Criminology and Politics (joint honours)

Our joint honours course allows students to pursue their own areas of interest within Criminology and Politics whilst also providing them with a solid foundation in the discipline and a range of personal and professional skills which will serve as a springboard for their future career development. The programme is carefully designed to enable students to gradually develop their knowledge and skills and to become autonomous, effective and independent learners.

Criminology is a wide-ranging, interdisciplinary subject concerned with analysing the nature, occurrence and explanations of crime, criminal behaviour and societal responses to these phenomena. Politics modules will help students to develop their understanding and knowledge of power in social relations and how this manifests itself in our institutions, ideas and in the distribution of limited resources in society.
 

In your first year, you’ll develop key academic skills that will help you succeed in the course. We’ll also ask some big questions like, What is crime? Why do some people commit crime, but not others? You’ll discover the essentials of modern political issues by exploring a broad range of political systems and ideologies. You’ll begin to develop skills essential for your future career.

In your second year, core modules help you learn to question the status quo - how might capitalism encourage crime? Where and why are there inequalities in the criminal justice system? You’ll debate the great issues of contemporary politics. You’ll sharpen your analytical and debating techniques, mould critical perspectives and turn facts and opinions into a clear, persuasive argument.

In your final year, you’ll have the freedom to focus on what you care about most, including your dissertation subject. Optional modules can include topics like the pleasures of crime, visual criminology, queer criminology, drugs and specialist modules in Politics.