Program Overview

Criminology with Policing and Investigations BSc Honours

Course Overview

A criminology degree with a strong focus on policing and investigative psychology led by academics with extensive experience in policing and investigative psychology with real-life experience and connections.

Why Study Criminology with Policing and Investigations BSc at Middlesex?

• A leading Centre for Criminology: Middlesex has been at the forefront of criminological teaching and research since the 1970s.
• A step towards joining the police service: This course will allow you to apply for the accelerated Degree Holders Entry Programme when you graduate.
• Explore criminal investigations: On top of your core Criminology modules, you'll also explore investigative psychology, deception and how trauma impacts the memory.
• Research-Focused Learning: Gain hands-on experience in both quantitative and qualitative research, exploring real-world data to understand crime, its causes, and its consequences.
• Social Responsibility and Change: Engage with issues like social justice, equity, sustainability, and societal change.
• Practical Experience: Participate in field trips to the Old Bailey, visits to courts, prisons, and criminal justice organisations.

About Your Course

Year 1 Overview

The first year is designed to give you a grounding in criminology as a social science, providing essential knowledge and skills, and introducing key areas of study that will be explored throughout the degree.

• Understanding Contemporary Society (30 credits) - Compulsory
  • Explore the foundations of sociological theory and central questions that have shaped the development of sociology.
• Crime in Social Context (30 credits) - Compulsory
  • Explore the dynamic nature of crime across law, politics, society, and culture.
• Responses to Crime in the 21st Century (30 credits) - Compulsory
  • Introduces you to key criminal justice institutions, exploring contemporary issues within the police, courts, prisons, probation, immigration detention, youth justice, and the forensic mental health system.
• Researching Crimes and Communities (30 credits) - Compulsory
  • Introduces you to social research inquiry as a way of seeing and interpreting the world.

Year 2 Overview

The second year will provide you with key knowledge and skills in research methods, develop understanding of policing and law enforcement and enhance understanding of how the degree can equip you with the skills and knowledge that are required for graduate employment in the field of criminology.

• Policing and Law Enforcement (30 credits) - Compulsory
  • Provides an understanding of contemporary issues in policing.
• Research Methods for Studying Contemporary Society (30 credits) - Compulsory
  • Equips you with the knowledge and skills to use the software known as SPSS for data analysis and thematic analysis to analyse qualitative data.
• Rethinking Crime and Justice (30 credits) - Compulsory
  • Develops your knowledge and understanding of key theoretical ideas and debates in criminology.
• Victimology (30 credits) - Optional
  • Explores the concept of victimisation, and assesses societal responses to victimisation.
• Courts, Prisons and Rehabilitation (30 credits) - Optional
  • Introduces you to the intersections between the criminal courts, sentencing, prisons and rehabilitation.
• Race and Social Justice (30 credits) - Optional
  • Explores key ideas about race and social justice, both in the UK and globally.

Year 3/4 Overview

In the final year you will undertake either the Ethical Research and Project management module and the dissertation in the broad area of criminology or a 60-credit work placement module.

• Ethical Research and Project Management (30 credits) - Optional
  • Develops your understanding of research project design while equipping you with ethical research skills needed for independent social science research projects.
• Dissertation (30 credits) - Optional
  • Synthesises learning from the criminology and sociology programmes of study, providing an opportunity for you to study independently and investigate a topic in depth.
• Learning at Work (60 credits) - Optional
  • Uses the workplace as a site of learning and inquiry.
• Investigating Crime (30 Credits) - Compulsory
  • Provides an understanding of contemporary issues in police investigations.
• Drugs, Crime and Control (30 credits) - Optional
  • Critically engages you in contemporary debates surrounding drugs, drug use and their control.
• Digital Lives: Cybercrime and Radicalisation (30 credits) - Optional
  • Advances your critical and creative understanding of how digital technologies are fundamentally reshaping our social life.
• Organised Crime and Crimes of the Powerful (30 credits) - Optional
  • Facilitates your critical engagement with the crimes such as white- collar, corporate, environmental and state crime.
• Violent Crime (30 credits) - Optional
  • Discusses the dynamics of violence from a gender-informed perspective.

Teaching and Learning

• Teaching Methods
  • Learning will take place in a variety of formats, including teaching, workshops, seminars, group discussions, group exercises and tasks.
  • Key practitioners may be invited to talk about their role and experience to provide you with an insight into their particular fields.
• Assessments
  • This course is based on 100% coursework taking the form of portfolios, essays and reports.
• Work Placements
  • In year three you can complete a placement via the Learning at Work module.

Entry Requirements

• Qualifications
  • 104 UCAS Points including GCSE English Grade C/4
  • A-Level: BCC
  • BTEC: MMM
  • Access requirements: Overall pass: must include 45 credits at level 3, of which all 45 must be at Merit or higher
• International Students
  • We accept a wide range of international qualifications.
  • English language requirements: IELTS 6.0 (with minimum 5.5 in all components)

Careers

• Graduate Employers
  • A BSc in Criminology with Policing and Investigations will commonly lead to employment within the general field of criminal justice.
• Graduate Job Roles
  • Roles in these different organisations are diverse, but include research, crime analysis, policy and campaigning, court work, offender and victim casework work, and investigative and legal work.

Fees and Funding

• Fees
  • UK students: £9,535 (full-time), £79 per taught credit (part-time)
  • International students: £16,600 (full-time), £138 per taught credit (part-time)
• Scholarships and Bursaries
  • We offer a range of scholarships and bursaries to help you fund your studies.