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.

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.

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 findings 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
Law
(http://www.qaa.ac.uk/AssuringStandardsAndQuality/subject-guidance/Pages/Honours-degree-benchmark-statements.aspx)

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.

Optional work placement at level 6.

Part Time Structure

Level 4 Year 1
LL4053
LL4051
SC4001

Level 4 Year 2
LL4056
LL4057
SC4000

Level 5 Year 1
LL5001
SC5050
SS5083

Level 5 Year 2
SC5001
SC5051
LL5052

Level 6 Year 1
LL6004
LL6054
SC6W51

Level 6 Year 2
SC6000
LL6P51
SC6052

N/A

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 focussed 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.

N/A

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.

Graduates have gone on to 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 analytical, methodological and legal skills acquired on successful completion provide a strong grounding for development within many different careers.

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.