Programme Specifications

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Criminology 

• Provide a sound introduction to the interdisciplinary area of criminology with a specific focus on psychology and a consideration of the major theories and key political, social and legal issues arising out of the discipline as well as providing a basic introduction to the social science theory base and to social diversity and divisions and their impact on crime and criminology.

• Provide training in criminological and psychological principles and theories and their application.

• Equip students with the analytical skills necessary to undertake the intellectual study of both criminology and psychology (as it is applied to criminology).

• Stimulate students intellectually to take an active role in their learning and lead them to a critical appreciation of the discipline and its major debates.

• Develop students’ ability to apply knowledge to the resolution of theoretical and practical problems.

• Equip students with the social science research skills to permit them to locate, read, evaluate and critically assess the work of others and to conduct simple research projects of their own and to understand what can be achieved through use of different methodologies.

• Equip students with an ability to understand crim, victimology, academic criminological debates and social and other responses to these from local, national and international perspectives and recognise the impact of political, media, and populate opinion on this matter.

• Develop students’ ethical approaches both to research and to the discipline as a whole.

• Equip students with a basic understanding of principles human rights and civil liberties as applied to criminology, psychology (as it applies to crime and criminology) and to their associated professions and professional applications.

• Develop students’ ability to analyse a complex and diverse range of materials and to integrate them to form new perspectives, theories or solutions to the crime problem.

• Rise student awareness of social, political and policy issues and how they interact with crime and its control, and encourage reflection on the whole body of knowledge and its impact on other peoples’ lives.

• Through students study of criminology and psychology (as applied to criminology) to develop in students a range of generic skills which will be valuable in their future employment and enable them as citizens to contribute to their communities.

• Provide students with the knowledge and skills base to permit them to proceed to further studies in criminology or to employment in agencies and organisations associated with this subject base.

• Generate in students a genuine interest and passion for the areas studied, thus providing them with a broad basis for life-long intellectual, personal, and social development.

• A1 The major theories, concepts, values, debates, principles, and approaches in the study of criminology. 

• A2 How crime, deviance and victimisation are socially and legally constructed. 

• A3 The key issues, policies, processes, institutions, actors and debates in deviance, crime, law and criminology. 

• A4 How to apply core criminological theories and reasoning to applied topics, policies and situations. 

• A5 How to develop a reflective approach to the discipline and to develop a critical understanding of analytical methods. 

• A6 How social science research, both quantitative and qualitative, should be read, designed and conducted in this field and what part ethics and risk play in the design and execution of research. 

• A7 The importance and critical appreciation of various methods of investigation and research as applied to these fields. 

• A8 The discussions in deviance, crime, victimology, academic criminological debates and responses to these from local, national and international perspectives and the impact of political, media and popular opinion on this area. 

• A9 The official and unofficial structures, methods and processes of criminal law, law enforcement and punishment systems in control and prevention of deviance and crime. 

• A10 How to relate criminological theory to policy debates and to use these to analyse such policy and practice.

• A11 The key dynamics, processes and problems facing contemporary criminology, law and the legal system. 

• A12 How these approaches and the disciplines of both criminology and law help us to explain, understand and influence crime and its effects and are, in turn influenced by other disciplines and theories. 

• B1 Generating and evaluating both qualitative and quantitative evidence. 

• B2 Abstracting and simplifying a problem in order to identify its essence whilst still appreciating the complexity and diversity of the discipline as a whole. 

• B3 Assessing the merits of competing theories, policies and intellectual approaches 

• B4 Gathering, retrieving and synthesising data and information 

• B5 Making ethical judgements about published research and about his or her research activity 

• B6 Analysing and reasoning both deductivity and inductivity and constructing a coherent argument

• B7 Reflecting critically and constructively on their own learning and placing it in both the global and social contexts 

• B8 Communicating results (orally and in writing) concisely and effectively to a diverse audience - lay, professional and academic 

• B9 Drawing policy inferences, recognising the constraints of policy implementation and evaluating the effectiveness of stated policy objectives 

• C1 To identify criminological problems and human rights issues which arise in relation to crime and deviance  and responses to those activities. 

• C2 To extract the essential aspects of theory, concept and situation to achieve a realistic basis for evaluation of an idea, representation (media or official) or policy. 

• C3 To analyse, evaluate, critique and assess criminological, legal and psychological materials whilst keeping in mind wider sociological and psychological, global and local issues so enhancing in-depth, rational and holistic problem-solving and decision-making; data collected in both qualitative and quantitative research projects. These skills are essential to a criminologist. 

• C4 To design ethical qualitative and quantitative research projects, to address questions relating to criminology or psychology as it applies to criminology. 

• C5 To communicate complex social problems in terms of criminological theory, research results in terms of academic papers, policy analysis papers, reaction papers, case studies, evaluative reports, legal problem solving and research analysis paper

• D1 Time management and personal organisation self awareness and self confidence

• D2 Interpersonal skills 

• D3 Numerical skills 

• D4 IT skills - e.g. WWW, legal databases, e-learning, email and word processing 

• D5 Effective communication 

• D6 Autonomy, self-reflection and self-criticism 

• D7 Effective research skills 

• D8 Adherence to ethical working practices 

• D9 Possessing the ability to apply knowledge: to solve hypothetical or real problems