Criminology and Law

Criminology Work Based Learning

In this module, you’ll kick-start your career, and gain key work experience in organisations related to crime. You’ll do a placement, or work-based learning activity in:

• a public sector organisation
• a non-governmental organisation (NGO)
• a voluntary organisation.

Whether working with the police, prison services, schools or charities, you’ll gain invaluable skills for your future career. You won’t engage directly with clients or service users, but you’ll gain a strong knowledge of how organisations identify and fight crime.

Crime and Intersectionality

In this module, you’ll get to grips with intersectionality - a way of understanding someone’s identity as made of characteristics such as race, gender and class. Intersectionality offers you a unique way to study crime. You’ll discover how criminal justice institutions, such as the police and criminal courts, respond to and discriminate against different social groups. 

Globalisation and Crime

In this module, you’ll explore and examine areas of crime and crime control across different regions of the world through the lens of 'globalisation', or the increased interconnectedness of social relations across the globe

You’ll use a combination of theoretical concepts and case studies to interrogate and understand the interconnectedness of crime and responses to crime in the contemporary world.

International Law

In this module, you’ll explore the key laws of the international community. You’ll examine the origins and basis of international law. You’ll also look at the sources of international law, including treaties and customary norms. You’ll enhance your critical skills as you analyse the relationship between:

• international and municipal law
• subjects of international law
• the concept of territory or jurisdiction.

You’ll consider the core principles in the use of force, and the way armies behave. And you’ll look at the law of state responsibility, individual accountability and violations of international rules.

Marriage Cohabitation and the Law

How does the law regulate relationships between adults? What legal rights flow from married and unmarried relationships? In this module, you’ll get to grips with the law regulating all types of adult family relationships, particularly:

• the law of marriage
• civil partnerships
• cohabitating couples
• divorce
• division of property on family breakdown
• domestic violence
• parental responsibility for children.

You’ll gain vital skills in legal reasoning as you learn legal analysis techniques, and how to answer problem questions.

Stowe Family Law are offering work experience at their Oxford office, as part of the ‘Stowe Family Law Prize’, to the highest scoring second year student who completes this optional module

Green Criminology

You'll engage with the emerging field of Green Criminology. You'll learn the key theoretical concepts of green criminology and environmental justice. 

You'll focus on understanding Green Criminology as a transnational field. Including the social issues impacting individuals on a global scale. 

Year Abroad

This is your opportunity to work or study in another country, so you can experience a different culture from the UK. You’ll be able to apply and test your knowledge and skills in new contexts that will significantly develop your employability profile.

Choosing this module will allow you to exhibit the development of self-management and working or studying in unfamiliar contexts, alongside practising cross-cultural communication and interpersonal skills.

You will receive support and guidance to help you find a place in an available higher education partner institution, or to find a work placement for your year abroad. This year abroad module lasts for one academic year and is taken after the conclusion of your second year of study, once you’ve completed all your level 5 studies. Your year abroad is not credit-bearing.

The opportunity can be approached in 2 different ways. Please see your options below: 
 

Study in a non UK University Option

You can attend a non-UK higher education institution for a full academic year. You’ll be able to choose modules in your own subject or in a subject you consider would benefit your overall course of study. You may choose to deepen your knowledge of your degree subject or enhance it by developing complementary skills.

By studying in an international university you’ll progress your interpersonal skills through cross-cultural communication with fellow students and tutors, building lasting relationships. Also you’ll further develop your study skills as you focus on your selected areas of interest to you - while developing and progressing an international study experience that will add significance to your CV.
 

Work-based Learning Option

Undertake a work placement or work-related project based on your interests and existing skills. You will create an initial learning contract that shows clearly how your proposed placement or project will link with your academic and/or professional aims.

This pathway helps you to have full control over what your work-related learning looks like. You will advance your skills in a practical setting, gain first-hand experience in a work environment, and begin to create your professional network. Also, taking initiative of your learning in such a way will mean that you will stand out when you apply for jobs after graduation.
 

Border Criminology

In this module, you’ll examine border criminology, which is the study of the intersection of border control and criminal justice.  You’ll get to grips with key issues around:

• migration
• punishment
• citizenship and belonging.

You’ll investigate core developments of border criminology, including:

• immigration removal centres
• foreign national prisons
• policing of borders.

You’ll gain key critical skills, as you explore debates surrounding immigration, punishment and national identity. You’ll examine the institutions concerned with border control, and the increasing use of punishment and force around immigration control in the UK and abroad.

