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Introduction
Introduction
Why choose this course?
Overview
Would you like to deepen your knowledge and understanding of crime and crime control, while exploring key concepts of law?
Our Criminology and Law course is an exciting interdisciplinary degree. It consists of distinct modules from both law and criminology. So you can pursue your interests in criminology while acquiring the skills associated with a traditional law degree. These skills include:
 evaluating legal arguments
 detailed problem-solving
 the ability to communicate accurately and persuasively.
By studying this degree, you’ll have the opportunity to investigate topics such as:
 criminal justice, including punishment and sentencing
 the theoretical frameworks criminologists use to understand crime
 digital crime and criminology.
Throughout your studies, you’ll be supported by leading academics who are recognised experts in their field. We offer a wide range of module choices so you‘ll be able to pursue the topics that interest you the most. And, you’ll have access to career events and regular guest lectures.
Modules
Year 1
Compulsory modules
Communication Skills for Lawyers
In this module, you’ll gain key communication skills for a successful legal career. You’ll gain excellent oral skills in advocacy. You’ll also develop valuable presentation techniques for a plea in mitigation, giving you the knowledge to succeed in your degree and work.
Crime and Criminology in Context
What is crime? Who commits crimes, and why? And why are some acts criminal, when others aren’t? In this module, you’ll dig into the key concepts and theories of crime. You’ll challenge your own common-sense understanding of crime, through the theories of celebrated criminologists. And you’ll consider:
 who invents crime and why
 the role of crime in society
 how might we study crime today digitally (online) and visually (through images).
Criminal Justice in Action
In this module, you’ll explore some key concerns around crime. You’ll examine the current problems and policies in:
 criminal justice
 law enforcement
 punishment.
You’ll gain core critical skills, as you dive into debates on the control and management of crime. You’ll examine the relationship between the theory of crime and criminal behaviour. And you’ll explore the practical workings of the criminal justice system.
Criminal Law
You’ve committed a crime. But what makes you responsible for it? In this module, you’ll get to grips with the key principles of criminal responsibility, and build key skills for your degree. You’ll look at individual defences and offences, as well as fatal and non-fatal offences against people and property. You’ll study crimes including:
 murder and manslaughter
 theft and burglary
 ‘offences against the person’ such as assault and battery.
You’ll also learn about defences such as:
 insanity and automatism
 duress and self-defence
 duress.
Criminology Skills
You'll have the support and guidance to build your academic skills. You'll improve your reading of resources and critical thinking abilities. You'll develop the skill of challenging preconceptions - helping you become an independent learner. Which is essential in guiding you to fulfil your potential as a Criminology student
Legal Method
In this module, you’ll gain invaluable legal skills for your degree. You’ll learn to think like a lawyer, and understand:
 the sources of English law
 the structures and functions of the UK Courts.
You’ll also learn:
 how to critically read and assess statute and case-law
 how to evaluate legal arguments
 how to find and use online legal information.
You’ll dive into the world of UK law. You’ll learn to find and understand legal information. And you’ll gain key skills in legal thought and argumentation.
Media and Crime
How does the media police our morals as a society, and define our ideas of acceptable behaviour? In this module, you’ll gain the critical skills to analyse popular representations of crime in the media. You’ll examine news reports and other forms of mass-media. And you’ll develop a knowledge of crime as a cultural construct.
Year 2
Compulsory modules
Advanced Legal Skills
In this module, you’ll revisit and build upon the legal techniques and issues developed in Year 1. As this is an envelope module, you’ll be able to focus on one of the following:
 Legal academic research and writing a Brief presenting the research
 Legal practitioner research and writing a Dissertation presenting the research.
Public Criminology
In this module, you’ll dive into real world problems of crime and criminal justice. You’ll apply your criminology knowledge to:
 find solutions to key questions of crime and justice
 find solutions to problems in current practice
 explore how these solutions can inform future research.
You’ll examine case studies from current policy and practice. You’ll apply the insights of:
 practitioners
 policy-makers
 politicians
currently working in criminal justice. You’ll gain a strong understanding of how criminology works in real life. And you’ll explore why there is a disconnect between the classroom, and criminology in practice.
Evidence
How do we deal with the evidence of children and the vulnerable? In this module, you’ll get to grips with the key rules of evidence. You’ll examine:
 sexual history evidence
 corroboration and identification evidence
 expert opinion evidence
 hearsay evidence
 confession evidence
 silence as evidence
 improperly obtained evidence
 covert surveillance and entrapment
 evidence of character
 evidence of children, and vulnerable witnesses.
You’ll dive into the significance of evidence, and its rules in criminal trials. And you’ll understand the need to avoid miscarriages of justice.
