UDCRILAW - BA Criminology and Law

The course is delivered through a range of pedagogic methods including formal lectures, seminars, workshops, project-based research activity and individual tutorials held in staff office hours. There is an emphasis upon the link between teaching, practice and research and staff research provides the basis for teaching on a range of modules relating to criminology and law. The course integrates face-to-face with online learning. All modules use Weblearn/Blackboard facilities making key information available and also providing a convenient place for handbook information, calendars and class announcements. Some modules focus specifically on the development of CIT skills. The course will also progressively examine ways of further developing the link between face-to-face and online learning as ideas and technology develop, and as resources permit. The course encourages contact between students and tutors and, in the course of this, encourages active learning. CIT and other media are used to encourage collaboration among students.

To accommodate research leave for academic staff and to ensure that modules are viable in terms of student numbers, the Criminology subject group may withdraw one or more optional modules for a year. To gauge the number of students on optional modules at levels 5 and 6 in the following academic year, module conferences will take place in the spring semester on the core modules SC4058 and SC5062, to ensure that students are informed about their options, are able to select their modules at the next level of study and to enable the subject group to make adjustments for any modules which need to be temporarily withdrawn.

Students will strengthen their knowledge of methodological approaches in criminology and their understanding of UK law. In doing so they will develop the necessary critical analysis skills needed to review information contained in them. The resultant skills will prepare learners for their dissertation research. Analytic skills will be honed through various forms of study and assessment; overall the knowledge and skills acquired on the course can prepare students for doctoral study or research posts, and / or can consolidate their professional experience.

The following learning outcomes incorporate and depend on systematic understanding of the key aspects of the knowledge base of criminology and law, including a coherent and detailed knowledge of some specialist areas in depth.

On successful completion of this course students will be able to:

1. deploy accurately established techniques of analysis and enquiry within criminology and law;

2. devise and sustain arguments, and/or to solve problems, using ideas and techniques, some of which are at the forefront of criminology and law;

3. describe and comment upon particular aspects of current research, or equivalent advanced scholarship, in Criminology and Law, recognising the uncertainty, ambiguity and limits of knowledge;

4. manage their own learning, and to make use of scholarly reviews and primary sources (for example, refereed research articles and/or original materials appropriate to criminology and law);

5. apply the methods and techniques that they have learned to review, consolidate, extend and apply their knowledge and understanding, and to initiate and carry out projects;

6. critically evaluate arguments, assumptions, abstract concepts and data (that may be incomplete), to make judgements, and to frame appropriate questions to achieve a solution - or identify a range of solutions - to a problem;

7. communicate information, ideas, problems and solutions to both specialist and non-specialist audiences;

8. exercise initiative and personal responsibility, including decision-making in complex and unpredictable contexts;

9. undertake appropriate further training of a professional or equivalent nature

10. Demonstrate confidence, resilience, ambition, and creativity and will act as inclusive, collaborative and socially responsible practitioners/professionals (delete as appropriate) in their discipline.

Criminology

https://www.qaa.ac.uk/docs/qaa/sbs/sbs-criminology-22.pdf?sfvrsn=3b3dc81_2

Students are assessed through a combination of essays, module-specific research projects, seen

and unseen examinations and an individual largely self-directed project or work placement at level

6. At level 4 assessments seek to encourage students to specify and describe relevant legal

procedures, theories and institutions of the criminal justice system. At level 5 assessments require

students to extend and critically to evaluate the knowledge they have encountered. Students at this

level are also required to produce research reports including data analysis and interpretation. At

level 6 assessments test students’ critical knowledge of applied areas of Criminology and Law and

their ability to think and research independently.

At level 6 there is an optional work experience module providing students with an opportunity to apply for a placement either in the criminal justice sector or in a private, statutory or voluntary organisation related to criminal justice and criminology. If students take this module, they produce a reflective report on your experience and an appraisal of their skills and abilities in the placement to enhance their personal development.

There may also be opportunities for students to study for part of their degree in another country.

