Program Overview

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BA (Hons) Criminology and Sociology with Foundation Year

Why study this course with LJMU?

Taught by subject specialists with national and international reputations for their research and civic engagement Delivered using innovative teaching, learning and assessment methods, with options for fieldwork at home and overseas, with international study opportunities The teaching team are committed to sociology and criminology in action, and to making a difference in peoples' lives You will have opportunities to participate in 'out of classroom' learning activities including educational field visits to organisations, museums, art galleries, places of worship and walking tours Work placement opportunities in teaching, international development, charities, tourism, media, creative and heritage industries 91% of students surveyed said teaching staff on our Sociology courses were good at explaining things (National Student Survey 2024)

About your course

The BA (Hons) Criminology and Sociology at Liverpool John Moores University combines two contemporary and popular disciplines, providing you with grounding in core elements of both subjects, together with a wide range of optional modules that will enable you to follow your own pathway.

Throughout the course you will be encouraged to develop your critical thinking skills by questioning what we mean by the terms 'crime', 'criminals', 'punishment' and 'justice'. You will learn about the institutions of the criminal justice system and study areas like corporate crime, state crime, miscarriages of justice, policing and drugs. The two disciplines share many concerns, and our degree brings the two subjects together in ways which emphasise the areas of social policy, the variable impact of age, class, gender, sexuality, religion and ethics, disability and ethnicity on social life.

The degree is taught in the Sociology department, and your personal tutor will be a sociologist. The modules will be taught by a team of well-qualified, experienced and dedicated staff from the Sociology and Criminology departments.

You will study social science research methods, including qualitative surveys and qualitative techniques, and be provided with a thorough grounding in theoretical perspectives which are drawn upon in the critical investigations of societies and of criminology.

The degree carefully fosters an international perspective on society and criminology, considers the relationships between the local and the global, and includes opportunities to study abroad, undertake educational field work visits to South Asia or Europe.

Pathways can be built through the study of modules, which concentrate ecological issues, social policy and cultural analysis of media, music, sport and religion. You will also receive training in sociological methods and sociological and criminological theory.

The degree also offers you exciting work-based and work-related opportunities to gain professional experience relevant to your degree.

Foundation Year

The Foundation Year is ideal if you have the interest and ability to study for a degree, but do not have the qualifications to enter directly onto the Criminology and Sociology honours degree programme yet.

Once you pass the Foundation Year (level 3) you will progress directly onto the first year of the honours degree. If you are a full-time UK student, you will qualify for student financial support for the full duration of your course (subject to eligibility criteria).

Course modules

Foundation Year

• Preparing for Academic Success (30 credits)
• Investigating Liverpool (30 credits)
• Crime, Justice and Diversity (30 credits)
• War: Conflict in the Humanities and Social Sciences (30 credits)

Year 1

• Contemporary Social and Green Issues (20 credits)
• Introduction to Sociology (20 credits)
• Becoming a Sociological Investigator (20 credits)
• An Introduction to Criminological Theory (20 credits)
• Inside the Criminal Justice System (20 credits)
• Contemporary Issues in Criminology (20 credits)

Year 2

• Research in Action (20 credits)
• Key Thinkers for Criminology (20 credits)
• Contemporary Perspectives in Criminology (20 credits)

Optional modules

• Researching British Society (20 credits)
• The Medicalised Body: the Sociology of Health and Illness (20 credits)
• Study Year Abroad CrimSoc (120 credits)
• Musical Identities: Sociological Perspectives (20 credits)
• Sociology at Work 1 (20 credits)
• Tech-Topia: Social Media, Power and Activism (20 credits)
• Global Crime and Harm (20 credits)
• Victims and Justice (20 credits)
• Crimes and Harms of the Powerful (20 credits)
• Social Divisions and Social Justice (20 credits)

Year 3

• Dissertation in Sociology (40 credits)
• International Fieldwork in Sociology (20 credits)
• Sport, Crime and Politics: Critical Sociological Analyses (20 credits)
• Body Politics: Gender, Sexuality and Society (20 credits)
• Cultural Sociology of Music (20 credits)
• Visual Sociology (20 credits)
• Sociology at Work 2 (20 credits)
• Fear and Loathing: the politics and aesthetics of aversive emotion (20 credits)
• Cities (20 credits)
• Imagined Communities: The Sociology of Nationalism (20 credits)
• Green Criminology – Crimes and Harms to the Global Environment (20 credits)
• Police, Power and Social Order (20 credits)
• Power, Politics, and Human Rights (20 credits)
• Crime Media Culture (20 credits)
• Child and Youth Justice (20 credits)
• Security, Terrorism, and War (20 credits)
• Understanding and Challenging Inequalities and Stigma (20 credits)

Your Learning Experience

Teaching Support Assessment

• Excellent facilities and learning resources
• Active blended learning approach
• Teaching delivered via lectures, seminars, workshops, audio-visual presentations, online activities and fieldwork trips
• Online discussion boards allow you to further debate, with your tutors and peers, ideas that arise in the classroom
• Outside the classroom you will have access to extensive electronic resources via the LJMU network and print resources via the nearby Aldham Robarts library

Work-related Learning

• Opportunities for work-based and work-related learning are integrated into the programme
• This will offer you the chance to put what you have learnt into practice, as well as providing new skills and experiences
• It will also add real value to your CV, giving you a professional edge when you come to negotiate your way through the graduate job market

Dedicated personal tutor, plus study skills support

• If you choose to study Criminology and Sociology, you will join a friendly and stimulating environment in which you will be encouraged to achieve your full potential in both your academic work and your future career
• We pride ourselves on our informal and supportive relationships with our students
• You will be assigned a personal tutor who will be responsible for your academic and personal progress throughout your studies
• Along with this scheduled one-to-one support, you will receive regular feedback and guidance from your module tutors on your research, writing and study skills

Assessment varies depending on the modules you choose, but will usually include a combination of exams and coursework

• We understand that all students perform differently depending on how they are assessed, so we use a range of traditional and innovative assessment methods
• These include essays, exams, reports, individual and group presentations, policy analyses, online tests, wikis, critical reviews, posters and group work
• Approximately 75% of your assessments will be by coursework and the rest by exam, but this varies according to the options you choose

Career paths

• Criminology and Sociology graduates enter a variety of professions and careers, including:
  • local and national government and the civil service
  • youth work
  • criminal justice system
  • academia and teaching
  • career guidance
  • research
  • journalism
  • third sector advocacy
  • think tanks
  • policy development

Tuition fees and funding

• Home: £9,535 (second and subsequent years), £5,760 (foundation first year)
• International: £17,750 (full-time per year)

Entry requirements

• Grades/points required: DDD (72)
• GCSEs and equivalents: Grade 4 or grade C or above in English Language and Mathematics/Numeracy
• A levels: DDD
• BTECs: Extended Diploma: MMP
• Access awards: Acceptable on its own and combined with other qualifications
• International Baccalaureate: Acceptable on its own and combined with other qualifications
• OCR Cambridge Technical: Extended Diploma: MMP
• Irish awards: Irish Highers: Acceptable on its own and combined with other qualifications
• T levels: Acceptable on its own and combined with other qualifications
• Other international requirements: Any Applicant whose first language is not English will be required to have IELTS 6.0 (minimum 5.5 in each component)