Digital Crime and Criminology
How does the digital world affect our understanding of key criminal law and criminological concepts? In this module, you’ll explore key concepts in the rapidly growing field of digital law and criminology and you’ll investigate how law and criminology meet and merge in the digital age. You’ll be introduced to the key theoretical frameworks of interest to digital criminologists and digital lawyers and you’ll work on applying these frameworks to specific topics of contemporary interest such as cyberhate, sexting and pornography.
Students will be introduced to the key theoretical frameworks of interest to digital criminologists and digital lawyers including the ‘digital’, intersectional digitalities and key themes in internet regulation. Students will then be applying these frameworks to specific topics of contemporary interest such as cyberhate, sexting and pornography, for example.
Researching Crime: Methods, Approaches and Ethics
In this module, you’ll explore the key research methods of Criminology. You’ll gain invaluable critical skills, as you look at:
 research methods
 design
 processes
 outcomes.
You’ll also understand the ethics of research, including:
 the requirements of conducting research with vulnerable populations.
 how your identity can help or hinder research relationships.
Understanding Criminal Justice
In this module, you’ll dive into the criminal justice system, and the main issues of criminal justice. You’ll understand wider aspects of the criminal justice system and engage critically with the system’s flaws and shortcomings. You’ll gain critical skills as you examine how well the system achieves its aims. You’ll explore specific areas such as:
 punishment
 sentencing
 crime prevention
 community safety
 policing
 youth crime
 prisons
 the criminal court system.
You’ll observe the criminal justice system, first hand. You’ll then devise a social-science experiment to test your understanding of the system you’ve studied. This means you’ll devise a hypothesis on how the criminal justice system operates, and test to see if your hypothesis is correct. You’ll conduct work in prisons, police stations and the streets of Oxford, allowing you to access the real world of the criminal justice system.
Optional modules
Criminology Work Based Learning
In this module, you’ll kick-start your career, and gain key work experience in organisations related to crime. You’ll do a placement, or work-based learning activity in:
 a public sector organisation
 a non-governmental organisation (NGO)
 a voluntary organisation.
Whether working with the police, prison services, schools or charities, you’ll gain invaluable skills for your future career. You won’t engage directly with clients or service users, but you’ll gain a strong knowledge of how organisations identify and fight crime.
Crime and Intersectionality
In this module, you’ll get to grips with intersectionality - a way of understanding someone’s identity as made of characteristics such as race, gender and class. Intersectionality offers you a unique way to study crime. You’ll discover how criminal justice institutions, such as the police and criminal courts, respond to and discriminate against different social groups.
Globalisation and Crime
In this module, you’ll explore and examine areas of crime and crime control across different regions of the world through the lens of 'globalisation', or the increased interconnectedness of social relations across the globe.
You’ll use a combination of theoretical concepts and case studies to interrogate and understand the interconnectedness of crime and responses to crime in the contemporary world.
International Law
In this module, you’ll explore the key laws of the international community. You’ll examine the origins and basis of international law. You’ll also look at the sources of international law, including treaties and customary norms. You’ll enhance your critical skills as you analyse the relationship between:
 international and municipal law
 subjects of international law
 the concept of territory or jurisdiction.
You’ll consider the core principles in the use of force, and the way armies behave. And you’ll look at the law of state responsibility, individual accountability and violations of international rules.
Marriage Cohabitation and the Law
How does the law regulate relationships between adults? What legal rights flow from married and unmarried relationships? In this module, you’ll get to grips with the law regulating all types of adult family relationships, particularly:
 the law of marriage
 civil partnerships
 cohabitating couples
 divorce
 division of property on family breakdown
 domestic violence
 parental responsibility for children.
You’ll gain vital skills in legal reasoning as you learn legal analysis techniques, and how to answer problem questions.
Year 3
Compulsory modules
Interdisciplinary Dissertation
This module gives you the chance to do research on a topic that fascinates you. Over the course of your final year, you’ll work independently on a research project, with the help of expert supervision. Your dissertation will grow out of your specific passion, and you’ll gain excellent self-discipline and organisational skills for work. You’ll gain core skills for your career, including:
 research
 critical analysis
 time-management
 planned and focused writing.
If you’re a combined honours student, you’ll be able to write a dissertation on both of your chosen subject areas.
Optional modules
Border Criminology
In this module, you’ll examine border criminology, which is the study of the intersection of border control and criminal justice. You’ll get to grips with key issues around:
 migration
 punishment
 citizenship and belonging.
You’ll investigate core developments of border criminology, including:
 immigration removal centres
 foreign national prisons
 policing of borders.
You’ll gain key critical skills, as you explore debates surrounding immigration, punishment and national identity. You’ll examine the institutions concerned with border control, and the increasing use of punishment and force around immigration control in the UK and abroad.
