Course summary

Why do people offend? Can we predict the victim? One of the most fascinating applications of psychology is in examining and tackling criminal behaviour. Our BPS-accredited course brings to life this relatively new and exciting field of psychology, exploring the criminal mind, practical forensics and legal areas such as police investigation and jury behaviour. The degree focuses on the techniques and issues at the forefront of practice in criminal, investigative and forensic psychology as well as key areas of the law such as police investigation, false confessions, expert witnesses and jury behaviour. You will study the foundations of psychology and how it applies to criminal behaviour before exploring different psychological approaches; the role of an individual’s culture and society; and practical forensic psychology. The course is accredited by the British Psychological Society (BPS) and completing it confers eligibility for Graduate Basis for Chartered Membership (GBC), provided you meet the minimum standard of a second-class honours degree. To become a fully-fledged chartered forensic psychologist, you will have to continue your studies at postgraduate level and undertake supervised practice. Foundation year A Degree with a Foundation Year gives you guaranteed entry to an Undergraduate course. Whether you’re returning to learning and require additional help and support to up-skill, or if you didn’t quite meet the grades to pursue an Undergraduate course, our Degrees with Foundation Year provide a fantastic entry route for you to work towards a degree level qualification. With our guidance and support you’ll get up to speed within one year, and will be ready to seamlessly progress on to undergraduate study at Bedfordshire. The Foundation Year provides an opportunity to build up your academic writing skills and numeracy, and will also cover a range of subject specific content to fully prepare you for entry to an Undergraduate degree. This is an integrated four-year degree, with the foundation year as a key part of the course. You will need to successfully complete the Foundation Year to progress on to the first year of your bachelor’s degree. Why choose this course?

• Understand the professional skills used by forensic psychologists

• Work on research projects such as offender profiling and crime analysis, criminal thinking styles, and lie detection

• Study with an academic team currently involved in research or practice, with their expertise feeding back into your teaching

• Learn valuable research and analysis skills that transfer into other career fields