Criminology

In this module, you’ll kick-start your career and gain key work experience in organisations related to crime. You’ll complete a placement or work-based learning activity in:

• a public sector organisation
• a non-governmental organisation (NGO)
• a voluntary organisation.

Whether working with the police, prison services, schools or charities, you’ll gain invaluable skills for your future career. You won’t engage directly with clients or service users, but you’ll gain a strong knowledge of how organisations identify and fight crime.

You'll engage with the emerging field of Green Criminology. You'll learn the key theoretical concepts of green criminology and environmental justice. 

You'll focus on understanding Green Criminology as a transnational field. Including the social issues impacting individuals on a global scale. 

You'll explore recent social and technological developments such as:  

• globalisation
• social media and the internet
• medical and scientific advances
• mass migration.

You'll look at the new ethical challenges they present that are prominent in public debate and a source of conflict and division in society. You'll analyse some of these ethical issues from a philosophical perspective. 

You'll consider whether corporations have moral responsibilities, as well as the best ways to combat racism. Also, you'll examine how epistemic vices such as close-mindedness, intellectual arrogance and dogmatism are fostered by the prevalence of conspiracy theories, fake news, and testimonial injustice?

Are we right to assume that democracy is the only morally-defensible way to govern a country? Can technology and science help us to improve ourselves?

This module gives you the chance to do independent study on a topic that fascinates you. With support from expert tutors, you’ll submit a proposal for independent study. We’ll agree to a programme of work and assessments, tailored to your interests.

What is security? How can we achieve it? Who should provide it? In this module, you’ll dive into key debates on security, and its definitions. You’ll join policy makers, academics and civil servants as you discuss fundamental issues of security. You’ll explore the different ways we look at security, and the things it protects, for example:

• the nation-state
• the environment
• the economy
• a ‘way of life’.

You’ll also look at the implications of security on peace and current global conflicts, as well as everyday violence and exclusion.

How do we govern the world when it’s no longer dominated by states and national governments? How do different types of migration shape the movement of people across the world? In this module, you’ll get to grips with a key part of international relations - borders and solidarities (groups with a common identity or interest). You’ll explore the various forms of borders and solidarities, including:

• migrations across national boundaries
• regional organisations
• trade agreements.

You'll then link them to key forces and events, such as: 

• NGOs
• corporations
• colonisation
• refugee movements
• the migrant ‘crisis’.

You’ll gain valuable practical and professional knowledge as you explore leading issues today and how global governance or migration shapes our lives.

In this module, you’ll explore the effect of nationalism. You’ll get to grips with the different concepts, debates and controversies in the study of nationalism. You’ll gain fantastic analytical skills as you apply these approaches to real world cases and explore the implications of their different perspectives. 

You’ll also look at how globalisation impacts the politics and identity of a country. You’ll analyse whether globalisation is a force for good, or if it is divisive, leading to nationalist resistance.

This is your opportunity to work or study in another country, so you can experience a different culture from the UK. You’ll be able to apply and test your knowledge and skills in new contexts that will significantly develop your employability profile.

Choosing this module will allow you to exhibit the development of self-management and working or studying in unfamiliar contexts, alongside practising cross-cultural communication and interpersonal skills.

You will receive support and guidance to help you find a place in an available higher education partner institution, or to find a work placement for your year abroad. This year abroad module lasts for one academic year and is taken after the conclusion of your second year of study, once you’ve completed all your level 5 studies. Your year abroad is not credit-bearing.

The opportunity can be approached in 2 different ways. Please see your options below: 
 

You can attend a non-UK higher education institution for a full academic year. You’ll be able to choose modules in your own subject or in a subject you consider would benefit your overall course of study. You may choose to deepen your knowledge of your degree subject or enhance it by developing complementary skills.

By studying in an international university, you’ll progress your interpersonal skills through cross-cultural communication with fellow students and tutors, building lasting relationships. You’ll further develop your study skills as you focus on your selected areas of interest to you, while also developing and progressing an international study experience that will add significance to your CV.

Undertake a work placement or work-related project based on your interests and existing skills. You will create an initial learning contract that shows clearly how your proposed placement or project will link with your academic and/or professional aims.

This pathway helps you to have full control over what your work-related learning looks like. You will advance your skills in a practical setting, gain first-hand experience in a work environment, and begin to create your professional network. Also, taking initiative of your learning in such a way will mean that you will stand out when you apply for jobs after graduation.

In this module, you’ll gain specialist insight into the history of crime. You’ll choose a topic based on staff research interests, meaning you’ll always be taught by an expert. You’ll gain invaluable critical skills as you dig into the current research around your topic. You’ll also develop excellent research skills, including how to analyse primary sources.

