BA (Hons) Criminology

This module will begin to form your theoretical and conceptual foundation in Criminology. It will do so by charting some of the key perspectives within the discipline of Criminology and examining the emergence and contours of Critical Criminologies. An appreciation of these, often competing, versions of what Criminology is or should be, and the policy implications which follow, highlight the centrality of theory because ideas have consequences. This module will introduce you to the theoretical pathway of the discipline of Criminology, its relevant conceptual language, the key thinkers involved, and important seminal texts.

This module is designed to introduce you to the study skills that are required for successful learning in higher education. From intensively supported classes in which study skills will be taught and practiced, to individual meetings to reflect upon your learning progress and requirements, you will be able to build on and practice your subject-specific and key skills. You will begin to map your development as an active learner and learn to put these skills into action throughout your Criminology programme.

This module introduces you to key criminal justice institutions and processes. It will offer a basic introduction to associated tensions and critiques, which will provide the foundation for more advanced analysis of the politics of social control at Level 5.

This module will look at some contemporary criminological issues within society (some of which are generally ignored by state institutions as well as by much of criminology itself). We will apply our criminological theoretical imagination to help us understand and theorise them. Adopting a critical lens and simultaneously considering social divisions allows us to explore these issues differently to the ways in which, for example, state institutions may define, understand and seek to tackle them.

This module introduces you to the themes, concepts and practices involved in research that you will develop at Level 5 and put into practice at Level 6. You will be introduced to a range of research methods used in criminological research, and to the relationship between research, policy, and practice through the use of case studies based upon researchers' and practitioners' own experiences. 

In this module you will achieve three things. First it will address and guide you through theories and concepts of media and crime. Second, drawing on newspaper articles, news programmes, films, documentaries and new media, this module will encourage you to examine how discourses and images evoke fear, anger, hatred or sympathy. Third, the concept and criteria thought to be necessary for the generation of a moral panic will be introduced, and examples of moral panics will be examined in order to draw out the common themes.

This module focuses upon the critical criminological approaches of 'crime', harm, deviance and social control that have emerged since the 1970s. It introduces you to concepts that are derivative of several competing advanced critical theoretical perspectives, placing them in their social and political context.

This module centres on guest talks from practitioners working in a range of settings. These are supported by lectures to provide academic context. The latter will help you to reflect on the extent to which criminological theories, concepts and research are relevant in a practice-based setting. The module also explores wider discussions about the production and application of criminological knowledge. The module equips you with a broad awareness of policy and practice in criminal justice, as well as offering opportunities to engage with practitioners and consider career options. 

In this module you will develop a range of essential qualitative research skills to undertake and reflect upon problem solving research within a supportive environment. The module builds on the EBL in Level 4 and enhances your abilities to engage in research activities. The module includes a short field trip to apply methods in 'the real world', developing transferable skills. For students who are intending to write a dissertation at Level 6, this module provides an essential grounding.

This module is primarily about challenging established perspectives in Criminology and embracing their more 'progressive' alternatives. The goal of this module is to familiarise you with contemporary developments in the field of theoretical Criminology. It will seek to push your criminological imagination to the cutting edge of disciplinary developments and in so doing provide you with a solid foundation for further study of a progressive nature in Level 6.

This module addresses the local and global dimensions and contested nature of crime and justice, and how the global/local nexus differentially situates crime, whilst at the same time forging new intersections and relationships. At different sites – the city, the body, the state, for example – this module will explore the ways boundaries between crime control and civil liberties are redrawn and broaden everyday definitions of crime to capture neglected areas of criminology.

As a developing criminology researcher, this module is concerned with designing and undertaking a focused piece of criminological research using a synergy of quantitative and qualitative research methods. In carrying out your research and collecting your data, we expect you to give due regard to both the philosophical basis of criminological research and, just as importantly, to recognize the complex ethical issues that can often underpin research. You will be introduced to a several new pieces of ICT software for data management and retrieval.

This module ensures that you lay down a firm foundation in terms of literature review, theoretical framework and methodology/methods for the Dissertation module in Semester 2. Therefore, the module is designed to enhance your research and analytical skills and to encourage you to be a proactive, independent learner through developing a dissertation proposition which either adds to or challenges existing criminological research in your chosen area. This module will provide the base on which you can build towards your dissertation.

This module encourages you to generate your own original data on an issue similar to the themes of the programme, and to produce a piece of work which engages critically with theory and method. Therefore, it is designed to enhance your research and analytical skills and to encourage you to be a proactive, independent learner through constructing a dissertation which either adds to or challenges existing work in your chosen area.

This module encourages you to critically reflect on the nature and extent of "green" or "environmental" crime and harm, addressing problems of definition, measurement and causation, and relating this to social and philosophical movements and approaches. It addresses the role of the intergovernmental agreement, the state and the criminal justice system in prevention and regulation of "green" or "environmental" crime and harm, and considers the nature and effectiveness of legal, judicial and regulatory approaches.

