Criminology BSc (Hons)

30 credits

Who gets labelled as ‘dangerous’ or ‘problematic’ - and why? This module dives into how crime and deviance are shaped by society, politics, and culture, both past and present.  

You’ll explore who is policed and disciplined, how certain behaviours become criminalised, and how others go unnoticed.

Looking at real-world case studies, you’ll examine the blurred lines between offender and victim, the impact of criminalisation, and the role of media and state institutions in shaping our perceptions of crime. Through key criminological debates, you’ll question what justice really means and who it serves.

30 credits

This module will focus your attention on how social scientists have utilised a range of qualitative and quantitative methods to research social life in its various forms. This module grounds your understandings of research methods through the practical application of data collection and analysis, and critical reflection on the research process. You will gain hands-on experience of research skills throughout the module that can be applied to future study and employability.

You will also be introduced to Future Skills through engagement with Navigate; an innovative programme designed to support your personal and professional development, and your ability to articulate your skills and graduate qualities in an external context.

30.00 credits

This module will provide students with an introduction to the institutions, processes and legal foundations of the criminal justice system in England and Wales. The module is core to the undergraduate degree. The module familiarises students with the language and reasoning of the criminal law and the structure and chronology of the criminal justice process. There is an emphasis on the development and practice of key academic skills especially information retrieval.

30 credits

This module will introduce students to a range of theoretical perspectives and debates that inform criminology, and which underpin their learning throughout the criminology programme. Theories will be evaluated in relation to academic scholarship, empirical evidence, popularity and application in crime policy and practice, and in relation to their geographical, social, cultural, historical locations.

Students will learn about a changing and dynamic field of study, which has encompassed both positivistic and social analyses of crime and criminalisation. They will learn to evaluate criminological theory in relation to a range of intellectual movements. They will be encouraged to understand criminological theory in relation to shifts across allied subjects like sociology, gender studies, critical race studies, social policy, politics and psychology.

30 credits

This module provides you with a critical insight into key issues and controversies in the delivery of justice, social control and punishment.  It encourages you to think critically about the role of the state in the regulation of behaviour and provides an overview of key changes that have occurred in the field of crime control and criminal justice. The first part of the module is dedicated to developing understanding of the concepts of 'policing' and the 'police'. Key issues confronting contemporary policing are explored together with an enhanced awareness of the historical context within which contemporary policing has developed.

Debates about policing are situated within broader debates of social control and governance, with a critical appreciation of the police function and role. It also considers the implications of globalisation for policing both at an organisational and conceptual level. The second part of the module provides you with the opportunity to undertake a critical examination of contemporary debates on the purpose of punishment. You will be introduced to a range of theoretical perspectives and debates on the use of punishment to address criminality and will consider the purpose of punishment in modern societies. This will be accompanied by an examination of different forms of punishment including an in-depth exploration of the use of imprisonment and comparative penal systems.

30 credits

In this module, you’ll work in small teams to research and address a social problem affecting your community or society. Each member will explore different aspects of the issue, and together, you’ll create an informative website outlining the problem and proposing solutions or policies.

Alongside learning about your chosen topic, you’ll develop key research, teamwork, and problem-solving skills. You’ll also take part in a Graduate Assessment Centre to practice the skills for job applications and interview techniques.  

This module helps you grow in confidence, preparing you for the workplace with essential professional skills. 

30 credits

This module explores how true crime and fiction drama - across video games, podcasts, social media, and traditional media - shape our understanding of crime and justice.  

Media can sensationalise crime, create ethical dilemmas, and distort reality, influencing public attitudes and trust in the justice system. With crime increasingly treated as entertainment, research shows it can heighten fear, increase punitive attitudes, and fuel distrust in law enforcement.  

Miscarriages of justice, widely covered on streaming platforms like Netflix, raise concerns about fairness, potentially discouraging crime reporting and encouraging informal justice. This module critically examines these issues and their real-world impact.

30.00 credits

This module will enable students to contextualise criminology's past and present engagement with diversity and discrimination. The relationship between crime and discriminatory processes will be explored within different contexts such as within the law, prisons and cultural practices (e.g. FGM). The responses of the criminal justice process to diversity will also be discussed and evaluated with regard to institutional racism and domestic abuse. In addition, students will critique the gendered social construction of the categories of 'offender' and 'victim'. This will be further challenged by the exploration of female membership and affiliation with criminal gangs and their perpetration of crimes, and male victims of sexual violation.