In this module, you’ll examine border criminology, which is the study of the intersection of border control and criminal justice.  You’ll get to grips with key issues around:

• migration
• punishment
• citizenship and belonging.

You’ll investigate core developments of border criminology, including:

• immigration removal centres
• foreign national prisons
• policing of borders.

You’ll gain key critical skills as you explore debates surrounding immigration, punishment and national identity. You’ll examine the institutions concerned with border control, and the increasing use of punishment and force around immigration control in the UK and abroad.

In this module, you’ll bust some key assumptions around psychoactive drugs. You’ll look at why we use them and how we control them in society. To explore the relationship between drug use, individuals and public morality, you’ll investigate:

• criminological insights
• sociological insights
• historical insights
• policy insights.

You’ll gain key critical skills as you debate drug policies and how we can lessen the harm of substance abuse. You’ll look at alternative ways to regulate drugs than our current ‘war on drugs’ mentality. You’ll also explore the future of synthetic drugs. 

This module gives you the chance to do independent study on a topic that fascinates you. With support from expert tutors, you’ll submit a proposal for independent study. We’ll agree to a programme of work and assessments, tailored to your interests.

For your dissertation, you’ll carry out research on a topic that fascinates you. The topic will be interdisciplinary, meaning that it will be relevant both to Criminology and your other subject. This allows you to be creative in your thinking, making original or unusual connections between your different subject areas. 

Whatever the topic, you’ll gain in-depth knowledge of it. You’ll develop excellent project management skills as you define your research area, plan your research and manage your own schedule. You’ll also acquire great research skills to take forward into your career.

In this module, you’ll study images of crime, including:

• the world’s most troubling mugshots
• early crime-scene photographs
• bloody and brutal paintings
• criminal courtroom artworks.

Seeing and picturing is a key way of understanding crime. You’ll get to grips with the fast-growing field of visual criminology. You’ll discover the importance of images at the birth of criminology, and how they perpetuate stereotypes about race and gender. You’ll also consider why, because of this, criminologists have been sceptical about working with images. 

You’ll have the rare chance to go behind the scenes and visit Western-Europe’s most unique visual arts and social scientific-imaging collections, held in Oxford at:

• the Pitt Rivers Museum
• the Ashmolean Museum.

Why do people enjoy committing crimes? How might crime offer identity and purpose? In this module you’ll explore criminal acts and the role of:

• pleasures
• performance
• identity 
• meaning.

You’ll think about the multiple meanings and actions that crime holds for different people across time. You’ll consider the social benefits of crimes and resistance to the law. You'll also explore how different interpretations of crime might affect crime control and criminal justice.

This module introduces you to case studies, concepts, and debates, with a focus on sexual offences and other serious crimes. You will explore themes of consent and harm, drawing on critical criminology, feminist theory and socio-legal studies. 

You will look at how the criminal law and cultural norms have constructed certain behaviours and identities as deviant. 

From a criminological perspective, you will go beyond the headlines to examine the role of:

• labelling
• moral panics 
• changing social attitudes towards sex.

This will help you to develop your critical thinking skills.

Should we punish prisoners, or support them to re-enter society? In this module, you’ll dive into the key issues of prisons. You’ll consider modern prisons, globally and historically. You’ll examine prisons through:

• prisoners
• prison staff
• wider society. 

You'll trace the evolution of the prison - from the rehabilitative ideal of the post-war period, to the greater focus on punishment today. You’ll look at how political parties use prison policies to win votes, rather than reduce crime. 

You’ll dive into the inner workings of prisons, from governance to administration. You’ll look at the routines of prison life and how prisoners cope with and give meaning to them. You’ll consider sentence progression for different types of prisoners, and you’ll explore how well prisons prepare inmates for life after release.

This is a key time to study policing in western countries. The response to crime in the west is changing fast as policing moves towards privatisation in the digital age. 

You’ll analyse modern policing in the west and its former colonies. You’ll examine the history of policing. You’ll compare policing in other countries to policing in the UK. You’ll also look at the rise of neo-colonial policing today (the use of economic, political and cultural pressures to control other countries).

You’ll explore areas like: 

• securitization
• militarization 
• transnationalism 
• human trafficking.

In this module, you'll explore crimes and harms that are perpetrated by the state, including the potential to resist state-perpetrated atrocities. 

You will examine historical and contemporary case studies. along with theoretical concepts from a state crime framework. You'll build your criminological understanding about state crime and its:

• nature
• objectives
• motivations 
• denial. 

You will engage and explore the resistance and challenges within, including:

• social movement activism
• legal challenges 
• armed liberation struggles.