Course summary

On our four-year LLB Law with Criminology (including foundation year), we work with you to help improve your language skills, to develop your subject-specific knowledge, and to improve your academic skills. You receive a thorough grounding in these areas during your foundation year (known as Year Zero) to prepare you for a further three years of undergraduate study at Essex. After successful completion of Year Zero in our Essex Pathways Department, you progress to complete your course with our School of Law. We teach the law that matters. We are ‘freer, more daring and more experimental’ than a traditional law school, so your legal education is relevant and responsive to the needs of a changing society. Our approach is global in outlook, based on justice, and engaged with real-world problems. Our LLB Law with Criminology provides you with a rigorous academic training in the discipline of law integrated with criminology. This gives you a thorough grounding in current issues in criminal law and criminal justice in a wider social context. We emphasise an awareness of how the law of England and Wales is placed in European and international frameworks. You develop a critical awareness of the nature of law within its social, political and economic contexts. Not only will you learn legal rules, but you also consider the function of law in society, the philosophy of law, policy issues and law reform. You explore and debate the difficult questions such as should crime be punished? How do we prevent crime? Providing you with the ability to consider, evaluate and respond to alternative and, possibly, conflicting points of view. You cover the key areas of law and criminology, as well as topics including: Government power Criminal liability Policing and punishment Crime and the media EU law At Essex we specialise in commercial law, public law, and human rights law. We are ranked 51st for Law in the THE World University Rankings 2021, which is 13th in UK, and we are top 20 in the UK for research excellence (REF 2014). You’re taught by criminologists and sociologists based in our Department of Sociology, ranked 9th in the UK for Sociology in the QS World University Rankings by Subject (2021) You receive training in criminological research methods including how to design a survey, how to map crime hotspots, conduct interviews and focus groups. You are also introduced to legal research methods.