Criminology with Psychology BSc (Hons)

Modules

Methods of assessment for course overall: 67% coursework

• Introduction to criminological theory
  This module introduces you to key criminological theories. You'll examine the principal conceptual differences between these theories and how such concepts have been applied in the form of substantive research and policy.
• Issues in crime
  This module presents you with a range of distinct contemporary criminological issues and focuses on the ways in which fears and concerns about crime and the criminal justice system are related to issues such as governance, social exclusion and racial inequality. You'll engage with a range of different theories and learn how to appreciate how each relates to a specific issues.
• Criminal justice, politics and policy
  This module provides a framework for examining the development of the criminal justice system and the general construction of the crime problem in the period from 1780s until the 1930s. It blends a discussion of institutional development with a socio-historical analysis of changing problems of crime. By examining criminological issues within a specific political, historical and intellectual context this module provides a valuable underpinning for a range of modules in the programme.
• Deconstructing the crime problem
  What is crime? How and to what extent is the crime problem dispersed throughout contemporary British society? What do we know about current levels of crime in the UK and how do these compare historically? These are some of the key questions addressed in this module which aims to introduce you to the basic anatomy of the crime problem. In addition to addressing specific questions concerning trends in different types of crime and social distribution of crime across society, you'll be encouraged to think about these issues in terms of broader social trends and relations.
• Introducing psychological approaches
  You'll be introduced to the study of psychology, first by discussing its conceptual underpinnings and historical development, then topics related to living in the world as biological, learning and feeling beings. Block 1 focuses on the philosophical foundations of Psychology, its status as a science and current identity, while Block 2 deals with evolutionary theory and the relationship of the brain to behaviour. Block 3 considers learning and Block 4 emotions from biological, psychological and social perspectives. The module provides the knowledge-base necessary for advanced study at level 5 and also the development of skills relating to factual learning, i.e., accessing, organising, assimilating and revising information. This module will help students develop skills relating to MCQ assessments. (The sister module in semester 2 will focus on communication and essay assessments.)
• Exploring psychological approaches

• Penal theory, policy and practice
  This module examines penal theory and practice in a theoretical, comparative and historical way, and engages critically with the theoretical justifications and policy proposals for punishment. The first part of this module examines the philosophical and historical bases of punishment in general and the prison in particular. The module focuses strongly on how the term crisis has been used to describe almost every aspect of the penal system. In particular it examines the background and current contexts of the crisis. The course also reflects on the concepts of 'place', 'space' and 'time' as sources of suffering and emphasises the significance of vulnerability and imprisonment. The course critically evaluates the future promise of the penal system through an examination of the issue of the privatisation of punishment and its role in future penal policy.
• Issues in contemporary policing
  This module offers an insight into key issues in contemporary policing. The module develops the student's understanding of the concepts of 'policing' and 'the police'. It explores a number of issues including: the historical origins of contemporary policing; the legitimacy of policing; police culture(s); the policing of private and public order; the privatisation of policing functions; the growth of transnational policing, together with an analysis of the significance of a human rights agenda for twenty-first century policing. It also considers the implications of globalisation for policing both on an organisational and conceptual level. Underlying such discussions is a critical focus on protection through a critical appreciation of the police function and role.
• Social research skills 2
  This module introduces students to the basics of qualitative research methodologies. Students learn about central philosophical questions in the philosophy of the social sciences and how they relate to the qualitative/quantitative distinction. Students are taught a range of qualitative data collection techniques ranging from interviews to archival research. They are also introduced to different qualitative analytic techniques. Finally they are made aware of the ethical issues that are specific to qualitative research. Students are taught through lectures and workshops where they apply the principles to specific research questions.
• Social research skills 1
  In the first half of this module students are introduced to basic issues in research design and methodology. Topics covered include experimental design and random assignment, formulating research questions sampling and measurement. In the second half of the module they learn the basics of statistical analysis and how to use SPSS.
• Psychology of feelings
  This module provides you with the opportunity to explore the interdependence between feelings and human behaviour. The module is organised into three distinct themes, relationships, mood and sensations. Two introductory sessions will be used to recap and consolidate material at level 4 and provide a knowledge base upon which the rest of the module will build. Then, within each theme a range of topics will be explored (see indicative content below), drawing on theory and research from biological, developmental, evolutionary, cross-cultural, cognitive and atypical psychology. Individual differences will be a key perspective in this module.
• Psychology of behaviour with others
  You'll be given the opportunity to explore a number of the major concepts, theories and methods encountered in understanding how and why we behave in the ways we do when in the presence of other humans. The module focuses on those approaches that have been used to examine a) whether we are social beings and why, b) what the 'social' brain looks like, c) how social behaviours develop across the lifespan, d) which mechanisms have been used to explain how we interact with the implied, real or imagined presence of others, e) how culture affects our social interactions, and f) how group membership affects our social behaviours.

• Gender, crime and justice
  An understanding of both masculinities and femininities is central to this module. Drawing on feminist perspectives in criminological theory as well as more mainstream theoretical accounts, this module evaluates the evidence, which indicates that patterns of offending, victimisation and the workings of the main criminal justice agencies are gendered. The module also transgresses traditional debates in this area by considering a human rights perspective for the study of gender and crime.
• Crime, criminology and modernity
  This module examines the emergence and development of criminology as an academic discipline in the context of the development of the human sciences and governmental needs of societies in the modern period. Whilst its main emphasis is on intellectual development It also explores how and in what ways such ideas come to be embodied in governmental policy, how this process transforms them and the conditions under which they decline both intellectually and in their application.
• Dissertation in criminology: research or work placement (double module)

Plus two optional modules from a range of psychology modules