Computer Law and Artificial Intelligence

The internet rules society. In a vastly digital age, lawyers really need to understand technology and the legal challenges it presents. In this module, you’ll examine the legal issues of current internet technologies and hardware. You’ll gain key technical knowledge, as you evaluate the regulatory systems of these technologies, and how they affect society. You’ll explore how digital technologies challenge copyright law. And you’ll be introduced to some of the legal issues relating to the use of artificial intelligence. 

Dealing with Drugs: Control and Intoxication

In this module, you’ll bust some key assumptions around psychoactive drugs. You’ll look at why we use them and how we control them in society. You’ll investigate:

• criminological
• sociological
• historical 

and policy insights, to explore the relationship between drug use, individuals and public morality. You’ll gain key critical skills as you debate drug policies, and how we can lessen the harm of substance abuse. You’ll look at alternative ways to regulate drugs than our current ‘war on drugs’ mentality. And you’ll explore the future of synthetic drugs.

Policing, Security and Society

This is a key time to study policing in western countries. The response to crime in the west is changing fast as policing moves towards privatisation in the digital age. 

You’ll analyse modern policing in the west and its former colonies. You’ll examine the history of policing. You’ll compare policing in other countries to policing in the UK. You’ll also look at the rise of neo-colonial policing today (the use of economic, political and cultural pressures to control other countries).

You’ll explore areas like: 

• securitization
• militarization 
• transnationalism 
• human trafficking.

Independent Study Module

This module gives you the chance to do research on a topic that fascinates you. You’ll work independently, with the support of our expert academic team, and will carry out work on a specific project of your choosing. You’ll gain core skills for work, including in:

• enquiry
• research 
• analysis 
• evaluation.

International Human Rights Law

How can we effectively protect human rights? In this module, you’ll get to grips with international human rights law. You’ll gain key critical skills as you analyse arguments and ideas about human rights, and the ideas behind them. You’ll also consider their current legal and political meaning through examining: 

• relevant laws
• current debates
• case studies.

Nationality, Immigration and Asylum

In this module, you’ll get to grips with nationality and immigration law, and what it reveals about British society. You’ll examine the key issues and policies around nationality, national identity and migration. You’ll gain a firm understanding of migration in the UK and abroad, as you debate critical issues of today. You’ll also consider current UK law, and the historical, social and political factors that have shaped it. 

Parents, Children and the State

How does the law deal with child abduction, and disputes over children? How can the state protect children who may be victims of abuse within their own families? In this module, you’ll get to grips with law relating to parents, children and the state. You’ll dive into law reports, as you look critically at the legal concepts around:

• relationships between parents and children
• the relevance of the state to parents and children.

You’ll consider:

• parental responsibility
• resolution of disputes over children
• child protection
• child abduction
• adoption.

You’ll gain vital skills in legal reasoning as you learn legal analysis techniques, and how to answer problem questions. 

Sex that Offends

This module introduces you to case studies, concepts and debates. With a focus on sexual offences and other serious crimes. You will explore themes of consent and harm. Drawing on critical criminology, feminist theory and socio-legal studies. 

You will look at how the criminal law and cultural norms have constructed certain behaviours and identities as deviant. 

And then from a criminological perspective; you will go beyond the headlines to examine the role of:

• labelling
• moral panics 
• and changing social attitudes towards sex.

To develop your critical thinking skills.

The Carnival and Pleasures of Crime

Why do people enjoy committing crimes? How might crime offer identity and purpose? In this module, you’ll explore the role of:

• pleasures
• performance
• identity 
• meaning 

in criminal acts. You’ll think about the multiple meanings and actions that crime holds for different people across time. You’ll consider the social benefits of crimes and resistance to the law. And you’ll explore how different interpretations of crime might affect crime control and criminal justice.
 

The Prison and Imprisonment

Should we punish prisoners, or support them to re-enter society? In this module, you’ll dive into the key issues of prisons. You’ll consider modern prisons, globally and historically. And you’ll examine prisons through:

• prisoners
• prison staff
• wider society. 

You'll trace the evolution of the prison - from the rehabilitative ideal of the post-war period, to the greater focus on punishment today. You’ll look at how political parties use prison policies to win votes, rather than reduce crime. 

You’ll dive into the inner workings of prisons, from governance to administration. You’ll look at the routines of prison life, and how prisoners cope with, and give meaning to them. You’ll consider sentence progression for different types of prisoners. And you’ll explore how well prisons prepare inmates for life after release.