Compulsory modules

Understanding Crime, Understanding Criminal Justice 
This module aims to lay the foundations for your criminological studies and to ignite your ‘criminological imagination’. The module introduces you to criminology as a subject, to where our understanding of ‘crime’ comes from, and to the ways in which criminological theories and ideas can help us to understand contemporary crime problems. You will also be introduced to theories of criminal justice and the work of, and relationships between, the main institutions of the criminal justice system.   

Policing, Prevention and Punishment   
How and why is crime committed? How can crime be prevented, and whose responsibility is it to prevent it? How is crime investigated, and how are perpetrators identified and prosecuted? How do we punish convicted offenders, and what do we hope to gain from that punishment? These core issues in policing, criminology and criminal justice are explored in their social, political, economic, cultural and psychological contexts. The module also includes visits from practitioners and guest speakers working in these areas. 

Murder, Death and Destruction   
This module introduces you to the ways in which criminologists and criminal justice professionals attempt to theorise, contextualise and respond to the most serious forms of criminal and harmful behaviour in society (including murder, homicide, ‘public’ and ‘hidden’ forms of violence and abuse, state violence, and environmental crimes). You will be applying theory to current real-world incidents and engaging with issues such as age, gender, ethnicity, social exclusion and inequality, media representations, legal and evidentiary challenges, and preventative approaches. 

Becoming a Social Scientist  
This module transitions you to university scholarship and introduces the employability and professional skills that a social science degree provides through a range of action-focused activities, e.g. analysing local council budgets and making decisions about where to invest money. Overall, the module introduces you to vital academic and professional skills and competencies that will allow you to thrive in the first year of your undergraduate studies.  

Optional modules

Imagining Social Order & Deviance  
Imagining Social Order and Deviance explores societal norms, values, and the construction of deviance through a series of real life case studies. You are invited to engage with diverse perspectives on what constitutes social order and deviant behaviour and consider the complexities of social control mechanisms, the stigmatisation of marginalised groups, and the dynamics of power in shaping perceptions of deviance. By fostering a deep understanding of the intricacies of social order and deviance, this module empowers you to challenge prevailing narratives and envision more equitable and inclusive societies.

Compulsory modules

Challenges and Issues in Criminal Justice   
This module examines current and emerging challenges and issues in criminal justice policy, process and practice. We will examine contemporary case studies of issues requiring a criminal justice response to prevent, deter or reduce problematic impacts and explore the ways in which we can contextualise, measure and respond to these challenges and issues. The module will include visits from practitioners working in criminal justice to provide the opportunity to network and gain insights into potential future employment.   

Social Science Research Methods and Data Analysis 
This module introduces you to the core social science of designing, implementing, and analysing social phenomenon. You will learn to identify and analyse data sources that might be used by social scientists in real world situations. From quantitative surveys to qualitative interviews and ethnographic studies, you will explore a diverse range of methodological approaches to understanding society and develop practical researcher skills that prepare you to carry out a significant piece of original research in your final year. 

Social Science at Work 
This module begins to introduce you to possible careers for social scientists and links to the work you are doing in your subject core and option modules asking the question ‘how can we mobilise academic study into the real world?’ You will also be encouraged to prepare for placement work that you may pursue and reflect on your social media footprint; developing your personal/professional brand and digital networking platforms.  

Optional modules

Crime Across Borders 
This module introduces cross-border crime and the impacts of globalisation and technological innovation on crime and criminal justice. You will learn how cross-border flows impact upon transnational crimes such as: drug use and distribution; human trafficking; immigration crimes; terrorism; cybercrime; hate crime; state crime; organised crime; and environmental crime. You will explore theories of globalisation, risk and network societies, and delve deeper into perspectives that decentre the nation-state, such as post- and de-colonial criminology, green criminology and queer criminology. 

Prisons, Punishment, Probation    
What is it like to live in or work in prison? Why do many people return to prison repeatedly? Are prisons doing more harm than good? This module explores the continuum of custodial sentences, from the time a person may spend in prison, to their release into supervision in the community and transition to life ‘on the outside’. The module is underpinned by theories of punishment, rehabilitation and integration; in/equality and intersectionality; penal reformist perspectives, abolition and alternatives to custody.   

