studied in depth at secondary school and it's never really left my mind. It was the first time I'd ever truly thought about the idea that people could be treated differently just based around their race. It really highlighted injustice in the criminal justice system and although a fictional tale set in 1930s America, the themes that run throughout this book reflect ideas that are still very much present in society today. Perhaps this book contributed to my want to study this in further detail at degree level.

The storyline is relevant to what we've been discussing in class at the moment concerning the representations of people of colour in the justice system. It looks in depth at prejudice, stereotypes, miscarriages of justice and, how sometimes, the law fails individuals on a mass scale.

I highly recommend this book if you're interested in understanding more about the history of racism and how deeply embedded it still is within our justice system.

A question EVERY student asks me...

Here are my thoughts!

If any students have any other crime related questions they'd like me to delve deeper into, let me know!

Good Luck to this fabulous bunch🎓

Just popping on here with a little 'Soph Recommends'. I haven't even started watching yet, but I just know it's going to be amazing!

Please pay particular attention to Dahmer's upbringing in the series. Can we offer any explanation for why he went on to commit serious and violent crimes?

Very excited to discuss with you all!

Are you thinking about studying Criminology ? Our Crim teacher, Sophie, is Year 11 Information Evening tonight talking to lots of future Criminologists! Come on over and say hi! 🚔👩‍⚖️🩸🧠