BSc (Hons) Criminology and Psychology

Collaborate with local and national criminal justice agencies

Criminology students benefit from the knowledge, expertise and support of a dedicated Employability and Community Knowledge Exchange Projects Officer. Facilitated by this officer, students are connected with a range of opportunities to get involved in local and national criminal justice related agencies and support them with real-world challenges and change. The opportunities include networking events, visits from experts in relevant careers, and the chance to get involved in local projects led by key criminal justice stakeholders.

In addition, students and academic staff work together through collaborative projects with stakeholders across the criminal and social justice sector through the Sustainable Social Justice Initiative. The initiative has supported past and present students to apply their criminological skills and knowledge to produce social media campaigns to raise awareness of online scams with Devon and Cornwall Police and Trading Standards. Students have also worked collaboratively with local artists and community groups in deprived neighbourhoods to develop creative campaigns based on social justice campaigns that formed part of their final year studies.

Gain experience while you study

Students that elect to take our final year Work Based Learning module have flexible opportunities to enhance their employability whilst applying and developing their criminological skills, knowledge and experience. During this module students engage with either work-based placements, practical training through short courses or an applied research project working on a real-world challenge alongside one of our stakeholder organisations.

What you can do with your criminology degree

Discover employment and further study opportunities that you could consider once you graduate with a degree in criminology and criminal justice, and learn how you can stand out to graduate employers.

What can you do with a criminology degree?

Get involved – Boost your chances of finding that perfect first job and gain hands-on experience. A dedicated criminology employability officer provides students with a range of opportunities to build their portfolio of experience with local and national criminal and social justice related agencies. In addition, students and academic staff work together through collaborative projects with stakeholders across the criminal and social justice sector through the Sustainable Social Justice Initiative.

Innovative teaching – Our teaching is informed by innovative teaching methods and use of contemporary technologies including VR, AI and exploration of forensic techniques and analysis. We actively encourage students to interrogate the boundaries of criminological ideas. Immerse yourself in the workings of the prisons and probation service by taking a module with HMP Exeter, where students learn about rehabilitation inside prison walls.

Contemporary focus – The course identifies and focuses on emergent issues in criminology and criminal justice throughout all stages of study. The programme learns from the past, considers the present and looks to the future of criminological enquiry.

Research led – As leading scholars in their fields of research, the criminology team have strong national and international research profiles. Criminology students benefit from the close ties criminology staff have with criminal and wider social justice agencies. These ties provide students with excellent research opportunities and an embedded approach to employability within their modules, as well as an optional placement year.

In demand – Open doors to a career in the private, public or third sector – highly transferable skills mean you will find career opportunities in a diverse range of settings. Our graduates are highly sought after by a range of criminal justice agencies, including the police, probation, prison and youth justice services.

Create change – Students draw on our inter-disciplinary approach to study, with a focus on contemporary issues, to gain real insight into the nature of crime, the workings of the criminal justice system and the society around you and equip yourself with the skills to bring about real change and make a difference.

• Year 1

• In your first year you’ll be introduced to the criminal justice process in England and Wales, exploring the ideas and theories used to analyse criminology and crime problems and placing crime and criminology into social and historical context. You’ll also study the basic theories of psychology, developing a variety of intellectual and practical skills through topics including social and developmental psychology and the psychology of the everyday experience.
  

  Core modules

  • Being a Criminologist (CRM4001)

    This immersive 4-week module is organised around the idea of the competent criminologist. It informs students about the constituent elements of competence, which include knowledge of crime, crime control and the wider contexts in which these are constructed; skills that facilitate the collection, use and critical analysis of academic, official and mediated sources of knowledge about crime; and values and ethics that inform both understandings and debates about crime and crime control. It seeks to provide students with a grounding of what it means to be a competent criminologist.

  • Introduction to Criminological Theory (CRM4002)

    This 9-week module introduces students to criminological theory. The module addresses the importance of theory in criminology, critically examines a range of criminological theories, and applies criminological thought to a variety of practical concerns throughout history, including contemporary social life.

  • Forensic Criminology: Police Investigations (CRM4004)

    This immersive 4-week module introduces students to the processes, techniques and methods of criminal investigations which focuses on the police role from the crime scene to the courtroom. Students will be able to use skills learnt to carry out their own criminal investigation of a staged murder scenario. Important areas, such as crime scene investigation, forensic science and the use of evidence, are contextualised within the construction and prosecution of criminal cases. Students will also engage with criminal investigation topics such as professionalization, ethics, accountability, legitimacy, profiling and the media.

