Course summary

With crime frequently in the news and always an important issue, criminology has never been more relevant. The Criminology BA Honours aims to enthuse, inspire and equip you with the skills for a successful career in today's competitive job market. Criminology draws on a wide range of human and social science disciplines, and the course has been designed to develop your knowledge and understanding of criminology as an interdisciplinary subject area. It will also equip you with the transferable and cognitive skills necessary for lifelong personal and professional development. Westminster's criminologists are concerned with who commits crimes and how offenders should be punished, but at the heart of criminology are fundamental questions about how 'crime' is defined, how criminal law is made, and how definitions of crime and justice vary historically and cross-culturally. Where better to study this fascinating discipline than in the heart of the UK's policing and criminal justice systems? Contemporary concerns are reflected as the subject engages with globalisation and culture across theoretical, qualitative and empirical domains. Our graduates go on to develop careers in a wide range of sectors including the police and policing-support organisations, the National Probation Service, local government and crime prevention. The course investigates the impact of power, societal structures and inequalities on processes and patterns of criminalisation, crime, harm, victimisation and criminal justice, as well as on knowledge production within criminology. Core and optional subjects cover an extensive range of topics, including processes of criminalisation and victimisation; the social, legal and cultural meanings of crime; the causes and organisation of crime and deviance at all levels; understanding crime in relation to class, gender, race and ethnicity, religious faith, and sexuality; and the practical and political processes of preventing and managing crime. We make use of Westminster’s central London location to facilitate off-site learning, with visits to the High Court of Justice, theatres and a prison. In Year 3, you'll have the opportunity to take part in a field trip, which, for example, in 2023 took students to the Baltic states, visiting criminal justice institutions.