Criminology and Law

You'll learn the main legal principles and issues of employment law.

We'll look at case law and changes in law and policy.

The content is tailored to topics of current interest so we can cover significant contemporary issues relating to employment law.

We'll explore contemporary issues relating to family law, including case law and changes in law and policy.

The content of the module, which is not specified by either the SRA or BSB, will therefore be tailored to topics of current interest.

You'll develop an awareness of the issues surrounding family law, you'll evaluate its operation within society, and appreciate the social, economic and political contexts and underlying policy issues relating to its operation, and their impact.

You'll get an introduction to human rights law, including the Human Rights Act 1998 and anti-discrimination legislation.

You'll consider issues of social justice and discrimination in the light of comparative law and critical legal theory.

We'll explore human rights through key theories and texts, and encourage you to apply and test your findings on current debates about justice and equality.

You’ll cover the key principles of corporate law in England and Wales and be introduced to the concept of the company as a separate legal entity. 

Subjects you’ll consider include limited liability, the corporate veil, a company’s constitution, and the role of directors who manage a company on a day-to-day basis, as well as the shareholders who have invested in the business. 

You’ll be introduced to the internal processes and procedures that need to be followed within a company, together with associated reporting requirements and liaison with Companies House. 

You’ll be encouraged to think critically about issues such as minority protection, majority rule, and the separation of ownership and control in order to enable hem to apply these concepts to problem-based scenarios.  

You’ll acquire an in depth understanding of key principles and issues in legal technology. 

You’ll capture significant contemporary issues in legal technology in law and practice drawing on case law, regulations, and changes in law and policy. 

Explore current issues to ensure both currency and interest, drawing on themes linked with law in the context of the digital revolution, the disruption of artificial intelligence and blockchain in law. 

Develop an awareness of the issues surrounding practical and ethical implications in connection with legal technology.

You’ll evaluate legal technology’s operation within society, appreciate the social, economic and political contexts and underlying policy issues relating to its operation and their impact. 

Critically explore concepts, debates, literature and research on justice, punishment and human rights.

You'll consider whether the criminal justice system balances these three elements.

You'll explore the history of punishment. You'll engage with criminological theories surrounding the development of penal systems and the rationales underpinning contemporary forms of punishment and look at the work of philosophers including John Rawls, Jeremy Bentham and Robert Nozick.

Develop an understanding of key human rights frameworks, as well as the use – and abuse – of human rights across a range of international cases

We'll explore how much criminological theory can help us understand criminality and harm in the 21st century.

We've already seen dramatic transformations with protests and uprisings, climate change, a global financial crisis and the birth of social media and the dark web.

You'll critically assess which theories can help us understand and respond to the negative consequences of these changes, and why we are willing to inflict harm on others and ourselves.

You'll develop an in-depth understand of 21st century policing issues such as cybercrime and terrorism.

We'll explore the role of intelligence agencies and how effective they are at fighting security issues in Britain.

You'll get a critical awareness of the role of police and agencies such as the National Crime Agency and British Security Service (MI5).

Get a critical introduction to the interdisciplinary field of Genocide Studies.

You'll explore case studies relating to historical and contemporary instances of genocide, and interrogate the memorialisation of genocide.

You'll evaluate international legal mechanisms of genocide prevention.

We may address themes including the relationship of genocide to cognate categories in international legal discourse such as crimes against humanity and ‘ethnic cleansing’, sociological, criminological and social-psychological approaches to perpetration, the aftermath of genocide and the emerging concept of ecocide.

Explore how police, partner agencies and government bodies combat transnational and corporate crime that transcend regional, national and international boundaries.

You'll discover how law enforcement and government bodies have to work together to prevent and detect these often clandestine crimes.

We'll explore the exchange of weapons, drugs and stolen property, and the exploitation of people through human trafficking and modern day slavery.

Scrutinise the infiltration of governments and businesses through fraud, corruption and money laundering.

We'll also look at how technology and the internet facilitate transnational crimes.

Develop a critical understanding of the definitions, explanations and responses related to youth justice and crime.

Understand how to critically appreciate the impact of ethic, gendered, political and cultural inequality and difference in the experience of youth justice and crime control.

Explore issues pertinent to social justice and injustice with regards to children and young people’s lives, through a variety of contemporary theoretical and policy related lenses.

Explore the lives and experiences of criminalised women, often a marginalised and unheard demographic of the criminal justice system.

With a growing body of work, underpinned by feminist thought, aiming to recognise the gendered experiences and challenges of criminalised women, you’ll unpick and offer a space to develop critical thought and challenge the patriarchal and neo-liberal agendas within society.

You’ll discuss the intersecting layers of system failure, marginalisation and stigma which saturate women’s experiences, alongside the gendered stereotypes the women face. You’ll consider what can influence both women’s offending and desistance from crime, drawing upon research, policy and practice.

You'll explore the key fields of both Convict Criminology and Lived Experience Criminology and their implications, including thematic, empirical and conceptual contributions and be encouraged to critically evaluate the recent developments of people with ‘lived experience’ of criminality and incarceration to criminological perspectives. The module will scrutinise and conclude whether these contributions are likely to enhance or inhibit knowledge production within the field of criminology.    

You will explore different ways in which people die in our society, and the grief processes we go through as a society, even if we do not know the victims. 

Beginning with an introduction to ways of dying, you'll examine how various manners and methods of death are determined and investigated. This involves a detailed look at forensic and criminal investigations to establish cause and intent, including the role of coroner’s inquests and criminal proceedings when necessary.  

 You'll learn about societal processes following a death, such as public notifications and organised gatherings, as well as the role of the media in reporting deaths and shaping public perception. You'll consider the emotional landscape of grief, introducing grief models and processes to understand both public and private mourning, with particular attention to how cultural differences shape death celebrations and mourning practices.  

You'll analyse the impact of death on victims, highlighting the psychological toll and societal expectations of respectful public grieving and explore how individuals can navigate the complexities of being “respectable public grievers” in the public eye, balancing personal loss with societal norms.  

Throughout the module, you'll use case studies to critically evaluate and analyse societal expectations of death and grief and here from guest speakers who can offer unique insights into working with survivors, family members and law enforcement agencies. 

You'll develop an understanding of the role of intelligence agencies in combating insecurity in Britain since 1900. You'll gain an understanding of the role of the British Security Services, Police and Military since the the beginning of the 20th Century, examining critically the changing nature of the threat posed to the British state. You will focus on the way institutions have adapted to varying security concerns from German or Soviet spies, the Troubles in Northern Ireland and the more recent emergence of Terrorism and State Interference. You will also examine the complexity of securitisation within a democratic political framework.   

This module focuses on the evolution of security studies as a discipline and its implications for practice. You'll examine a variety of theoretical and empirical materials in order to analyse pressing questions related to issues of war, security and peace in the world today.