  • Responses to Crime: An Introduction (CRM4005)

    This 9-week module provides a broad-brushed overview of responses to crime in contemporary Britain. It examines responses to crime primarily in England & Wales, drawing upon comparative examples to explore similarities and differences. Its main focus is upon the criminal justice process, but the focus is also extended to approaches to crime founded upon different rationalities, such as restorative justice and risk management. This module will include two 2-hour talks that introduce our School and programme level employability related opportunities and support, including details of the optional placement year.

  • Introduction to Cognitive Psychology and Applied Psychological Research (PSYC419)

    This module consists of two strands. Strand 1 provides an introduction to Cognitive Psychology covering core topics such as perception, memory, attention and problem solving. Strand 2 focuses upon research methods in Applied Psychology and will cover areas such as how research has been applied to practical problems, research design, ethics, open science principles. Students will also take part in a simple piece of psychological research, aimed to help them understand the research process.

  • Introduction to Social and Developmental Psychology (PSYC420)

    This module consists of two strands. Strand 1 provides an introduction to Social Psychology covering core topics such as inter and intra groups processes, emotional processes and the self in a social world. Strand 2 focuses upon Developmental Psychology and will cover both cognitive development and social/emotional development of children from infancy to adolescence. 

• Year 2

• In your second year you will advance your awareness of criminological theory to enhance your understanding of the processes of criminal justice practice. Your training in research methods will provide you with an insight into research preparing you early for your final year dissertation project. You’ll also develop a greater understanding of areas such as clinical, social, developmental, biological and cognitive psychology and how these can be applied in practical settings.
  

  Core modules

  • Employability Plus (CRM5001)

    The module provides guidance, support and opportunities for students to enhance their employability. This module also provides guidance for students who have elected to undertake a placement at the end of stage 2 of their degree. On completion of the placement year students will return to sit stage 3. It is designed to build on skills learned in stage 1 and helps students become employability ready and, for those going on a placement, it helps in their search for a placement and in their preparation for the placement itself.

  • Theorising Crime and Harm (CRM5002)

    This module takes recent developments in criminological theory and analyses the potential for criminology as a discipline to contribute to understanding, contextualising and countering some of the greatest challenges facing society and the planet today. The emphasis on harm tests the boundaries of mainstream criminology, and encourages students to think beyond social and legal constructions of crime.

  • Critical Perspectives on Crime Control (CRM5004)

    This module examines a range of critical social scientific perspectives which have sought to make sense of crime control within its wider social context and in terms of its wider social significance. It considers the contributions of key social science theorists such as Stanley Cohen, David Garland, and Loic Wacquant and others whose work has focused upon crime control, and it seeks to apply their core ideas in order to illuminate our understanding of contemporary features of policy and practice.

  • Individual Differences, Social and Developmental Psychology (PSYC514)

    This module covers three core areas of psychology - individual differences, social cognition, and human development. Each core area will be covered in 16 hours of lectures. The first hour will cover CHIP issues and the last hour will focus on integration within/between topics.

  • Psychology of Health and Well-being (PSYC518)

    This module draws upon concepts and theories in health psychology, clinical psychology and forensic psychology. It sets out to evaluate how these applied areas of psychology address a range of societal problems associated with health and wellbeing. Key concepts and theories which have been used to address these problems and develop relevant interventions will be also be covered.

  • Stage 2 Placement Year Preparation (SSC500)

    This module is for students in the School of Society and Culture who are interested in undertaking an optional placement in the third year of their programme. It supports students in their search, application, and preparation for the placement, including developing interview techniques and effective application materials (e.g. CVs , portfolios, and cover letters).

• Optional placement year

• Gain valuable on-the-job experience through our optional placement year. We will support you in your second year in deciding whether to take this opportunity, and assist you in finding a placement and being prepared for it. 
  

  Core modules

  • School of Society and Culture Placement Year (SSC600)

    Students have the opportunity to gain work experience that will set them apart in the job market when they graduate by undertaking a 48-week optional placement year. This year allows them to apply and hone the knowledge and skills acquired from the previous years of their programme in the real world.

• Final year

• In your final year, you’ll select a criminological issue to investigate for your dissertation, choosing to specialise in an area of your choice. You will also study modules that reflect new, emerging trends in criminology that reflect current local, national and world issues. This includes green criminology, leisure and deviancy, violence and harm, justice in practice, social change and global issues such as state crime, war and terrorism. You’ll also develop your understanding of psychology through academic debates, allowing you to pursue areas that reflect your interests.
  

  Core modules

  • Dissertation (SOC6000)

    This module provides students with the opportunity to undertake their own sociological or criminological research project, working independently but under the supervision of an academic member of staff.

  • Applications of Psychological Theory (PSYC606)

    This module is designed to develop an advanced critical understanding of the application of psychological approaches where there have been recent advances in theory and research. Material will be drawn principally from the areas of cognitive psychology and neuropsychology We will examine how these approaches advance our understanding of people's behaviour, thoughts and feelings in different applied settings.

