COURSE CURRICULUM

The BSc Criminology degree at Aberystwyth University offers a thorough understanding of crime, criminal behaviour, and the societal and legal responses to offending. In the first year, students develop foundational knowledge through core modules such as criminal law, crime control and prevention, introduction to criminology, legal and criminal justice systems, and essential skills for criminologists, alongside options including criminology in action and foundations of psychology. The second year focuses on more specialised topics, including youth crime and justice and quantitative research skills, while offering options such as cybercrime and cybersecurity, criminal justice placements, critical perspectives on imprisonment, psychological explanations of criminal behaviour, and law-related modules including family and child law, humanitarian law, and principles of evidence. The third year builds on prior learning, with core study in critical and radical criminology and optional modules such as empirically based criminology dissertations, law and criminology dissertations, criminal justice placements, crime and the media, psychology and crime, treatment and rehabilitation of offenders, and other applied legal and criminological studies. Across all years, the course combines theoretical understanding with practical skills, research methods, and professional experience, equipping graduates with the analytical, problem-solving, and communication skills needed for careers in policing, probation, youth justice, the prison service, and wider criminal justice and social policy roles, while fostering ethical and informed decision-making.