Criminology, Policing and Investigation - BA (Hons)

This module will introduce you to some of the contemporary debates surrounding policing and the Police in England and Wales. Focusing on the 1990s onwards, you will discuss the changes which policing has undergone in recent years and evaluate different approaches to policing. You will explore some of the most current, critical, and controversial issues which our police forces are facing including stop and search, rising knife crime, responses to violent crime, and police use of force. We will also explore how the rapid introduction of digital and surveillance technology has changed the way crimes are committed and how they are investigated. You will be encouraged to develop an informed understanding of ethical considerations in policing and the ethics involved in policing diverse communities.

This module considers the role of forensic science in criminal investigations. You will examine a variety of methods and practices of forensic science, including crime scene analysis, DNA evidence and blood spatter analysis, and will discuss how these are interpreted to solve criminal cases. You will explore the theories and academic debates surrounding current practice.

This module will provide you with a practical and theoretical understanding of the skills required to successfully pass both the assessment centre exercises and written application that all English and Welsh police forces ask applicants to undertake. This module is specifically designed to improve your employability chances if you wish join the Police after your degree and is focused on the development of core skills, qualities and personal attributes; encouraging you to draw from your own personal experiences.

This module is designed specifically to make you a confident social researcher, prepare you for writing an undergraduate dissertation, and enhance your employability, particularly project management skills. You will have a chance to engage with major and emerging methods of researching criminological, policing and security issues. The module will encourage you to think critically about choosing appropriate research approaches, ensuring ethical conduct, designing and using data collection tools, analysing data, communicating and disseminating your research, and managing projects. All these skills are what employers expect from criminology graduates.

In this module we will take a critical look at the shifting nature of crime, social contexts, and the impact of crime on space and place as linked to the urban city as a social milieu. We will also investigate the nature of contemporary city living and how this is experienced across intersections of identity, and what this means for vulnerabilities to being victims of crime or being led into criminal pathways. We will also look in detail at forms of criminological theory and consider newer emergent aspects of cultural and critical forms of criminology.

Youth Crime and Justice aims to equip students with a sound theoretical knowledge of juvenile offending and justice. In essence, the understanding of the complex relationship between young people and criminality fits within the wider aims of the degree programme and associated pathways as it draws on sociological, psychological and criminological understandings, furthering students’ ability to understand and problematize crime and its causes. The module also recognises that the separate and distinct administration to criminal justice to young people is a topic worthy of consideration in its own right, and considers important debates around justice, welfare, education and the construction of youth and childhood. It takes both a contemporary and historical focus, considering how the nexus of crime, control and youth have variously been considered during different historical periods. 

This module is designed to give you a detailed overview of the phenomenon of terrorism that charts historical developments and contemporary trends from a range of different theoretical perspectives. Discussion and debate surrounding issues such as the definition, history and causes of terrorism as well as the divergence that exists between “orthodox” and “critical” schools of thought will allow you to engage critically with this topic of tremendous contemporary significance. On this diverse module you will explore specific categories of terrorism such as that coming from the far-right, as well as considering critical questions such as whether the state can be a terrorist actor.

Black theoretical perspectives and debates on crime, criminal justice, and criminology are seldom heard, seen, or referred to, within so called ‘mainstream criminology’. A possible explanation pertaining to this ‘invisibility’ could be as a consequence of ‘implicit biases’ within the discipline itself. It is argued that these implicit biases further reproduce and reinforces privilege of some perspectives, whilst at the same time subordinating others. Russell (2002) calls for the development of a ‘black criminology’, Phillips and Bowling (2003) further call for the need to develop ‘minority perspectives’ in criminology, whilst Glynn (2018) sees the need for a Critical Race Criminology to transcend the current subordinate status of non-white criminological perspectives.

This module provides you with an opportunity to critically engage with key aims of your course by examining contemporary debates that surround the phenomenon of homicide. You will be introduced to various theoretical perspectives and case studies, focusing on both historical and contemporary examples of homicide, in order to achieve an informed understanding of this unique form of offending. By presenting both a theoretical discussion and real-life cases, you will be able to develop knowledge and a critical understanding of criminology and related disciplines both in theory and practice.