Computer Law and Artificial Intelligence
The internet rules society. In a vastly digital age, lawyers really need to understand technology and the legal challenges it presents. In this module, you’ll examine the legal issues of current internet technologies and hardware. You’ll gain key technical knowledge, as you evaluate the regulatory systems of these technologies, and how they affect society. You’ll explore how digital technologies challenge copyright law. And you’ll be introduced to some of the legal issues relating to the use of artificial intelligence.
Dealing with Drugs: Control and Intoxication
In this module, you’ll bust some key assumptions around psychoactive drugs. You’ll look at why we use them and how we control them in society. You’ll investigate:
 criminological
 sociological
 historical
and policy insights, to explore the relationship between drug use, individuals and public morality. You’ll gain key critical skills as you debate drug policies, and how we can lessen the harm of substance abuse. You’ll look at alternative ways to regulate drugs than our current ‘war on drugs’ mentality. And you’ll explore the future of synthetic drugs.
Policing, Security and Society
This is a key time to study policing in western countries. The response to crime in the west is changing fast as policing moves towards privatisation in the digital age.
You’ll analyse modern policing in the west and its former colonies. You’ll examine the history of policing. You’ll compare policing in other countries to policing in the UK. You’ll also look at the rise of neo-colonial policing today (the use of economic, political and cultural pressures to control other countries).
You’ll explore areas like:
 securitization
 militarization
 transnationalism
 human trafficking.
Independent Study Module
This module gives you the chance to do research on a topic that fascinates you. You’ll work independently, with the support of our expert academic team, and will carry out work on a specific project of your choosing. You’ll gain core skills for work, including in:
 enquiry
 research
 analysis
 evaluation.
International Human Rights Law
How can we effectively protect human rights? In this module, you’ll get to grips with international human rights law. You’ll gain key critical skills as you analyse arguments and ideas about human rights, and the ideas behind them. You’ll also consider their current legal and political meaning through examining:
 relevant laws
 current debates
 case studies.
Nationality, Immigration and Asylum
In this module, you’ll get to grips with nationality and immigration law, and what it reveals about British society. You’ll examine the key issues and policies around nationality, national identity and migration. You’ll gain a firm understanding of migration in the UK and abroad, as you debate critical issues of today. You’ll also consider current UK law, and the historical, social and political factors that have shaped it.
Parents, Children and the State
How does the law deal with child abduction, and disputes over children? How can the state protect children who may be victims of abuse within their own families? In this module, you’ll get to grips with law relating to parents, children and the state. You’ll dive into law reports, as you look critically at the legal concepts around:
 relationships between parents and children
 the relevance of the state to parents and children.
You’ll consider:
 parental responsibility
 resolution of disputes over children
 child protection
 child abduction
 adoption.
You’ll gain vital skills in legal reasoning as you learn legal analysis techniques, and how to answer problem questions.
Sex that Offends
This module introduces you to case studies, concepts and debates. With a focus on sexual offences and other serious crimes. You will explore themes of consent and harm. Drawing on critical criminology, feminist theory and socio-legal studies.
You will look at how the criminal law and cultural norms have constructed certain behaviours and identities as deviant.
And then from a criminological perspective; you will go beyond the headlines to examine the role of:
 labelling
 moral panics
 and changing social attitudes towards sex.
To develop your critical thinking skills.
The Carnival and Pleasures of Crime
Why do people enjoy committing crimes? How might crime offer identity and purpose? In this module, you’ll explore the role of:
 pleasures
 performance
 identity
 meaning
in criminal acts. You’ll think about the multiple meanings and actions that crime holds for different people across time. You’ll consider the social benefits of crimes and resistance to the law. And you’ll explore how different interpretations of crime might affect crime control and criminal justice.
The Prison and Imprisonment
Should we punish prisoners, or support them to re-enter society? In this module, you’ll dive into the key issues of prisons. You’ll consider modern prisons, globally and historically. And you’ll examine prisons through:
 prisoners
 prison staff
 wider society.
You'll trace the evolution of the prison - from the rehabilitative ideal of the post-war period, to the greater focus on punishment today. You’ll look at how political parties use prison policies to win votes, rather than reduce crime.
You’ll dive into the inner workings of prisons, from governance to administration. You’ll look at the routines of prison life, and how prisoners cope with, and give meaning to them. You’ll consider sentence progression for different types of prisoners. And you’ll explore how well prisons prepare inmates for life after release.
Entry Criteria
ENTRY REQUIRED DOCUMENTS
Home Office Share Code
For EU students only.
IF no Qualification
Please provide CV with at least 2 years of work experience, and employee reference letter.
Entry requirements
Wherever possible we make our conditional offers using the UCAS Tariff. The combination of A-level grades listed here would be just one way of achieving the UCAS Tariff points for this course.
