Course summary

This course is offered as a degree with foundation year - a four-year programme which provides an additional foundation year at the beginning of the degree, that will give you academic and practical experience, as well as the skills you need to ensure you are equipped to successfully complete your chosen degree. What is justice? Who defines criminal behaviour? And how can we reduce harm in society? As a criminology student at the University of Roehampton, you will be able to explore these fascinating questions, drawing from a range of other disciplines including sociology, psychology and law. Criminologists study crime, the criminal justice system and society’s response to the impact of criminal behaviour. On this exciting degree, you will study contemporary problems relating to crime prevention, criminalisation and social control. During your time at Roehampton, you will develop a critical understanding of how the criminal justice system operates and the debates surrounding the relationship between punishment, rehabilitation and crime prevention. Tackling both problems and solutions relating to harmful behaviours in society, we offer a wide range of stimulating modules that will build your knowledge over the three years you are with us. You will be introduced to the multitude of ways to think about and analyse crime, and be able to specialise in areas such as the regulation, control and punishment of young people in society, or mass incarceration, war crimes, terrorism and anti-terrorism. Our BSc Criminology is all-encompassing, and further areas of study include punishment and prisons, gang culture, the criminal justice system and legislation, serial killers, and human trafficking. As a Roehampton graduate, you will become an independent, critical thinker, with the skills to analyse official and popular conceptions of crime. You will build your knowledge by exploring the ways crime theory can be applied to the study of criminal justice and contemporary issues relating to crime control. A range of diverse, optional modules will be available to you so that you can specialise in interests identified in your first year, including but not limited to the crimes of the powerful, media representations of crime, and criminal justice and domestic violence. You will carry out an independent research project or dissertation based on your own interests and fieldwork, supervised by one of our expert teaching staff. You will also focus on the construction of social research and subsequent analysis of results, providing you with an excellent grasp of indispensable skills in criminology and the social sciences and the skills required to challenge current key ethical, political and moral questions about crime and justice. You will be taught by world-class tutors in a department driven by innovative research. Our staff are experts in their field, with substantial experience of working with offenders and prisoners, including cases involving domestic violence, child abuse and youth crime. They are dedicated to providing you with the support and springboard you need to thrive as a graduate of criminology.