COURSE CURRICULUM

The BSc (Hons) Criminology degree offers a comprehensive understanding of crime, justice, victimisation, and social harm through a combination of theoretical study, research, and practical experience. In the first year, you’ll explore how the criminal justice system operates and examine the roles of key agencies involved in delivering justice. You’ll study criminological theories, trends, and myths, learning how social, cultural, and historical factors shape ideas about crime and deviance. You’ll also develop essential research and academic skills, including research design, ethics, literature reviews, and proposal writing. As you progress, you’ll study advanced theories of crime, harm, and social justice, alongside offender punishment, rehabilitation, and risk management within probation and prison services. Research training continues through modules in quantitative, qualitative, and mixed-method approaches, enabling you to conduct independent investigations into contemporary criminal justice issues. The course offers a wide range of optional modules, allowing you to specialise in areas that match your interests and career goals. Topics include victims’ rights and victimology, inequalities in crime and justice, domestic violence, human rights and international crimes, professional placement experiences, desistance from offending, stigma and criminalisation, and violence and social harm. In your final year, you’ll explore emerging forms of crime and harm in a global context, examining contemporary risks, corporate and state harms, and future challenges in crime control. The programme culminates in a dissertation, giving you the opportunity to conduct in-depth research on a specialist topic linked to your career aspirations. Throughout the degree, you’ll develop critical thinking, analytical, communication, and research skills while gaining valuable practical experience through placements and volunteering opportunities. Graduates are well prepared for careers in criminal justice agencies, policing, probation, prisons, victim support services, youth offending teams, social work, community organisations, and the third sector, as well as for postgraduate study and research in criminology and related fields.