Standard offer
UCAS Tariff Points: 104
A Level: BCC
IB Points: 29
BTEC: DMM
Contextual offer
UCAS Tariff Points: 88
A Level: CCD
IB Points: 27
BTEC: MMM
Further offer details
Applications are also welcomed for consideration from applicants with European qualifications, international qualifications or recognised foundation courses.
Specific entry requirements
Our standard entry requirement is three A-levels or equivalent qualifications. In some cases, courses have specific required subjects and additional GCSE requirements. In addition to A-levels, we accept a wide range of other qualifications including:
 the Welsh Baccalaureate
 the Access to Higher Education Diploma
 a BTEC National Certificate, Diploma or Extended Diploma at a good standard and in a relevant subject
 the International Baccalaureate Diploma
 the European Baccalaureate Diploma
 Scottish qualifications – five subjects in SCE with two at Higher level or one at Advanced Higher level, or three subjects in Scottish Highers or two at Advanced Higher level
 a recognised foundation course
 T-levels*.
 * T-levels are a relatively new qualification but are already included in the UCAS tariff. We welcome prospective students who are taking this qualification to apply. For some programmes with specific required subjects, particular subject areas or occupational specialisms may be required.
English language requirements
If English is not your first language then you will need to show that your English language skills are at a high enough level to succeed in your studies.
The entry requirement for your course will be expressed as an IELTS level and refers to the IELTS Academic version of this test. We are now also accepting the IELTS Indicator test, you can find out more about the test on the IELTS Indication site. The University however does accept a wide range of additional English language qualifications, which can be found below.
The university’s English language requirements in IELTS levels are as follows:
Course IELTS level
All other undergraduate courses 6.0 overall with 6.0 in reading and writing, 5.5 in listening and speaking
Law, Architecture, Interior Architecture, English Literature (including combined honours), English Literature and Creative Writing 6.5 overall with 6.0 in reading and writing, 5.5 in listening and speaking
Health and Social Care courses 6.5 or 7.0 overall with 6.5 or 7.0 in all components (see individual entries for course details)
Nutrition BSc (Hons) 6.5 overall with a minimum of 6.0 in each component
Built Environment Foundation,
Computing Foundation,
Engineering Foundation 6.0 with 6.0 in reading and writing, 5.5 in listening and speaking
International Foundation Business and Technology,
International Foundation Arts, Humanities and Law 5.5 overall with 5.5 in all skills
International Foundation Diploma 5.0 overall with 5.0 in all skills
If you need a student visa you must take an IELTS for UKVI test.
International Foundation Diploma (Extended pathway) 4.5 overall with 4.5 in all skills
If you need a student visa you must take an IELTS for UKVI test.
Assessment
ASSESSMENT METHODS
1. INTERNAL ENGLISH TEST if you don't have an English accredited certificate
2. Academic Interview
Learning and assessment
By studying criminology and law, you’ll investigate some of the biggest crime-related issues facing our society. Your course will cover topics such as cyber crime, the globalisation of crime, immigration, border controls and much more.
Your Year 1 is divided equally between both criminology and law, enabling you to develop a thorough understanding of the key principles and themes within each discipline. You’ll examine the concepts of criminology and crime, as well as topics concerning criminal law, and media and crime.
You’ll develop strong research skills in Year 2 by taking modules on researching crime and advanced legal research. You’ll aso take an exciting module that looks at digital crime and criminology. And, you’ll have the opportunity to deepen your areas of interest by picking up a number of optional modules.
In Year 3 you’ll take a compulsory interdisciplinary dissertation as well as a criminology module focusing on prisons and imprisonment.
Learning and teaching
Throughout the course our academic team make use of a range of teaching and learning styles. You will be supported at every level of the course, with close access to lecturers, small seminar groups and tutorials.
You will learn through a variety of teaching and learning methods including:
 lectures, seminars and workshops
 one-to-one tutorial and small group discussions
 supervised independent learning
 work with a wide range of practical resources.
During your studies you’ll gain a range of personal and professional skills. These skills will be a springboard for your future career development in a number of industries.
Assessment
Assessment methods on this course are diverse. Some modules use formal exams while others award all or part of the marks on coursework.
Career Opportunities
Career prospects
Our Criminology and Law degree is a suitable education for a range of career options in the public and private sectors.
By the time you graduate from Oxford Brookes, you'll have acquired a wide range of skills and attributes that will mean you’re well-rounded and highly employable. You will have gained valuable skills in criminal research, analysis and articulation. These are skills that are particularly attractive to employers in a number of sectors including:
 criminal justice agencies
 local authorities
 policing and police services
 NGOs and the voluntary sector
 human rights, advocacy work and community support services.
Criminology graduates will also be able to advance to postgraduate courses in a variety of areas of specialisation, such as law, business or humanities.
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