BA(Hons) Criminology (with Foundation Year)

This module will help you understand the expectations of higher education and develop the academic skills needed for your chosen social science pathway. Indicative content will include researching, organising and presenting ideas for essays, reports and case studies, alongside academic style, referencing and avoiding plagiarism. You'll develop reading, note-making, summarising, analysis and evaluation skills, and learn how to locate reliable books and journal articles. Planning, time management, reflection, oral presentation, examination preparation, academic use of information technology and collaborative teamwork will build your confidence as an independent learner.

This module will introduce you to key issues and theoretical approaches spanning sociology and criminology. Indicative topics will include identity and culture in social life, digital media and online cultures, education, social exclusion and inequality. You'll examine crime, deviance and social problems in relation to class, gender and ethnicity, alongside social, cultural and legal understandings of crime. The module will also provide opportunities to explore the profiling of dangerous and risky offenders and criminal justice institutions, helping you develop your understanding of the social world through social science ideas and research.

Through philosophy and political science, this module will introduce tools for understanding the contemporary world. You'll explore foundations of Western philosophical thought through classical texts, considering knowledge, being, the self, ethics, justice, education, beauty, politics and the state. The module will also examine the contemporary political and international order, including states and the international system. Themes such as climate change, terrorism, poverty, war and peace, culture, religion and security will help you reflect on connections between philosophical concepts, real political systems and current societal issues.

This module will introduce psychological research, theories and models alongside key topics in policing. It will typically include perspectives in psychology and selected themes from developmental, cognitive, social, humanistic and differential psychology. You'll also explore principles of investigative practice, community policing, contemporary challenges and evidence-based policing. Through these connected areas, you'll develop critical thinking and ethical approaches to building an evidence base. Group work and guided activities will strengthen your academic reading and writing, information searching, presentation software skills, planning, time management and collaboration.

This module will introduce the criminal justice system in England and Wales, examining how its institutions and processes work together. You'll explore policing, courts, sentencing, prisons, alternatives to custody, probation and youth justice, alongside different models of justice. Core concepts will include crime, punishment, rehabilitation and social control. Through critical engagement with questions of fairness, inequality and effectiveness, you'll develop research, communication, digital fluency and problem-solving skills, creating a strong foundation for further study in criminology and related fields.

This module will introduce key criminological theories and show how they shape explanations of crime, criminal justice policy and social control. You'll examine how crime and justice are socially constructed across historical contexts, considering the origins of criminology and debates about changes in crime and data. Topics will typically include classical and positivist criminology, sociological and social-psychological perspectives, and their application to policy and justice. You'll use theory to analyse contemporary issues, which may include mass incarceration and the social and cultural foundations of penal justice.

This module will introduce sociology through contemporary social issues and policy debates. You'll explore how conditions become defined as social problems through politics, policy and media, using sociological imagination to examine agenda-setting, framing, pathologisation and complex policy challenges. Topics will typically include poverty, inequality, health, employment, crime, substance use, ageing, disability, housing, racism, transport and culture. Historical, global and comparative perspectives will help you analyse government intervention, social welfare and the ways social problems connect with inequality, diversity and ideological interests.

In this module, you'll examine crime and victimisation in contemporary society, considering their nature, extent and distribution. You'll explore how crime may be shaped by characteristics such as age, gender, race, ethnicity and social class, while engaging critically with evidence and approaches to measuring crime. Topics will typically include official statistics, crime and the media, fear of crime, victims, young people, property crime, policy-making, and the relationship between crime, space and place. Specific themes may vary to reflect contemporary events and debates.

This module will introduce the relationship between criminological theory and research, giving you a foundation in the strategies used to investigate crime and criminal justice. You'll distinguish quantitative and qualitative methodologies and explore how ontology and epistemology shape understandings of the social world. Topics will typically include surveys, questionnaires, interviews, focus groups, observation, secondary data analysis, content analysis, participatory action research and case studies. You'll also examine sampling and research ethics, developing the knowledge needed to make informed decisions about research design and data collection.

This module will develop the critical thinking skills needed for successful study in sociology and criminology. You'll learn how to observe carefully, reflect on experience and analyse arguments, evidence, beliefs and assumptions. Topics may include ethical reflection, conceptual analysis, logical reasoning, statistical misuse, knowledge and power, inequality, crime, discourse and deconstruction. You'll consider the uncertainty and limits of knowledge, as well as how academic work can perpetuate injustice or support positive change. Through structured argument and enquiry, you'll strengthen your academic and professional judgement.

This module will connect criminological theory with social justice practice through engagement with external organisations. The syllabus will typically include expert perspectives, social change, campaign planning, project management, teamwork and literature reviewing. You'll learn how to link criminological concepts to real-world situations, devise clear objectives and responsibilities, and communicate with diverse audiences. Developing a digital media campaign will strengthen skills in advocacy, ethical social media use, research, presentation and professional writing. Career-focused activities will also support your networking, confidence, project planning and understanding of opportunities beyond university.

Through hands-on research activity, this module will develop your understanding of how criminological data is gathered and analysed. The syllabus will typically include reviewing literature, research ethics and the design of tools such as interview guides and questionnaires. You'll explore media and digital methodologies, secondary data analysis, and approaches to managing qualitative and quantitative information. The module will also help you select appropriate methods for presenting, describing and visualising findings. By working with different forms of evidence, you'll build practical research skills and confidence in making reasoned interpretations.

Building on earlier study of criminological theory, this module will introduce contemporary perspectives and apply them to current crime issues. The indicative content may change in response to social and political events, but is likely to include late modernity, border criminology, masculinities, feminism, cultural and public criminology, social harm, war, risk and surveillance. You'll use these approaches to examine issues such as crimmigration, terrorism, extremism, graffiti, the criminalisation of art and leisure, environmental crime, state violence, and constructions of dangerous places and 'others'.

This module will explore contemporary policing and crime prevention in England and Wales. Drawing on research, policy and practice, you'll examine the historical and legal foundations of policing before considering current debates and emerging challenges. Topics may include police effectiveness, gender and diversity, murder investigation, use of force, public order policing, stop and search, cybercrime, missing people, community policing and evidence-based approaches. By locating these issues within broader social contexts, you'll develop the skills to evaluate policing and crime prevention from multiple perspectives.

This module will use comparative criminology to explore how crime, deviance and criminological ideas vary across cultural settings. You'll examine the challenges of comparing crime rates internationally and consider how criminological discourse is culturally constructed. The syllabus will typically cover transnational criminal activity, including drug and people trafficking, terrorism and crimes by nation-states, alongside international policing and law-enforcement strategies. You'll also investigate globalisation and its impact on crime, research and theory, developing your ability to evaluate criminological approaches across national and transnational contexts.

This module will support you in planning and completing an independent criminology project. Indicative content may include research design, project planning, ethics and governance, alongside refreshers in qualitative and quantitative methods. You may explore policy analysis, professional writing, reflective or practice-based research, and preparation for placement activity. Workshops could develop your skills in data analysis and interpretation, while focused guidance on dissertation and report writing will help you communicate a coherent investigation. Across the module, you'll strengthen your independence, research judgement and ability to connect evidence with criminological questions.