Dissertation (Criminology)
You’ve made it through two years of studying other people’s research. Now it’s your time to create your own! In this 40 credit module, you can choose any topic from criminology and sociology to explore in more detail. With support from your dissertation supervisor and using the research competencies you have developed throughout your programme, you will develop a research question and find a way to answer that question. Interview police officers, survey students, search historical archives – the questions and methods are endless.
Compulsory•40 credits
Terrorism and Cybersecurity
Terrorism and cyber security have become prominent and challenging public policy problems since 2000, that involve the whole of government and a large number of civic society organisations. This module helps you to understand the drivers to these forms of criminality and provides tools to help you identify those at risk and to suggest ways to contain and roll back these threats in future.
Restorative Justice and Peacemaking Criminology
Restorative justice aims to repair the harm caused by offending behaviour by including people with a direct stake in the offence in finding a solution to benefit all. You'll examine the development of restorative justice and peacemaking criminology, analysing their key concepts, values, principles and practices - as well as the controversies surrounding them.
Transnational Organised Crime
Learn the concepts behind our grasp of transnational organised crime. You'll cover areas including the drugs and arms trade; people trafficking; cybercrime; and terrorism.
Surveillance and Social Control
You'll study a range of theoretical perspectives on the emergence of a surveillance society - and examine the impact this is having on policing, criminal justice and social justice. You will also explore some of the wider social, political, economic, and cultural drivers behind the emergence of ‘new surveillance’ technologies.
Histories of Punishment
Study the history of punishment and penal policy between the mid-eighteenth and the early twentieth century. You'll examine public punishments, notably execution, transportation overseas, the birth of the prison, the operation of the Victorian penal system and the ways in which different offenders have been punished. You'll explore how these things have changed over time - for example, in the case of female offenders and juvenile offenders.
Doin’ Time: American Prison Culture of the 20th and 21st Centuries
On this module, you'll analyse a range of cultural texts to understand and explain the complexity of the American prison system in the 20th /21st centuries. We explore the American “Prison Industrial Complex” in terms of race, gender, class, economics and politics. The prison system – as represented in texts varying from The Shawshank Redemption to Poems from Guantanamo – is used to better comprehend the broader sociology of the US.
Criminal Justice and Community Safety Placements
Experience the nature and range of work carried out by the police and other criminal justice agencies on a work placement. You'll learn about their priorities, organisation, work activities, and daily routines from the people who do the job and gain a range of skills to enhance your employability.
Criminal Evidence
Learn how the law balances the defendant's interests, with respect for victims and witnesses. Topics include the right to a fair trial and the process of collecting evidence.
Mental Health, Illness and Society
What constitutes mental health, mental illness, treatment, justice & human rights is a contested topic with various ideological tensions. You'll take a multidisciplinary approach to the study of mental illness and persons with mental disability. You will consider the implications of the professional power of institutional psychiatry, the historical shifts in mental health care policy, the role of the criminal justice system, and the disability rights advocacy and human rights perspectives.
The Law of Armed Conflict
This module explores the approach of international law to the regulation of the resort to force by States (including the general prohibition contained within the UN Charter, self-defence and Security Council authorisation), and to the regulation of hostilities in the context of those armed conflicts which continue to occur.
Contemporary Imprisonment
Study the contemporary sociology of imprisonment. You'll examine current controversies in the use of prison sentences and consider the effects of incarceration on offenders.
Modern-Day Slavery in the UK
Slavery in the UK has risen exponentially over the past 20 years - now reaching some 136,000 victims. You'll consider definitions of slavery and how its scale is measured. You will adopt a social harm perspective, maintaining a victim/survivor focus whilst formulating proactive strategies for more effective preventative approaches to modern slavery.
Sex Work, Policy and Crime
Critically examine the historical, legal, social and cultural dimensions of the sex industry by using the major theories of crime and deviance. You'll explore why there is a market for sex in the first place, and the economic, cultural and social factors which impact upon the realities of the work. You will look beyond media stereotypes at what working in the industry can be like.
Drug Use Today
This module introduces the study of ‘the drug problem’, in Western society. You'll explore the sociological and psychological perspectives used to explain drug-using behaviour.
Multi-Agency Working to Manage Risk
Multi-agency working and risk management are central to the working of the criminal justice system in the UK. They impact on sentencing, punishment, treatment, rehabilitation, release, community management and reintegration. This module provides you with insight into the current performance and risk management procedures in the UK and how they impact the management of offenders.
Environmental Crimes and Green Criminology
Explore different types, causes and actors of eco-crimes perpetrated against the environment and non-human species through the critical lens of green criminology. Through practical examples and contemporary issues, you will analyse important topics such as wildlife crimes, food crimes, environmental activism and the involvement of organised and corporate crime.
Global Human Rights
This module centres on exploring and understanding the UN, European, African, and Islamic/Arab League human rights systems, also covering related global issues such as terrorism.
Mediation and Alternative Dispute Resolution
Examine the historical and theoretical context of alternative dispute resolution, focusing especially on mediation. You'll then explore mediation skills via workshops based around role-play scenarios.
Sex(uality), Gender and the Law
Develop a critical overview of key aspects in the field of sex, sexuality, gender, religion and the law. You'll explore opportunities for the study and evaluation of the latest research, enhancing your understanding of inclusion, exclusion and the situatedness of knowledge.
Family Law
This module covers the study of relationship formation and breakdown, the cohabiting family, same sex relationships, the financial aspects of relationship breakdown and children. You'll experience applying the practical aspects of family law to problem questions.
Medical Law and Ethics
Get to grips with controversial issues which often make the headlines. You'll explore the ethical conflicts behind the legal principles of topics including abortion and assisted dying.