  • Psychology in Practice (PSYC607)

    This module draws from different areas of professional, applied psychology and seeks to demonstrate how developments in psychological theory and research in these areas have important implications for the lives of those who experience disadvantage or oppression. It aims to show how the development of interventions sensitive to social context can help improve the lives of those subject to disadvantage and oppression.

  Optional modules

  • Experiential Learning Opportunities (CRM6004B)

    This is an employability-focused module. It provides students with opportunities to gain practical insights into the knowledge and skills of practitioners, and/or the workings of key social and State institutions (and related) organisations, via engagement with either short work-based placements, practical short courses, or participation in applied research projects, depending upon the annual availability of opportunities in each. Students will be encouraged to link such insights with their social science knowledge and understanding.

  • Inside Knowledge: Crime and Justice in the 21st Century (CRM6005B)

    Taking place inside HMP Exeter, with criminology students learning alongside students from the prison, this module focuses on crime and justice in the 21st century – namely that of the purpose of the justice system in the contemporary context. The module places a critical emphasis on the experience of learning about crime and justice within the prison context and working collaboratively as peers to create a critical and reflective dialogue around issues in crime and justice.

  • Working for Justice (CRM6006)

    This module supports students to reflect on the knowledge, skills and experience that they have acquired throughout their degree/extra-curricular activities, in order to focus on their vision for future employment and related activities. Students will engage with academics, careers and employability staff and practitioners working within the criminal justice field, and so develop concrete ideas for their pathways into employment and/or ongoing study.

  • Global (In)security and the State (CRM6007)

    This module explores the issue of global (in)security in the context of state and non-state conflict. Theoretical and conceptual understandings of crime, violence, victimisation and justice will be used to interrogate acts such as war crimes and terrorism. The module will address the history of such crimes and will critically explore State and international responses.

  • Leisure, Consumerism and Harm (CRM6008)

    This module explores contemporary developments within the study of leisure and consumerism, offering a theoretically informed understanding of key issues at the forefront of the discipline. Students will have the opportunity to study the changing nature of criminology’s engagement with leisure against a backdrop of global consumer capitalism.

  • Fear, Crime and Control in the City (CRM6009)

    This module critically examines steadfast and emergent social issues at the interplay between social control and the social, providing students with a critical understanding of how the social is regulated socially, culturally and legally. We will do this by looking as social issues in urban space. We will explore meanings, cultural significance, and political consequences from a criminological perspective.

  • Food, Culture and Society (SOC6002)

    This module aims to provide a critical understanding of sociological issues relating to food and foodways, (the beliefs and behaviours surrounding the production, distribution and consumption of food both on an individual and collective level). The module encourages critical reflection and practical experience of research in the area of food and foodways, with a focus on lived experience.

  • The Anthropology of, Justice and Morality: Legal Anthropology in the 21st Century (ANT6004)

    This module teaches students to address global issues – from political correctness, to migration, to neo-nationalism - through the toolset of Legal Anthropology. What does law, justice and punishment look like in different societies? What is the relationship between morality, law, and the state? How are ideas of “good” and “bad” shaped by the socio-cultural context in which they are embedded?

Every undergraduate taught course has a detailed programme specification document describing the course aims, the course structure, the teaching and learning methods, the learning outcomes and the rules of assessment.

The following programme specification represents the latest course structure and may be subject to change:

BSc Criminology and Psychology Prog Spec Sep22 FINAL v2 7211

UCAS tariff

104 - 120

A levels
104-120 points including a minimum of 2 A levels. Excluding general studies.

BTEC
18 Unit BTEC Extended Diploma: MMM–DMM in any subject.  

BTEC National Diploma modules
If you hold a BTEC qualification it is vital that you provide our Admissions team with details of the exact modules you have studied as part of the BTEC. Without this information we may be unable to process your application quickly and you could experience significant delays in the progress of your application to study with us. Please explicitly state the full list of modules within your qualification at the time of application.

Access
Pass a named Access to HE Diploma in any subject with at least 33 credits at merit/distinction.

IB
24-26 overall to include 4 at any subject at Higher Level. English and Maths accepted within: Higher Level = 4 Standard Level = 5.

GCSE
All applicants must have GCSE (or equivalent) mathematics and English at grade C or above.

Other
14-19 Diplomas: accepted – please enquire. Other combinations and non-A level qualifications also considered.

Short of the entry requirements for this course? Don’t worry you may be eligible for a foundation year to prepare you for possible entry onto this course for the following year.

English language requirements.

We welcome applicants with international qualifications. To view other accepted qualifications please refer to our tariff glossary.