BSc (Hons) Criminology with Integrated Foundation Year pathway (UCAS code L311) continued
Year 2 (national level 5):
Core modules:
Theoretical Perspectives: Crime, Harm and Social Justice (30 credits)
Explore the dominant theoretical perspectives and issues regarding the study of crime, deviance and (in)justice of the 20th century. Interpret and evaluate how criminological approaches to criminality deviance and notions of justice have been contested within the discipline and are debated within socio-political culture more generally.
Offender Rehabilitation and Risk Management (30 credits)
Engage with key philosophies of punishment, such as rehabilitation and alternative discourses like risk management, in order to evaluate criminal justice legislation, and subsequent policies and practices of the probation and prison services in England and Wales. Understand how social and political climates influence. Analyse the implications of rehabilitation and risk management focused policies and practices for offending behaviours and society.
Optional modules (choose 60 credits):
Domestic Violence and Criminal Justice (30 credits)
Engage with concepts and theories of gender and patriarchy to make sense of domestic violence in intimate relationships. Analyse the underpinning model/s of criminal justice to make sense of how this system works in patriarchal society, to understand outcomes for domestic violence offenders and victims. Evaluate contemporary research including key theoretical frameworks to analyse how domestic violence is perpetuated. Analyse and present theoretical and empirical research to construct knowledge during the module.
Policing in Context: Past, Present, Future (30 credits)
Explore the emergence and formulation of the police and policing practices. Learn about the changing nature of policing, gaining insight into the role and function of the police, and how it has transformed historically. Develop a critical understanding of the key concepts and theories surrounding policing styles and practice, as well as the key debates and issues which face contemporary policing, such as accountability, governance, misconduct and corruption, legitimacy, austerity, and privatization.
Researching Society: Private, Public and Third Sector Organisations (30 credits)
Develop a critical understanding of the management, effectiveness and limitations of the private, public and third sectors. Gain essential qualitative and quantitative research skills, utilising data analysis packages, through examining real life case studies of these sectors. Develop your understanding of organisational management theory and issues relating to practice i.e. working collaboratively, inequality, discrimination and managing conflict.
Researching Society with Placement (30 credits)
Gain essential qualitative and quantitative research skills by examining real life case studies and develop your understanding of organisational management theory and issues relating to practice. Obtain transferable skills and knowledge that are necessary for professional practice through engagement in workshop-based learning and a placement.
Social Science Research and Inquiry (30 credits)
Explore the theory and practice of research methodologies and methods in social science. Discover the history of social science research and the philosophical and methodological debates which have underpinned the emergence of contemporary social science. Carry out your own research investigating an aspect of contemporary social life, learning how to think about, organise, manage, and report on social scientific research.
Gender, Diversity and Human Rights: Global Perspectives (30 credits)
Learn about human rights agendas and global policies and practice, focusing on gender as a policy priority for many international organisations and as a theoretical frame for the consideration of human rights. Explore topics such as human trafficking; international reproductive politics; gender based violence; human sexuality; divisions of labour; refugee crises; and health. Study critical and theoretical approaches to sex, intimacy and reproduction, as well as historical and feminist perspectives.
Counselling Skills: Theory into Practice (30 credits)
Explore a range of counselling models which will enable you to develop theoretical, analytical and critical skills necessary to work with clients and develop the interpersonal skills to become a reflective practitioner.
Year 3 (national level 6):
Core module:
New Horizons in Crime and Justice (30 credits)
Explore new forms of crime and harm in contemporary society and develop a cutting-edge theoretical understanding of how these can be explained. Analyse recent threats, current dangers, present risks, and the role of the state and big corporations in manufacturing these. Locate your knowledge of criminology and penology in a global context and reimagine the futures of crime, harm and crime control.
Optional modules (choose 90 credits):
Doing Desistance: Becoming an Ex-Offender (30 credits)
Develop knowledge and understanding of the diverse and individualised nature of the desistance process. Enhance your critical analysis skills through an investigation of the social, economic and political barriers people may face as they try to move away from crime. Investigate the role of the individual for desisting from crime, as well as the potential impact of external factors and how different methods of support can help people to successfully become an ex-offender.
Selling Sex: Theory, Policy and Practice (30 credits)
Equip yourself with the knowledge to engage in debates around sex work and explore the sex industry from global perspectives. Assess the role of legal frameworks, policy interventions, media representations and social stigma in the vulnerability of workers selling sex. Gain an understanding of the diversity of sex workers and examine why transactional sex continues to be a complex and contentious issue.
Pathologising Crime: Disability, Confinement and Justice (30 credits)
Apply disability studies to the discipline of Criminology and examine the expansion of medicine as an institution of power, which defines and controls contemporary populations. Critically evaluate the history of medicine with reference to the construction of disability through the notion of 'normality' and 'abnormality.'
Exploring Violence and Social Harm (30 credits)
Critically engage with the concepts and theories that attempt to make sense of violence and abuse. Explore how violence is constructed and explained, and why it occurs. Learn how types of violence such as femicide, sex crimes, homicide, and intimate violence can become constructed, embedded, normalised, and accepted within society. Evaluate how systems work to assess and manage outcomes for both victims and perpetrators. Develop a broad understanding of violence and abuse and gain the knowledge to address such issues in a practice-based setting.
Social Science Dissertation (30 credits)
Enhance your critical thinking through investigating a dissertation subject in greater depth and consolidate prior learning. Advance your research skills by conducting an empirical or non-empirical study relating to your degree. Develop specialist knowledge of theoretical perspectives, conducting independent research and project management. Enhance your ability to work independently, communicate complex information, analyse data and learn how to structure, organise and format a dissertation. Align your dissertation topic to the profession you wish to pursue.
Social Science Work-Based Dissertation (60 credits)
Apply the knowledge and theoretical ideas you have developed over the course of your studies into a real-world context. Complete a work-based dissertation from which you can draw inspiration to complete an innovative and creative piece of work aimed at improving the practice environment. Acquire essential transferable skills in project management, research and innovation.
From Witchcraft to Homophobia: The Sociology of Hatred and Persecution (30 credits)
Analyse the origins of the different forms of demonisation of different groups, from witches to immigrants, racial minorities to sexual differences. Evaluate the circumstances and different theoretical explanations for the stereotyping and repression of each group. Explore the cultural, social and political forms of exclusion and persecution. Develop skills and knowledge to understand the integration of historical, political and sociological perspectives, with a view to the construction of the deviant and the different in terms of the criminal and civil laws as well as in popular and official beliefs.
'Race’ and Racialisation in Society (30 credits)
Gain valuable insights into issues relating to ‘race’ and interrelated concepts that examine the ways in which ‘race’ is socially constructed within society, through ‘whiteness’ and critical race theory. Develop your understanding of the historical nature of ‘race’ and learn how to identify causal factors that lead to racism in society. Discover how experiences of discrimination, prejudice and inequality often result in disproportionate outcomes for specific Black, Asian, Minority Ethic (BAME) communities. Learn to identify the ways that racisms and racialisation operates through politics, policy and practice through conducting research.