30 credits

The aim of the module is to introduce you to relevant issues within the realm of globalisation and transnational crime: e.g. terrorism, environmental crime, piracy, human trafficking, criminal networks and cybercrime. It will enable you to develop a detailed comprehension of the complexity of these criminogenic experiences.

The course opens with consideration as to what transnational crime is and how it is researched. Various topics are then examined to illustrate the dimensions of transnational crime over the following weeks. Topics include organized crime; sex trafficking and pornography; illegal markets; problems caused by crimes against the environment and the role of technology in perpetrating crime across the globe. Politically motivated crimes such as terrorism are considered, including the interaction between terrorist discourses and the media, the work of international law enforcement bodies in relation to global security and counter-terrorism. Alongside the structural and political aspects of crime, the module also considers interpersonal and cultural experiences of harm, for example, violence against women and honour-based violence.

15 credits

This module explores how risk has become a key tool in understanding and managing crime today.  

Risk assessment now shapes policing, sentencing, and offender management, influencing areas like organised crime, cybercrime, terrorism, and domestic abuse. Theories of risk help explain why this shift has happened and how it affects our perceptions of crime and security. Some see risk management as reducing bias, while others argue it fuels a ‘culture of fear.’  

This module examines risk in both theory and practice, questioning how it has changed criminal justice, institutions, and even our relationships with one another.

30.00 credits

This module will be examining some deeply troubling events in recent history and politics and the various ethical, legal and political responses that they have generated. It has been argued that the Holocaust was a critical turning point, a catastrophe which required a fundamental ethical, legal and political rethinking of how the rights of human beings could be protected when states in the modern world engage in the systematic attempt to murder large numbers of people, including many of their own citizens.

The module begins with reflections on the Nazi attempt to eliminate a whole group of people (the Jews) and to murder and enslave millions of others. It then considers a range of responses, including the Nuremberg trials, the Genocide Convention, and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. It examines a number of cases of genocide and crimes against humanity that have nevertheless occurred subsequently. It evaluates the repeated failure for decades to halt or prevent these crimes and then considers the rethinking caused by the genocides in Yugoslavia and Rwanda, and the setting up of ad hoc tribunals and an International Criminal Court to prosecute perpetrators and provide justice to victims.

It concludes with reflections on how much progress has been made in protecting citizens in a world of sovereign nation states and what forms of justice can work after such crimes have been committed. These are highly contested questions and the module is designed to encourage the critical analysis and evaluation of a wide range of arguments that have been put forward from a variety of perspectives.

15 credits

This module provides you with a dedicated opportunity to develop your Future Skills Graduate Attributes. At the start of the module, you will be supported to self-assess your current skills profile and determine which attributes and skills you need to develop to support your career ambitions. You will be supported in this process by a dedicated career coach, who will help you to explore a range of options including self-employment/freelancing, starting your own business, higher level study, and other professional Graduate level opportunities. Students will also be given opportunities to engage with external mentors throughout the module to support reflection and to develop a professional network.

You will then undertake a tailored series of activities and projects, aligned to your goals from a menu of development options. This could include short courses, enrichment activities and experiential learning options such as micro-placements.  You will also be able to reflect on activities that you undertake outside the university through which you are developing your graduate attributes, such as work or volunteering.

30 credits

This is a Level 6 optional module that draws upon social science debates and knowledges. Students will learn by observing and undertaking work-based practice. The principle underlying this module is that worksites are important contexts for students to test, validate, expand upon, supplement and enrich their academic learning. The module requires students to undertake a minimum of 40 hours of fieldwork in an organisational setting. The form that the fieldwork will take will depend upon the type of placement secured, but, typically it may involve interning, shadowing or volunteering in subject relevant placements (for example across social justice, criminal justice/crime prevention, welfare and support fields). Whilst in their placements students are encouraged to think about the social aspects of organisations and working life, including their structural forms, interpersonal relationships and their practices. Students will be supported in securing their placement at Level 5 in preparation for the commencement of the module at level 6. 

30 credits

Through this module you will develop your own criminological specialism by conducting an extended and in-depth study on a topic of your choosing. Students will be tutored in the skills necessary to successfully complete a final year dissertation and will work with a staff supervisor to develop a critical understanding of their research topic. You will gain hands-on experience of research skills that can be applied to future postgraduate study and careers in human resources, marketing, public sector and charitable and non-government organisations.