BSc (Hons) Criminology and Law

Develop a more detailed understanding of the law as it relates to society.

You'll revisit, and build upon, legal techniques and issues developed in Year 1. In this module, together we'll interogate law through various theoretical lenses drawn from other perspectives such as jurisprudence and sociology.

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 the criminal justice system, and the main issues of criminal justice. You’ll understand wider aspects of the criminal justice system and engage critically with the system’s flaws and shortcomings. You’ll gain key critical skills as you explore how well the system achieves its aims. You’ll explore specific areas such as:

• punishment
• sentencing
• crime prevention
• community safety
• policing
• youth crime
• prisons
• the criminal court system.

You’ll observe the criminal justice system, first hand. You’ll then devise a social-science experiment to test your understanding of the system you’ve studied. This means you’ll devise a hypothesis on how the criminal justice system operates, and test to see if your hypothesis was right. You’ll conduct work in prisons, police stations and the streets of Oxford, allowing you to access the real world of the criminal justice system.

How do we deal with the evidence of children and the vulnerable? In this module, you’ll get to grips with the key rules of evidence. You’ll examine:

• sexual history evidence
• corroboration and identification evidence
• expert opinion evidence
• hearsay evidence
• confession evidence
• silence as evidence
• improperly obtained evidence
• covert surveillance and entrapment
• evidence of character
• evidence of children, and vulnerable witnesses.

You’ll dive into the significance of evidence, and its rules in criminal trials. And you’ll understand the need to avoid miscarriages of justice.

Digital Crime and Criminology examines how technology is reshaping crime, justice and the law in an increasingly connected world. Bringing together perspectives from criminology and legal studies, you'll explore how these disciplines intersect in the digital age and develop a deeper understanding of emerging challenges and debates.

You'll be introduced to key concepts and theoretical frameworks used by digital criminologists and legal scholars, including ideas about digital identities, intersectionality and the regulation of online spaces. Applying these perspectives to contemporary issues, you'll investigate topics such as cyberhate, sexting, online pornography and other forms of digital harm.

By engaging with real-world case studies and current debates, you'll develop the critical skills needed to understand how law and society respond to rapidly evolving technologies and the opportunities and risks they create.

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.

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.

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 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.

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 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.

You'll explore the legal principles that govern relationships between states, international organisations and the wider global community.

You'll develop your legal research, critical analysis and problem-solving skills as you examine the foundations of international law, including its sources, key institutions and the rights and responsibilities of states. You'll explore how international law shapes issues such as human rights, the peaceful settlement of disputes, international trade, environmental protection and the use of force.

Using contemporary case studies and global legal challenges, you'll strengthen your understanding of how international law responds to an increasingly interconnected world and develop the analytical skills to evaluate complex issues that cross national borders.

This module is compulsory for the Global Law and Social Justice pathways.

How does the law regulate relationships between adults? What legal rights flow from married and unmarried relationships? In this module, you’ll get to grips with the law regulating all types of adult family relationships, particularly:

• the law of marriage
• civil partnerships
• cohabitating couples
• divorce
• division of property on family breakdown
• domestic violence
• parental responsibility for children.

You’ll gain vital skills in legal reasoning as you learn legal analysis techniques, and how to answer problem questions.

Stowe Family Law are offering work experience at their Oxford office, as part of the ‘Stowe Family Law Prize’, to the highest scoring second year student who completes this optional module

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.

This module gives you the chance to do research on a topic that fascinates you. Over the course of your final year, you’ll work independently on a research project, with the help of expert supervision. Your dissertation will grow out of your specific passion, and you’ll gain excellent self-discipline and organisational skills for work. You’ll gain core skills for your career, including:

• research
• critical analysis
• time-management
• planned and focused writing.

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.

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.

The internet rules society. In a vastly digital age, lawyers really need to understand technology and the legal challenges it presents. In this module, you’ll examine the legal issues of current internet technologies and hardware. You’ll gain key technical knowledge, as you evaluate the regulatory systems of these technologies, and how they affect society. You’ll explore how digital technologies challenge copyright law. And you’ll be introduced to some of the legal issues relating to the use of artificial intelligence.

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 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.

The Independent Study Module gives you the opportunity to explore a legal topic in greater depth, working closely with an academic whose research interests align with your chosen area. It allows you to investigate issues that go beyond the taught curriculum and develop expertise in a subject that reflects your interests and future ambitions.

You'll build advanced research, analysis and academic writing skills as you engage with legal scholarship, case law and contemporary debates. Students on our named pathways complete their project within their area of specialism, providing an opportunity to deepen their knowledge and showcase their expertise.

Whether you're considering postgraduate study, legal practice or another professional path, the module enables you to pursue an area you're passionate about while developing the independent learning skills valued by employers and researchers alike.

This module is compulsory if studying one of the named pathways.

International Human Rights Law explores the history, philosophy and contemporary protection of human rights, asking whether today's international legal systems are fit for purpose.

Develop your legal research, critical analysis and evaluative skills as you examine how human rights are protected through international and regional legal frameworks. You'll explore contemporary debates alongside topics such as refugee law, international criminal law and landmark cases under the European Convention on Human Rights, including freedom of expression and the prohibition of torture.

By engaging with global legal challenges and competing perspectives, you'll deepen your understanding of one of the most significant and rapidly evolving areas of international law while strengthening your ability to analyse complex legal and ethical issues.

This module is compulsory for the Global Law pathway.

Nationality, Immigration and Asylum explores the legal frameworks that govern citizenship, migration and international protection, examining how law responds to some of today's most significant social, political and humanitarian challenges.

Develop your legal research, critical analysis and evaluative skills as you examine nationality law, immigration and asylum systems, refugee protection and the legal responses to issues such as detention, deportation, human trafficking and family life. You'll consider how UK, European and international law shape migration policy, while critically evaluating the legal and ethical debates surrounding borders, identity and human rights.

Through contemporary case studies and legal analysis, you'll deepen your understanding of this complex and evolving area of law while strengthening your ability to assess competing perspectives and develop well-reasoned legal arguments.

How does the law deal with child abduction, and disputes over children? How can the state protect children who may be victims of abuse within their own families? In this module, you’ll get to grips with law relating to parents, children and the state. You’ll dive into law reports, as you look critically at the legal concepts around:

• relationships between parents and children
• the relevance of the state to parents and children.

You’ll consider:

• parental responsibility
• resolution of disputes over children
• child protection
• child abduction
• adoption.

You’ll gain vital skills in legal reasoning as you learn legal analysis techniques, and how to answer problem questions.

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.

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.