Lecturer hits the road to give a lesson in crime

A University lecturer has spoken about taking his passion for understanding crime and criminal behaviour on the road with guest speeches at schools across the country.

Dr Steve Hallam, Senior Lecturer in Criminology, gave his most recent talk last week to a nearly full house of sixth form students at Northampton Academy.

Steve, a former police officer with 30 years’ service, spoke to students – who included those interested in pursuing careers in law, policing, psychology or sociology – about defining crime and understanding victimisation and offending, using examples as diverse as Janine Butcher in Eastenders, Ozzy Osborne and Nelson Mandela, to name a few.

A lively and engaging discussion about these issues ensued and the conversation was opened out to consider the wealth of skills that studying criminology can bring to bear for their preferred careers, including analysing information, communication, reasoning and stepping back and looking at the bigger picture.

After giving the students plenty of food for thought, Steve said: “I – and some of my colleagues – have given school lectures like this before. I’m always pleasantly surprised at how engaged students are about the topic areas. The students at Northampton Academy were no exception, this was an after-school event and it was great to see how many turned up – it was nearly a full house!

“Our discussion delved into a broad church of issues because criminology touches on so much, the whole of society and people, not just criminal activity, although obviously that’s the focus.

“We talked about the range of skills and aptitudes that studying Criminology instills in students that can vastly impact on their employability in a range of other professions, but the fun for me is seeing these students taking day to day things, teasing them apart and looking at them from a different angle for the first time. You see quite a few minds beginning to be opened up!”

Next up, Steve will be visiting the South End Infants’ School in Rushden, a younger cohort where he will be talking to pupils about fingerprinting and letting them have a go at doing this themselves.

Find out more about having Steve visit your school.

Find out more about the undergraduate course in Criminology.