Compulsory modules

Dissertation for Criminology - ISP
This module provides an opportunity to produce a substantial piece of independent work of your own choosing in consultation with a supervisor. This generally involves either conducting a review of the literature on a topic that interests you or carrying out a piece of criminological research (such as interviewing criminal justice professionals, or analysing media coverage). It provides hands-on research training that enables you to put into practice the knowledge obtained in the first and second years of study. 

Prisons and Imprisonment
This module explores the central role which prisons play in society, both as institutions which dominate the contemporary punitive network, and as places which absorb our social and cultural imagination.

Rethinking 'Participation' in Crime control, Punishment and Criminology
We tend to think of the criminal justice system as the bureaucratic realm of rigorously trained professionals making decisions based on expertise. However, ordinary citizens play multiple roles in crime control and punishment. This module helps students think systematically about the many forms of ‘participation’ (with case studies from the Global North and Global South) through discussions on the public role of criminology, the relationship between expertise and common sense, and the needs to decolonise our curriculum and professional practices. 

State Crimes and Crimes Against Humanity
This module provides students with in-depth information on these ‘new’ topics in criminology, placing a focus on the historical and current injustices faced by the Global South and Black, Asian and minoritised Ethnic groups. It explores explanations of state crimes and crimes against humanity, and regulatory models and perspectives. The module seeks to identify the colonial systems, structures and relationships often underpinning mass atrocities and introduces more philosophically inspired reflections on the issues of state crimes and crimes against humanity.

Migration, Crime and (In)Security
Migration continues to be a contested public policy issue. A growing body of scholarship explores the criminalisation and securitisation of migration, whereby expanding groups of ‘others’ are constructed as ‘threats’ to national security; public health; the economy and public services; and community cohesion and ‘national identity’. Although migrants are vulnerable in legal and socio-economic status, they are nevertheless often framed as posing existential challenges and are considered ‘dangerous’. We consider these themes and apply criminological literature to case study examples.  

Optional modules

Hatred, Justice and the State
What is ‘hate speech’ and when, if at all, should governments prohibit it? Should a crime be treated differently if it is motivated by racism, homophobia or another form of prejudice? Hate crime has become a contentious point of debate raising complex questions about freedom, laws and their limits, and policing. The module draws on political, sociological and criminological theory to introduce how hate crimes are policed, and ask why certain acts are classed as ‘hate crimes’ while others are not.  

Popular Culture and Crime
This module explores society’s fascination with crime, criminals and deviance within wider social and psycho-social contexts. It situates this interest in modernity and late modernity, examining how representations of crime in popular culture shape our understanding of the world and identity. The module considers links between cultural practices and criminality, the politicisation of law and order, and the rise of crime media, revealing what our obsession with crime discloses about fear, anxiety, and self-identity in contemporary society.

Engaged Social Science
Moving on from the previous skills modules, you will further consider how your degree can link to a range of life skills and careers through engagement with community groups, activists and people working in public and private sectors. You will be supported in your next steps either through transition to the workplace or postgraduate study.

Advanced Professional Placement in Social Sciences
This module gives students opportunities to contribute to the world beyond the University, where the specialist knowledge, research, analytical, and communication skills developed as part of your Social Science degree can be used and can make a difference. The workplace or volunteering opportunity may be, for example, with a local government agency, a charity, a community group, a criminal justice agency, a school or education provider, or another suitable opportunity identified by the student and approved by the module leader.