BSc (Hons) Criminology

In this module, you’ll get to grips with intersectionality - a way of understanding someone’s identity as made of characteristics such as race, gender and class. Intersectionality offers you a unique way to study crime. You’ll discover how criminal justice institutions, such as the police and criminal courts, respond to and discriminate against different social groups.

In this module, you’ll explore the key research methods of Criminology. You’ll gain invaluable critical skills, as you look at:

• research methods
• design
• processes
• outcomes.

You’ll also understand the ethics of research, including:

• the requirements of conducting research with vulnerable populations.
• how your identity can help or hinder research relationships.

In this module, you’ll dive into real world problems of crime and criminal justice. You’ll apply your criminology knowledge to:

• find solutions to key questions of crime and justice
• find solutions to problems in current practice
• explore how these solutions can inform future research.

You’ll examine case studies from current policy and practice. You’ll apply the insights of those currently working in criminal justice, including:

• practitioners
• policy-makers
• politicians.

You’ll gain a strong understanding of how criminology works in real life, and you’ll explore why there is a disconnect between the classroom, and criminology in practice.

In this module, you’ll use comparative data (where you compare multiple sets of data) to understand criminal behaviour across nations. You’ll explore criminological issues and global harms, like:

• human trafficking
• organised crime
• cybercrime
• terrorism
• eco crime.

You’ll also analyse crime patterns, and responses to criminal activities in different parts of the world. You’ll also look at how ideas and ways of regulating crime occur within different environments, and our now increasingly connected global society.

This module explores the relationships between gender and violence, taking an interdisciplinary and intersectional perspective. This is a topic-driven module, exploring different forms of gendered violence critically, the role of perpetrators and survivors, the methodological features of criminological research on the topic, and the Criminal Justice System responses to gendered violence. We also examine key conceptualizations of gender and violence as well as theorizations of their interplay, employing a feminist criminology perspective.

Throughout we are concerned to highlight the context that shapes gendered violence, namely patriarchy and other systems of oppression. We also interrogate key features of public discourses on and attitudes to gendered violence.
Some of the module’s key questions are: What is gender? What is violence? How does violence differentially affect gendered bodies and gendered lives? What are the links between different forms or modalities of violence – structural, symbolic, normative, linguistic, aesthetic and direct – and what role does gender play here? Is gendered violence a form of gender inequality and abuse of human rights?

In this module, you’ll get a comprehensive introduction to organised crime. Through a blend of case studies and theoretical discussions, you will learn about a range of criminal organisations, from mafias, drug cartels, and human trafficking rings to cybercrime syndicates and money-laundering operations.

You’ll be encouraged to critically assess the ways in which criminal organisations operate, the challenges they present to law enforcement, and the impacts they have on our society, economy, and culture. Emphasis will also be placed on exploring emerging trends and future challenges to prepare you for analysing the evolving threats of organised crime across national and international contexts.

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In this module, you’ll kick-start your career, and gain key work experience in organisations related to crime. You’ll do 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 undertake 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? And 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.

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. And 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.

You will examine classic and contemporary criminological theories that seek to explain why young people offend and why they desist, drawing on biological, psychological and social perspectives. The module also provides a clear understanding of the Youth Justice System, its legal framework, its purpose and how young people experience it. You'll be encouraged to think critically about current policy, public debate and professional practice, and to build the skills and knowledge needed for future work within Youth Justice settings.

Key themes include:

• How media and political conversations shape public views of youth crime.
• How youth justice policies can affect some groups disproportionately, such as BAME young people, young women and young people who spend time in public spaces.
• How well-intended interventions can sometimes have unintended negative effects, and how multi professional work can support positive change.

This module offers the opportunity to study abroad, experience a new culture, and apply your skills in different contexts to enhance your employability. It will help you develop self-management, cross-cultural communication, and interpersonal skills.

You’ll receive support to secure a place at a partner institution abroad, where you can choose modules related to your degree or explore new areas that complement your studies.

Studying at an international university will help you enhance your interpersonal skills through cross-cultural communication with students and tutors, allowing you to build lasting relationships. You'll also improve your study skills by focusing on your chosen areas of interest, gaining valuable international experience that will strengthen your CV.

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.

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 delve into anthropological and ethnographic perspectives on crime, incarceration, surveillance, and marginalisation. Through visualisation and ethnographic accounts, you'll discover the reality of criminalised communities and how subtle forms of social control and indignity rob individuals of their rights and autonomy. You'll compare how these issues shape systems worldwide and gain a cross-cultural understanding of how the complexities of history and power affect societies, from Mexico and Brazil to Nepal, Ghana, Britain, and the US.

This module will lead you to explore a range of contemporary issues related to sport and criminology, including the interplay with the role of sport in wider society. You'll consider sport not only as a crime generator but also as a means of crime prevention and desistance from crime. You'll explore the contentious blurred line between cheating and criminality. You'll examine high profile cases of crime within the field of play, plus global criminality connected to sport.

You’ll enhance your academic and research literacy, as well as active citizenship by considering how crime and sport cross into everyday lives and real world situations.

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.

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.

This module shifts the focus from why people enter the justice system to how people with criminal histories stop offending. You will be introduced to key theories and debates on desistance from crime, with particular attention to critical perspectives and emerging approaches in the field. The module begins with an overview of traditional desistance theories and their limitations, before exploring newer and alternative frameworks that aim to strengthen desistance theory and improve understanding of how to support long term change.

Students will engage with a wide range of critical literature, including feminist and intersectional theories, global perspectives beyond the UK and US, and Indigenous and ethnic minority viewpoints. This section will consider whether desistance remains a useful concept when applied to populations that differ from those originally studied.

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 analyse human bones from archaeological sites. You’ll get to know the ancient diseases that we can understand through human and animal bones. You’ll gain key practical skills through lab-based sessions and through researching primary material. You’ll also learn how forensic anthropology can help us understand different populations.

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.