BA (Hons) Criminology

at Goldsmiths University of London

This programme will allow you to consider the subject of criminology from a sociological perspective. You will study:

• how our knowledge of crime and criminality is refracted through culture and how the media represent crime, law and social order
• explanations for why people commit ‘crime’
• how governments respond to ‘crime’, and how they might respond differently
• the history and development of criminology as a discipline
• social control, policing, surveillance and security
• crime as a global phenomenon and its policing in the context of global inequality, the movement of peoples, international trade, human rights and state violence
• practical cases and stories from people working in and with experience of the criminal justice system
• research methods for the empirical investigation of sociological and criminological topics

You'll learn to consider the problem of crime from a critical perspective in the context of modern forms of power. You will develop a practical, but conceptually sophisticated, set of skills that will equip you for a range of careers in the sector and beyond.

 

Year 1 (credit level 4)

In your first year, you will take the following compulsory modules:

 

Module title   

• Crime, Control and the State    
• Imaginative Criminology   
• Modern Knowledge, Modern Power   
• Researching Society and Culture 1A   
• Researching Society and Culture 1B    

Year 2 (credit level 5)

You take these compulsory modules:

 

Module title    

• The Making of the Modern World   
• Explaining Crime    
• Criminal Justice in Context   
• Crimes Against Humanity    
• Researching Society and Culture 2A    
• Researching Society and Culture 2B    

You also choose one option module. Those available recently have included:

 

Module title   

• Sex, Drugs & Technology  
• Leisure, Culture and Society    
• Space, Place & Power  
• Art and Society    
• Organisations and Society    
• Culture, Representation and Difference    
• London    
• Marxism    
• The Body: Social Theory and Social Practice  
• Social Change and Political Action    
• Globalisation, Crime and Justice    
• Migration in Context    
• Law and Society    

Year 3 (credit level 6)

You take two compulsory modules:

 

Module title    

• Contemporary Issues in Criminology    
• Dissertation   

You also choose option modules to the value of 60 credits. Modules recently available have included:

 

Module title   

• Race, Racism and Social Theory    
• Global Development and Underdevelopment   
• Sociology of Visuality    
• Childhood Matters: Society, Theory and Culture   
• Making Data Matter  
• Sociologies of Emerging Worlds    
• Privacy, Surveillance and Security    
• Philosophy, Politics and Alterity   
• Subjectivity, Health and Medicine    
• Prisons, Punishment and Society  

We accept the following qualifications:

• A-level: BBB
• BTEC: DDM
• International Baccalaureate: 33 points overall with Three HL subjects at 655
• Access: Pass with 45 Level 3 credits including 30 Distinctions and a number of merits/passes in subject-specific modules
• Scottish qualifications: BBBBC (Higher) or BBC (Advanced Higher)
• European Baccalaureate: 75%
• Irish Leaving Certificate: H2 H2 H2 H2

 

International qualifications
We also accept a wide range of international qualifications. Find out more about the qualifications we accept from around the world.

 

If English isn’t your first language, you will need an IELTS score (or equivalent English language qualification) of 6.0 with a 6.0 in writing and no element lower than 5.5 to study this programme. If you need assistance with your English language, we offer a range of courses that can help prepare you for degree-level study.

These are the fees for students starting their programme in the 2022/2023 academic year.

 

From August 2021 EU/EEA/Swiss nationals will no longer be eligible for 'Home' fee status. EU/EEA/Swiss nationals will be classified as 'International' for fee purposes, more information can be found on our fees page.

 

Home - full-time: £9250
International - full-time: £17560

Skills

This degree will help you develop a practical, but conceptually sophisticated, set of skills that will equip you for a range of careers. These skills include: 

• Critical and analytical thinking
• Awareness of social, political and cultural processes
• Awareness of 'difference'
• Communication skills
• Thinking creatively

Careers

Sociologists enter careers that centre on the challenges and demands that members of a society face and there are many routes for criminology graduates:

• You could take an accelerated route to train as a probation officer or professional youth worker or pursue a career in the prison service or police via graduate training schemes.
• You might decide to pursue postgraduate study, including undertaking a Graduate Law Diploma or with the aim of making a career in higher education as a lecturer or specialist researcher.
• Our comprehensive research training means you'll be well-placed to apply for jobs in research in sectors as diverse as the civil service, security service and independent research companies.
• Your criminology degree will open doors to a variety of other careers, including in the charity sector and local or national government.