Criminology and Criminal Justice MA

An introduction to criminological theory and criminal justice process(es). This includes the process of criminalisation and experiences of victims of crime and the criminal justice system, especially the voices of traditionally marginalised voices and standpoints.

This module will introduce key criminological theories, concepts and issues related to the criminal justice system. The module will examine key criminological thought and attempts to understand crime, criminality, and victimisation from a range of different perspectives, including those that have been traditionally been marginalised or excluded. The module will also examine criminal justice agencies and processes and attempts to address crime, criminality, and victimisation.

In this module, you have the opportunity to explore issues of equality and discrimination in the context of the criminal justice system. Theories of equality are examined to understand how equality is conceptualised, protected and promoted in law.

Focusing on key protected characteristics including gender, race, disability and sexuality, the experiences of victims and defendants in specific contexts are discussed to evaluate the extent to which law and policy effectively prevents discrimination and promotes justice for all.

This module critically considers the concept of ‘fair (criminal) trial’ in theory and practice. International human rights law, particularly as it derives from Article 6 of the European Convention on Human Rights, will naturally be central to this inquiry. But the law of human rights is neither our starting point nor our final destination. More ambitiously, this module draws on criminal justice, socio-legal, and comparative approaches and perspectives in order to place the law and practice of English and Welsh criminal trials in their broader legal, political, social, and moral contexts.

Although some points of law and practice will be treated in detail, developing an exhaustive account of English criminal trials is not the principal objective. Rather, we will use these details as examples and case-studies to illustrate methodological issues, broader themes and trends in criminal policy, and international comparisons highlighting the ways in which western democracies have attempted, successfully or otherwise, to meet the challenges of integrating human rights law into their domestic criminal trial processes.

This module will introduce students to a range of research methodologies in preparation for the Independent Research Project.

Students will study a range research and knowledge creation skills that include:

• Ontology; epistemology; causality complexity; ethics and ethical processes; truth, bias, and reflexivity.
• Quantitative and qualitative methodologies.
• Doctrinal and legal research.
• Imperialist reason; colonial power/knowledge in criminology research; ethnocentrism; decolonialism and challenges therein; zemiology considerations into research design and practice.

This module will support students to complete an independent research project which will be a culmination of the skills, knowledge and competencies the students have learned as part of the programme.

Students will be able to choose from a range of independent project types, which include:

1. A traditional dissertation
2. An extended research project
3. Reflective practice/action research

Students will be supervised by a member of staff throughout this process.

The module also has a reflexive element and students will be supported to think reflexively about the skills, knowledge and competencies they have gained on the programme and how they have used these as part of their independent research project.

This module draws on key literature and current research to consider the ways in which new and emerging forms of digital media and information and communication technologies provide opportunities for a variety of deviant and criminal behaviours. It considers the emergence of various forms of cyber crime in a critical, comparative and engaging manner, and also highlights the influence of global trends and technological developments on their emergence and occurrence. The key issues, themes and concepts which are addressed include:

• Theoretical and methodological issues when studying cyber crime
• Case studies of cyber crimes which typically may include for example: fraud, identify theft, hacking, online pornography, child sexual exploitation (CSE), online harassment, trolling, and cyberstalking, crimes on the dark web.
• Victims’ experiences of cyber crime and its societal impact
• Motivations for perpetration of certain cyber crimes

This module offers an in-depth analysis of the challenges and strategies crucial for successful reintegration, with a strong emphasis on the roles of support systems and rehabilitation. You will engage with diverse theories and practices related to desistance from crime, focusing on the transformative impact of relationships, identity, and community involvement. The module covers a wide spectrum of post-incarceration challenges, including mental health issues, social stigma, and legal obstacles, providing you with a comprehensive understanding of the factors that influence successful reintegration.

The module aims to support students to think critically about post-incarceration practice. This includes understanding a range of different theoretical perspectives, policy and reintegrative and rehabilitative theories and practices.

This module gives a broad-based introduction to the philosophical foundations of human rights and criminal justice, emphasising the moral and political underpinnings of legal rules, doctrines and principles. It considers key issues and questions in contemporary debates surrounding human rights and criminal justice through the contrasting lenses of two rival philosophical perspectives, utilitarianism and liberal deontology. 

This module places an in-depth focus on the study of war, state violence and crimes against humanity. Although war has been a relatively permanent feature of human societies, criminology has only recently turned its attention to understanding the violence and ripples of harm it creates. The focus is to explore explanations of current and historical examples of war, drawing on a range of criminological, philosophical and zemiological (harm) theories.

Module content will introduce students to key theorists, such as Hannah Arendt, Zygmunt Bauman, Stanley Cohen, and Judith Butler. The module places a specific focus on injustices faced by the Global South, aiming to provide students with the tools to identify and understand colonial systems, structures, and relationships – both within the module and beyond. Key debates will include how the violence of war and atrocity are made possible; how war intersects with issues of ‘race’, class, and gender; and what reconciliation efforts of ‘truth’ and justice might involve after events of mass suffering. The module will also introduce emerging debates on the impact of delivering such violence for state agents (e.g. soldiers).

This module critically examines the deviant activities of the powerful. Drawing from a myriad of contemporary empirical and theoretical studies, a critical stance is taken towards the concepts of crime, power and control to understand and explain the deviant activities of these ‘elites’, and illuminate potential avenues for prevention, protection and redress.

The course will cover the following broad themes:

• State crime, corporate crime, state-corporate crime, harm, green crime

• State-facilitated and state-initiated corporate crime

• Capitalism, neoliberalism, austerity and indifference

• Crimes of commission and omission

• Command and control regulation vs. business self-regulation

This module takes an interdisciplinary approach, combining philosophical, doctrinal, and socio-legal perspectives to examine the question “what conduct is a legitimate target for the criminal law?”. The first half of the course critically considers several theories of criminalisation which offer ‘in principle’ justifications for criminalising conduct. The second half examines other factors relevant to criminalisation decision-making, including: human rights, enforceability, discrimination, and politics.

Though some English and Welsh criminal offences will be examined in detail, the main objective of the module is to provide you with the critical tools with which you will be able to scrutinise the legitimacy of criminal offences in any jurisdiction.

This module considers a range of theoretical and conceptual issues in criminology relating to the nature and scope of criminology as a discipline as well as recent developments in criminological theory. The work discussed during the course of the module will be at the forefront of the discipline.

This module adopts a critical and cross-disciplinary approach to the study of criminal justice (drawing from insights in sociology, race and gender studies, postcolonial thought and global law, psychology, and criminology). It looks at topics such as 'the war on terror' and the 'war on drugs' through the lens of criminal justice.

This module aims to provide students with an introduction to a broad range of critical approaches to the study of crime, social control, and criminal justice. The overall aim is to provide students with a variety of critical analytical tools which will be useful to them in the study of all the other modules in the programme (whether domestic, transnational, or international in focus).