Social Design  
Social Design is an interdisciplinary module exploring the interplay between societal structures, human behaviour, and crime. This module equips you with the knowledge and skills to critically analyse, design, and implement interventions that foster safer and more inclusive communities. You will explore how social factors influence crime patterns and the efficacy of preventive measures. Depending on your subject interest, you may explore the role of social policies in shaping community dynamics or design principles for crime prevention strategies, to address complex social challenges. 

Work Placement for Social Sciences  
This module gives students studying subjects in the School of Social Sciences the opportunity to contribute to the world beyond the University, in any workplace 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 chosen workplace or volunteering opportunity may be, for example, with a local government agency or third sector organisation, a charity, a community group, a criminal justice agency, a campaign group, a public service, a school or education provider, or another suitable opportunity identified by the student and approved by the module leader. 

Compulsory modules

Dissertation/Criminal Justice Research Project 
You will identify and explore a challenge or emerging issue in criminal justice policy and/or practice in a systematic and evidence based manner, and develop a set of critically informed proposals for evidence-based policy and/or practice. You will produce a piece of independent research, carried out under the supervision of an academic supervisor. This project may also involve (subject to agreement) a collaborative research element involving several students and an external partner to produce a co-designed and coproduced output. 

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.  

Optional modules

Policing the 21st Century 
The module will explore changes, challenges and opportunities in 21st century policing relating to topics such as decision making, public protection, response policing, roads policing, vulnerability and risk, domestic abuse, counter terrorism, community policing, policing and the digital and police investigation. The module will include visits from practitioners working in policing or related fields and is particularly useful if you are considering a career in policing through the Degree Holder Entry Programme (DHEP). 

Crime Prevention, Partnerships and Community Safety 
This module explores the issue of crime prevention and reduction through the lens of multi-agency partnership working involving a range of partner agencies from across criminal justice, local government, the public sector and beyond. It explores the shift from the rhetoric of 'crime prevention' to 'community safety' in the aftermath of the Morgan Report (1991) and in the context of the 1998 Crime and Disorder Act and subsequent legislation focussing on community safety, anti-social behaviour and localised crime reduction initiatives. 

Harm, Justice and Power   
What, and who, is criminology for? Criminology has long debated whether it should support governments, or whether it should seek to challenge unequal power relations and systemic injustices within contemporary societies. A variety of perspectives on justice and power have emerged, including the idea that criminology's focus should not simply be on crime but on social harm. This module explores examples such as ‘crimes of the powerful’, state crime, corporate crimes, environmental harms; harms associated with capitalism, neoliberalism, and austerity.

Crime: from the Everyday to the Extremes 
This module explores how the extreme and the everyday intermingle. It looks on the one hand, at extreme perspectives, groups, and actions, and on the other hand, discusses a range of everyday experiences of citizen involvement in processes of legal and extra-legal crime control and punishment. It explores how extremism connects to everyday experiences of crime and policing. Themes include gender-based violence; religious and political terrorism; immigration and anti-immigration activism; prejudice; hate crime; vigilantism, surveillance and the criminalisation of participation. 

Beyond Human 
Beyond Human explores social behaviour, structures, and interactions among non-human entities, such as animals, artificial intelligence, and other forms of non-human life, seeking to understand the social dynamics present in non-human societies and their interactions with human societies. From examining the ethics of Artificial Intelligence to exploring the implications of environmental degradation on crime patterns, you will explore the complexities of human and non-human interconnectedness in shaping societies. 

Work Placement for Social Sciences Final Year Students 
This module is designed to give students studying subjects in the School of Social Sciences the opportunity to contribute to the world beyond the University, in any workplace 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 chosen workplace or volunteering opportunity may be, for example, with a local government agency or third sector organisation, a charity, a community group, a criminal justice agency, a campaign group, a public service, a school or education provider, or another suitable opportunity identified by the student and approved by the module leader.