Course summary

The Global Criminology MA is designed to develop your knowledge and critical understanding of criminology as an interdisciplinary subject that incorporates legal, political and psychological, as well as social scientific approaches to the study of crime, deviance, criminal and social justice. Led by academic experts in the area, this new course will focus on two themes – global criminology and critical criminology – giving you the unique opportunity to study the subject with both an international and critical focus. Global criminology is a relatively new and growing area of criminology that is at the forefront of developments in postcolonial, decolonial and southern theory. It is a specialist area of critical criminology, which explores issues of crime and justice within the context of power relations and structural inequalities such as class, gender, nationality, ethnicity, disability, age and sexuality. Specialised option modules explore the two main areas of global criminology – comparative criminology and transnational criminology. Comparative criminology studies convergences and divergences in crime and justice between nations and regions. Transnational criminology explores the nature of organised, state and corporate crimes and the responses to organised crimes that cross borders. An option module in Convict Criminology, available to up to 16 students, will explore this emerging area of critical criminology. Convict Criminology focuses on the knowledge and standpoints of educated prisoners and former prisoners, which will be taught in prison and will include prison-based as well as University of Westminster Global Criminology MA students. You will also undertake a year-long Research Methods and Dissertation module, completing empirical research on a critical and/or global criminology issue of your choice.