Criminology (Joint Honours)

Three years full-time or flexible part-time.

Criminology at The University of Northampton has the distinctive approach of drawing on the disciplines of Sociology, Psychology, History and Law. This provides a comprehensive introduction to some of the key theoretical and methodological issues at the heart of the discipline and enables students to acquire and develop a realistic view of this complex social phenomenon.

The course, which is divided into three stages, is designed for students who have an interest in crime and the criminal justice system. Stage one provides an interdisciplinary foundation to the study of crime and justice within a broad social science framework. A key focus of the single honours course at stage two is a practical fieldwork project where students have the opportunity to study a specific criminal justice agency or institution. The third stage builds on the knowledge and the analytical skills acquired in the previous stages.

Stage one

The course begins by mapping out the relationships between crime, society and the legal system. One compulsory module, crime and society, is designed to introduce students to major theoretical debates and empirical studies that locate dimensions of crime and risk of crime within broader social divisions of class, ethnicity, gender and age.

The second compulsory module at this stage, Socialisation, Conformity and Deviance, aims to provide students with a basic understanding of the patterns and processes of socialisation examining the family, education, religion and historical perspectives on law enforcement.

Stage two

Students are introduced to issues and methods in social science research, whilst a focus on crime and justice forms the broader organising theme at this stage, taking students through the levels of criminal justice procedures, from point of arrest to disposal of criminal cases at court.  A number of specialist modules are available in addition to these two compulsory modules.

Stage three

The core module for stage three is Crime and Punishment which provides an overview of the philosophy and theories of punishment as well as an examination of the institutions responsible for the punishment of offenders. This stage builds on the knowledge and the analytical skills acquired in the previous stages, in order to develop an advanced theoretical understanding of criminological debates and their application to a range of policies.

Students majoring in Criminology undertake a 40 credit dissertation module. Examples of the range of possible topics include studies of the police, courts, prisons, probation service, young offenders, rape crisis centres, women's refuges and drug rehabilitation schemes. 

• Contemporary issues such as globalisation of crime
• Issues of gender and race
• Multi-discipline approach to criminology
• Offender profiling
• Opportunity for placement experience
• Policing and crime control

• Crime and Punishment
• Forensic Psychology
• Introduction to Psychology
• Media Representations of Crime
• Policing
• Socialisation, Conformity and Deviance
• Terrorism
• Transnational Crime
• White Collar Crime
• Crime Youth and Justice
• Crime and Society

Course Outline
Criminology may be taken as a major, joint or minor subject in the Joint Honours degree programme. Stage one and two modules are also available as 'elective choices' even if Criminology is not taken as a main subject.

Criminology is the study of crime.  It addresses concerns about who commits crime and why it occurs, concerns about who is affected by crime, as well as what - as individuals and as a society - we can or should do about 'the crime problem'. As a field of study, criminology is interdisciplinary in its scope and methods. Each level of the Criminology programme at The University of Northampton is structured around an organising theme across and within these disciplines and consists of some compulsory and some optional modules.

• Develop a critical understanding of crime, criminality and victimology in the context of broader structural developments, processes and conditions
• Develop an informed understanding of how different aspects of the criminal justice system operate in relation to both broader social institutions and processes and to individuals
• Critically evaluate policies and practices directed at crime and crime control

Moot room

The course is delivered through a combination of lectures, seminars, tutorials and research workshops, as well as directed private study. Students are also expected to work independently and to actively participate in seminar discussion through individual presentations and small group activities.

This course is designed for students with an interest in crime and the criminal justice system. It provides a broad critical grounding which could be relevant to careers in policing, probation work, the prison service and the criminal courts, although all of these require further training for full professional qualification. As the 'problem' of crime has increasingly become a matter of public and political concern, so the prevention of crime has been prioritised as a matter of social policy. Under the terms of the 1998 Crime and Disorder Act, every local authority in England and Wales has a statutory obligation to introduce crime reduction programmes. The government has devoted considerable financial resources to this project, so there are many employment opportunities on projects such as drug rehabilitation programmes and youth offender teams.