Course summary

Why do people offend? How do we manage the problem of crime? Does the criminal justice system work? How can I contribute and work within this sector? Consider these questions and more on this vibrant, intellectually stimulating, consistently successful, student and employment-centred, BA (Hons) in Criminal Justice at University Campus Doncaster. As a student on the criminal justice programme, you will consider multiple approaches to understanding criminal behaviour and the societal/ institutional responses to it. Through this exploration you will soon realise that far more than criminal behaviour needs intellectual consideration. Dostoyevsky (1866) himself stated “The degree of civilisation in a society is revealed by entering its prisons.” The Criminal Justice BA aims to develop a skilled and knowledgeable workforce who are employable, experienced and equipped with a real-world contemporary skillset who can also demonstrate ownership over their discipline. It aims to produce graduates that are capable of reflexive thinking and practice located within an empowered graduate identity. The BA (Hons) Criminal Justice is a 3-year full time degree programme. Students will be encouraged to participate with relevant work experience throughout the programme, however, work-related experience will be central to assessments during level 5. This course is particularly relevant to people already working in or looking to develop a career within both the formal and informal justice system. There are opportunities to find employment within the formal criminal justice system itself in the form of the police, the probation service, the prison service and the legal system (solicitor, court services and contract management agencies to name a few). However, the programme does not just prepare you for work within the formal criminal justice system, you will begin to recognise that most offending behaviour is a combination of factors such as personal, health and social incidents that results in someone entering the formal system. This means our students can also work within the NHS (drug and alcohol related services), with children at risk, homelessness charities, safeguarding trusts, community justice, citizens advice and within central and local government. It is important to stress that the programme also embraces the development and cultivation of critical thinking skills and the articulation and management of a transferable skill set which prepares you for multiple opportunities in employment beyond the Criminal Justice programme. This is seen in students who progress into teaching (some of our students each year undertake the Post Graduate Certificate in Education at University Campus Doncaster upon graduation) and management roles. You may also have the opportunity to progress into post graduate education. Currently there is an array of Masters programmes available within the UK related to the field of Criminal Justice. This Degree is Validated by the University of Hull.