Start date:September
Institutional code:O10
UCAS code:LL33
Duration:1 year
Course type: Full Time
Fees per year 2025/26 entry:£8,000 Full Time; £4,000 Part Time
Additional costs per year:Trips may incur some cost
Delivery Method:Face-to-face via Lectures, Seminars and Tutorials
BA (Hons) Criminology and Criminal Justice validated by University of Central Lancashire
Recently completed an FdA or equivalent in criminology or uniformed public services? Are you looking to take your learning to the next step?
Students on the FdA progress to the BA (hons) Top Up in Criminology and Criminal Justice. Focus here is on application of critically informed knowledge and understanding, alongside helping students to find their role and purpose within the criminological world. Students can apply learning from the FdA to new modules designed around more contemporary criminological concepts including Comparative Criminology and Zemiology, as well as undertaking and developing a dissertation project of personal choice.
Modules at the cutting edge of criminology: alongside the chosen dissertation project, students also study 2 core modules; Diversity, Crime and Justice and Crimes of the Powerful. Students will be able to select 2 optional modules* from; Crime at the Movies, Human Trafficking, Drugs, Crime and Society, New Perspectives in Cybercrime, Gender, Crime and Justice, and Prison and Society.
At the end of the course, if successful, students will achieve a BA (Hons) Criminology and Criminal Justice Top Up, awarded by the University of Central Lancashire (UCLan).
*depending on the number of students it is not always possible to deliver all the optional modules
Dissertation (40 credits)
The Criminology dissertation is an extensive piece of written work that students produce in their third year on a topic approved and supervised by a member of the Criminology staff. The dissertation in Criminology is weighted as the equivalent of 2 x 3rd year modules (40 credits) and is expected to be strictly 8,000 words in length. All Criminology honours students are required to complete a dissertation in their third year. This should be an enjoyable experience but requires hard work, dedication and excellent time management skills.
Mandatory Modules
Diversity, Crime, and Justice
This module is divided into three distinct parts with interconnecting elements:
Conceptualising Difference and Diversity which examines current definitions of diversity and inequality in contemporary society.
Diverse Identities, Experiences and [In]Justice in Context which critically considers the diverse profiles, motivations, forms, methods and practices of diversity, crime and justice in contemporary society.
Diversity and Reimaging Justice for All which considers awareness of diversity issues within legal professions and criminal justice agencies, and the impact of initiatives dedicated to raising awareness of everyone’s right to be fairly represented, heard and fairly treated.
Crimes of the Powerful
This module aims to give students an understanding of: theoretical ideas and issues associated with crimes of the powerful, corporate rime, and state crime and genocide. The module encourages students to engage in critical evaluation of historical events and actions, applying theoretical perspectives from key thinkers ranging from Stanley Cohen and Michel Foucault, through to Susan Brownmiller and many others.
Optional modules
Crime at the Movies
This module gives an in-depth investigation of how crime, criminal behaviour, and law enforcement are portrayed within mainstream Hollywood cinema. It provides students with the skills and knowledge needed to undertake theoretically informed critical appraisals of mainstream cinematic representations of crime and criminality. In particular, the module enables students to understand and analyse these cultural forms criminologically.
The module includes an investigation of the underlying myths about crime and crime control in contemporary mainstream cinema and relates changes in cinematic representations to changes in the social contexts of their production and circulation, together with changing social discourses about crime. By focusing closely on a small number of selected films, students will learn to appreciate the cultural significance of crime and criminality in contemporary society and how representations of these infuse criminological discourses.
Human Trafficking
Students will develop and extend critical understanding of the problem of global human trade, exploitation, abuse and control in contemporary society and evaluate the effectiveness of policy and other responses to migratory patterns and control.
Drugs, Crime, and Society
This module explores the effects of drugs within society, the health service and the criminal justice system and the use of drugs in prisons. Students will examine the drug policies of past and present within the UK and throughout Europe. There will also be investigations of drug representations in film, music, and advertisements, and evaluation of education on drugs to see its implications.
New Perspectives on Cybercrime
This module explores contemporary developments in theoretical and policy-oriented criminology relating to cybercrime. Students will use competing paradigms and epistemological and ontological approaches to explain assumptions underpinning explanatory criminological theory and research in this area.
Gender Crime and Justice
This module aims to help students understand the links between feminist thought and other critical approaches that examine power and knowledge production, in the context of explain crime and criminal justice.
Prison and Society
Students will critically explore a range of core ideas and debates around the use of contemporary imprisonment, both domestically and globally to support reflective thinking and analysis of the use of prison as a method of punishment.
The course will include trips and employer engagement and guest lectures, voluntary work will be encouraged and voluntary opportunities provided with the likes of the probation service, rehabilitation charities, victim support organisations and positive steps.
Graduates can pursue careers in areas such as the police, the probation service, prisons and branches of the Home Office such as the Border Agency and the Criminal Justice Social Work. Students might also consider community development work, youth offending teams, educational institutions and adult guidance work with ex-offenders. Paid employment in the voluntary sector is an increasingly important area with positions in victim support and women’s refuges etc.
Past students have gone on to postgraduate study as well careers in probation, border agency, the police, transport police and within the criminal justice system.
The course is delivered using a range of contemporary methods including traditional lectures, interactive lectures, workshops, seminars, debates, virtual learning and self-directed study.
The course is assessed using a range of methods; Essays, examinations, presentations, reflections and an 8,000 word dissertation.
The course is delivered at the UCO campus, benefits from small class sizes. Students will have access to the mock court room at UCLan. Students will also have access to the UCO research hub in the academic success centre that which has all the equipment and space needed to undertake their dissertation research.
Applicants interested in applying to the BA (Hons) criminology and criminal justice must have competed the appropriate or equivalent course
Foundation Degree or
Diploma in Higher Education or a
Higher National Diploma at pass level in an appropriate subject Non-standard applications, industry professional qualifications, relevant work or life experience and who can demonstrable the ability to cope with and benefit from degree-level studies are considered on an individual basis and applicants may be interviewed.