This module addresses the substantive and growing criminological interest in the issue of victimisation. It explores different theoretical perspectives associated with the study of victims and the victims place within regulatory and criminal justice practices. It will encourage you to critically explore the state's recognition of, and responses to, victims and their demands for justice, along with the work of groups that campaign on behalf of particular groups of victims.

This module provides the opportunity for the you to undertake independent guided study on a topic, in line with the aims and themes of the programme within an international context. You will also develop a wide range of study skills in the process. The module has a compulsory international fieldwork element incorporated which provides the backdrop to your study focus.

In this module you will critically consider police power and its relationship to ideas of social and political order and disorder. You will explore the origins of police, considering the development of the police project in both domestic, colonial and international settings and in doing so critically examine the relationship between police, state power and the question of order. The module considers historical and contemporary policing through a series of case study issues.

This module allows you to critically engage with the field of intoxication. It covers many areas connected to drug use, but maintains a core focus upon policy, treatment interventions, and theoretical understandings of drug users.

The first task of this module is to critically unpick the concept of 'risk' and the debates that surround the ways in which it has been used in policy and practice responses with children and young people. You will also look at wider contemporary perspectives surrounding children and young people who are 'at risk' in various contexts and how this influences the legal, policy and practice responses to these issues. Finally, you will critically assess how the system itself can pose a 'risk' to children and young people, and begin to consider proposals for reform.

In this module you will explore and analyse various approaches to representations of, and responses to, sexed violence. We question the multiple meanings of 'sex', 'gender', 'violence' and numerous other conceptualisations in order to disrupt popular or common sense understandings of sexed crimes. By examining the role played by culture, ethnicity and sexuality in legal translations of various forms of violence against women, the module raises questions about the violence of law, especially its androcentrism, ethnocentrism and heterosexism.

This module provides you with an overview and analysis of the theoretical discourse of human rights, and the development of related global governance structures since 1948. You will evaluate the political and practical implications of promoting and defending human rights through country and issue based comparative analysis.

This module is designed to connect you with the growing and influential sub-field of cultural criminology. You will learn to understand the interfaces between crime, media, and culture, to understand the range of identifiable groups connected to notions of crime, deviance and social control as ‘cultural constructs’, and to appreciate the growing criminological significance of various new, popular and entertainment media.

In this module you will look at the contemporary legal, policy and practice responses to children and young people who are in conflict with the law. You will look at how these can be analysed and explained. Balancing accountability and the rehabilitation and welfare needs of children and young people in conflict with the law raises critical questions regarding the most appropriate ways to respond, including: At what age should children be held criminally responsible? Should imprisonment ever be used as a form of punishment for children and young people? Do formal criminal processes harm children and young people? Can state responses to children in conflict with the law be considered in isolation from other services or interventions? 

In this module you will critically question many taken-for-granted assumptions about fear of crime and crime itself. Central to this will be an examination of crime and social harm at spatial scales from local to global. While the urban environment is the main stage for a critical examination of social and cultural constructions of cities as loci of crime and disorder, the culturally imagined safeness, peacefulness and 'neighbourliness' of rural and more isolated environments also comes under scrutiny.

In this module you will critically consider the causes, and nature, of terrorism, state–terrorism, and organised crime. This module also seeks to ensure you recognise the manner in which state policy and practice work to generate (in)security, and the effectiveness and impact on communities and human rights processes.

In this module you will study the complexity and intersections of punishment across the policy terrains of penology and social policy since the late 1960s. It explores the historical and contemporary landscape of punishment within a context of diminishing and increasingly conditional welfare provision in order to explore how critical criminology has contributed to our understanding of punishment, its role and its impacts. The module will encourage you to critically reflect on the reconfiguration of the state's power to punish.

This module provides you with the opportunity to secure a work placement relevant to the study of Criminology. The aim is that you will be able to identify, assess and reflect upon how your skills and abilities transfer from your academic studies to the world of work, and how these skills and abilities might be enhanced via agreed work placement objectives. The module aims to lay down a firm foundation for Criminology Work Placement 2.

This module provides you with the opportunity to secure a work placement relevant to the study of Criminology. The aim is that you will be able to identify, assess and reflect upon how your skills and abilities transfer from your academic studies to the world of work and how these skills and abilities have been enhanced via your work placement. The module also offers you opportunities to reflect on the links between your work placement experience and your programme of study.

This module aims to develop your understanding of processes of social exclusion and social inequalities. It draws upon theoretical and empirical accounts of inequality and exclusion to help you to gain an understanding of social divisions and intersectionalities. A case-study approach will be employed to develop your ability to apply key exclusionary concepts and to critically assess both the implications of exclusion and official responses to it.