This module seeks to enable you to examine the nature of both illegal and legal drugs. Within this remit the evolving and ever changing nature of both how substances are supplied and consumed will be discussed. How such substance use/misuse is linked to various forms of deviancy and crime will be considered. To enable a rounded perspective of the subject to be garnered, the content will be global in scale, with the development of the ‘war on drugs’ and related criminal justice policies included. Finally, contemporary issues in both supply, demand, official policy and practice will be at the fore, raising questions around the nature of illicit substance usage.

This module examines some of the contemporary debates that surround the concept and practice of police ethics, with a particular focus on real life case studies drawn from practitioner experience. These case studies will reveal the morally dangerous nature of police work to students and will equip them with an understanding of how decisions are made by police officers in what are often difficult and stressful situations. 

This 20 credit module will explore essential criminal justice interviewing skills for practice in England and Wales. These modules are designed to have direct relevance to the workplace should students seek to work in the criminal justice (CJ) arena in the future.  Students will emerge from these modules equipped with the skills and knowledge to conduct witness and suspect interviews. 

This module provides you with the opportunity to carry out a self-directed, critical investigation of a specific topic relating to Criminology, Policing, or Security Studies.

This innovative module will engage your critical thinking to situate emotions at the forefront of contemporary criminological thought by examining the experience and role of emotions in criminal behaviour and criminal justice responses to such behaviours. The approach to emotions within the legal system and criminal justice agencies is often paradoxical. Your module content will draw on diverse theoretical approaches to define emotions and the affective role of emotions in our everyday lives. Building on this, the module seeks to examine the social construction of emotions in comparative British and international contexts. The intersection of emotions, power and gender is central to your analysis of representations of offending and criminal justice policy and practices across cultural and jurisdictional contexts.

The module will examine surveillance and the extent to which everyday life is now subject to an extensive array of monitoring and data collection. The module questions how and why state surveillance practices operate and also explores the extent to which civil liberties and personal freedoms have been affected by recent surveillance developments. We will consider the revelations of Edward Snowden, Julian Assange, as well as theorists such as Foucault and Bentham. The module will expand on how governments, big business and new technologies are aiding and easing the collection of personal and targeted data. 

Organised crime has become a significant concern and appears to be on the increase. In this module, you will study contemporary global crimes such as drug and human trafficking, terrorism, illegal arms trading and financial crime through the lens of critical criminology. In addition, you will examine the extent of transnational organised crime, its historicity at a global level and law enforcement responses

This module is tied to an emergent research field that unites a multi-disciplinary network of academics, researchers and postgraduate students who explore the boundaries of crime, consumption, leisure and deviance. The topic is informed through critical engagement with a range of perspectives intersecting with the sociological interpretations of crime and deviance, drawing on Criminology, Law, Sociology, Urban Studies, Geography, and Leisure and Tourism. The overarching theme of deviant leisure therefore unites a wide range of research areas, including leisure and consumption practices, intoxication, media, urban exploration, sport and violence, dark tourism, the leisure activities of the rich and powerful, deviancy within videogames, and the impact of internet/social media in correlation with issues of criminological and sociological theory.

This module will explore the gendered nature of crime and criminal justice. In doing so, we will consider the gendered perspective of victims, perpetrators and those working within the Criminal Justice System. This module will draw on a broad theoretical framework; including feminist, psychological, biological and human rights perspectives. This module is central to the students’ development of critical appreciation of the relationship between the individual and social aspects of crime and victimisation. 

The module will introduce students to the complex world of cyber-crime and issues related to cyber technology and how the police deal with cyber issues from cyber terrorism, cyber bullying and cyber hate.  The module will work well alongside the other modules related to security studies where students will examine the rationale of cyber-crimes. 

This is a Level 6 optional module which will introduce students to hate crime and issues related to hate crime and how multi-agencies have to deal with such complex issues.  It will examine the issue of vulnerable groups such as children, those with a learning disability and people who have suffered anti-Muslim hate and Islamophobia as potential victims of religiously motivated hate crimes. 

Harms of the Powerful encompasses the damaging and victimising behaviours perpetrated by privately or publicly operated corporations, as well as the state facilitated legalistic and political responses to these activities. Within criminology and wider academia, we generally fail to scrutinise those who operate within the upper echelons of society – those individuals or institutions with much economic and cultural capital. This module will address such deficiencies by providing a nuanced and holistic overview of the actions of such individuals, organisations and State actors.