Criminology with Psychology

Becoming a Criminologist

This is a foundational 40 credit module designed to introduce Criminology as a discipline in the 21st century and support you in an inclusive learning environment as you transition to higher education. You will learn about the practical and theoretical foundations you need to reach your potential for the years ahead. You will have the opportunity to use our Crime Scene Room to bring theory and practice together. Students are also supported in their academic and study skills, digital literacy, and teamwork to inform future studies.

Criminal Justice Institutions

Study the procedures of criminal justice – and the role of institutions such as the Police, CPS, courts and prisons, responsible for investigation, prosecution, conviction and punishment. 

Criminology in Late Modernity

Examine how current criminological theory explains recent developments in crime and crime control, drawing from postmodern criminology, cultural criminology and masculinities. 

Social Research in Practice

The module takes an integrative approach to research ethics and design. It's a foundation for skills in understanding research and practical skills for conducting independent research.

Social Psychology and Individual Differences 1

Explore social-psychological theories and gain insight into how psychologists have identified patterns of behaviour, emotion and ability across time and situations. 

Global Insecurities – Future of Humanity

Explore current insecurities and examine how private troubles and public issues are linked. You'll develop your ability to link academic theory and findings to real-world situations like modernity, globalisation and its (broken) promise; colonial legacies and neo-colonial realities; and migration and dislocation.

Offending and Victimisation

Why do burglars choose some houses and not others? Does alcohol make people violent? How do offenders think about their chances of getting caught? How does being a victim affect mental health and how does childhood adversity affect crime as an adult? This module focuses on the individual, as a victim, an offender, or both. It explores how people make decisions to commit crime and how being a victim of crime affects behaviour.

Think You Know Policing?

Think you know Policing? Now is your chance to think about it. This module provides you with a grounding and understanding of the range of theoretical issues involved in policing, and its key social functions of order maintenance and crime control. You'll consider the practical and political issues that face the public police in pursuing these and what Policing really means.

Getting Ready for the Dissertation

This module prepares you for your final year and your dissertation research project. You will have the opportunity to engage with agencies and the challenges they are facing. You will discover the diversity of potential research topics and methodological approaches.

Social Psychology and Individual Differences 2

Focus in more depth on studies from recent journal articles. You'll look at developments in social psychology and individual differences and the overlap with other disciplines. 

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.

Criminal Psychology

Understand why some people commit crime, how we can improve criminal investigations and trials, and the role of the forensic psychologist within the criminal justice system. You'll explore questions like: what is a psychopath, what effect does solitary confinement have on a prisoner’s mental health, can offenders be rehabilitated, and what can a crime scene tell us about the criminal.

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.

Modern 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. 

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.

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.

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.

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.

What Works?

Everyone has ideas about how to reduce crime, make police more effective or improve victim satisfaction. But how do we know what works? This module introduces you to the methods that explore what works in Criminology and equips you with the necessary critical and methodological skills.

Psychology in Education

Develop an understanding of the ways that individual variations in learning needs in children and adolescents manifest themselves in education.

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.

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. 

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.

Criminal Investigation

Learn specialist investigatory techniques and consider how this produces evidence in the courtroom. You'll explore topics like offender profiling and forensic investigation, through the medium of miscarriages of justice that focus on key issues around race, gender, religion and other social characteristics. You'll also get practical experience by taking part in crime scene room simulations.

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. 

Radicalisation, Activism and Religion

Why do people become radicalised? Together, we will focus on specific case studies to critically analyse the complex and complicated relationship between radicalisation, gender, religion, power, and activism on an international level.

Neuropsychology

Explore how brain lesions and neurological diseases affect cognition and behaviour. You'll study the major neurological deficits and syndromes found with central nervous system malfunctions.

People in Nature

Gain an in-depth understanding of how psychology can be applied to address some of the world’s most pressing environmental issues (e.g., climate and urbanisation). You will focus on the role of psychological traits in helping wildlife adapt to changes to their environment, and how people’s engagement with nature influences human-wildlife conflict and human health and well-being. The module includes an overnight field trip to Scotland where you will have the opportunity to apply ‘theory to practice’ related to the module content (e.g., wildlife research and public attitude surveys).

Clinical and Therapeutic Issues in Clinical Psychology

​Discover the importance of the therapeutic relationship in clinical psychology and explore clinical and therapeutic approaches commonly used in clinical psychology.

Understanding Animal Minds

Explore human and animal behaviour from a perspective adopted by naturalists, biologists, cognitive neuroscientists and experimental psychologists. 

Memory in the Real World

Build your understanding of memory and its importance in everyday life. You'll cover topics including autobiographical memory, false memories and memory for emotional events.

Advanced Topics in Cognitive Development

Explore how debates in cognitive development inform developmental psychology research into topics such as the understanding of the physical world and executive functions. 

The Social Brain and Autism

Learn about the ways that psychology, philosophy and neuroscience contribute to the current insights about how the brain enables social cognition -  and how that helps us understand autism.

Neuroscience Techniques

Gain a deeper understanding of neuroscience techniques. You'll study the theory, and then learn through first-hand practical experience of application and data analysis methods.

Psychology of AI