Part-time structure:

Level 4 Year 1 (60 credits total)

Students must take:

● LL4057

● SC4054

● SC4055

● SC4057

Level 4 Year 2 (60 credits total)

Students must take:

● LL4053

● LL4051

● SC4058

● SC4059

Level 5 Year 1 (60 credits total)

Students must take:

● LL5055

● SC5061

And then, any 2 optional modules (30 credits) from the list below

● LL5P50

● LL5052

● SS5083

● SC5053

● SC5055

● SC5056

● SC5057

● SC5058

● SC5059

● SC5060

● SC5063

● SC5064

● SC5065

● SC5050

● SC5051

● XK0000

Level 5 Year 2 (60 credits total)

Students must take:

● SC5054

● SC5062

And then, any 2 optional modules (30 credits) from the list below

● LL5P50

● LL5052

● SS5083

● SC5053

● SC5055

● SC5056

● SC5057

● SC5058

● SC5059

● SC5060

● SC5063

● SC5064

● SC5065

● SC5050

● SC5051

● XK0000

Level 6 Year 1 (60 credits)

Students must take:

● SC6P00

And then, any 2 optional modules of the student’s choice (30 credits) from the list below:

● LL6068

● LL6P60

● SC6054

● SC6055

● SC6056

● SC6057

● SC6W52

● SC6058

● SC6059

● SC6060

● SC6061

● SC6062

● SC6051

● SC6052

● SC6053

Level 6 Year 2 (60 credits)

Students must take:

● LL6054

● LL6062

And then, any 2 optional modules of the student’s choice (30 credits) from the list below: ● LL6068

● LL6P60

● SC6054

● SC6055

● SC6056

● SC6057

● SC6W52

● SC6058

● SC6059

● SC6060

● SC6061

● SC6062

● SC6051

● SC6052

● SC6053

In the first-year, students begin processes of personal development planning in core modules and start to build up a record of achievements. They are encouraged to reflect in workshop

contexts and individually on specifically what they have learned from modules and the ways in which this knowledge may be used in, or applied to, the wider social world. A module focused on social research methodologies provides a forum in which students reflect upon their practice as researchers, its ethical dimensions, and the ways in which this practice may be applied to solving problems in the context of volunteering activity and/or employment. Self-directed project research at level 6 provides an opportunity for students to consolidate this reflection, bringing together particular substantive areas of interest with methodological issues and/or issues concerning legal practice and considering how this might provide a basis for further self-development and contribution to the wider social world in the future.

Past students have gone on to take up careers in the police service, the probation service and other areas of the criminal justice system as well as undertaking further professional training in the legal field. The programme is also excellent preparation for further study. The analytic, methodological and legal skills acquired on successful completion provide a strong grounding for development within many different careers.

Our criminology and sociology graduates have gone on to careers including police officers, counter fraud criminal investigators, support workers, probation officers and teachers, securing jobs at the Metropolitan Police Service, HM Government, Rethink Mental Illness and the National Probation Service.

Continuing your studies with us

The School of Social Sciences has a wide range of exciting industry-linked postgraduate courses available on a full-time and part-time basis in criminology, security, diplomacy, international relations, sociology and psychology. The following courses would be ideal for progression after this course:

• Human Rights and International Conflict - MA
• Organised Crime and Global Security - MA
• Woman and Child Abuse - MA
• Corporate Social Responsibility and Sustainability - MSc
• Get into law with our Common Professional Exam - GDL

In addition to the University's standard entry requirements, you should have:

• a minimum of grades BBC in three A levels (or a minimum of 112 UCAS points from an equivalent Level 3 qualification, eg Advanced Diploma)
• GCSE English at grade C/4 or above (or equivalent)

If you do not have traditional qualifications or cannot meet the entry requirements for this undergraduate degree, you may still be able to gain entry by completing our Criminology (including foundation year) BSc (Hons) or Social Sciences and Humanities (including foundation year) BA (Hons) degree.