• Year 1

• In your first year, you’ll learn about the core theories, principles and processes of the law, introducing you to how it’s studied and practised. You’ll be able to join the Student Law Society and take part in mooting, debating, negotiation and advocacy competitions. We’ve structured the curriculum so that alongside studying the English legal system, Contract, Tort and Public Law, you’ll begin your study of criminology and start to develop the critical thinking and self-reflective skills that will equip you for your chosen career.

  Core modules

  • Legal Systems and Skills (LAW4007)

    An overview of the English Legal System with reference to the criminal and civil legal processes and procedure. An introduction to the relationship between English law and procedure in a wider international context. To introduce an understanding of the requisite legal, transferrable and practical skills that underpin the study of law, including basic issues of ethical and professional conduct.

  • Public Law (LAW4008)

    This module focuses on Constitutional and Administrative Law, examining fundamental theories and principles, and their application and practice within the British constitution.

  • European Union Law (LAW4009)

    This module focuses on the law of the European Union, exploring aspects such as, for example, its institutional infra-structure, legal sources, preliminary rulings, key principles and means of enforcement

  • Contract Law (LAW4010)

    An introduction to the law of contract through study of the essential elements in contract formation. This module then considers the nature and relative significance of contractual terms.

  • Tort Law (LAW4011)

    The Law of Tort is concerned with the creation and imposition of civil rights obligations on people generally. It is focused on the legal protection of a number of key rights, such as the right to bodily integrity, reputation, enjoyment of property and privacy amongst others.

  • Criminal Law (LAW4012)

    This module provides examination of core principles and concepts of criminal law, an introduction to modes of participation, and analysis of selected offences and defences. This module will include two 2-hour talks that introduce our School and programme level employability related opportunities and support, including details of the optional placement year.

• Year 2

• In your second year, you’ll focus on real-life scenarios and develop practical skills in areas such as negotiation and advocacy through our very successful Dispute Resolution Skills module. You’ll study Property Law and Criminal Law and deepen your knowledge and understanding of criminology and the criminal justice system. You’ll have the opportunity to study a law module of specific interest by choosing from a range of options including, for example, Employment, European Union Law, and Cybercrime. You’ll also have the opportunity to gain hands-on experience volunteering in our award winning Law Clinic, either as a volunteer or for credit towards your degree programme, and will receive support in gaining a placement if you wish to take the optional placement year.

  Core modules

  • Theorising Crime and Harm (CRM5002)

    This module takes recent developments in criminological theory and analyses the potential for criminology as a discipline to contribute to understanding, contextualising and countering some of the greatest challenges facing society and the planet today. The emphasis on harm tests the boundaries of mainstream criminology, and encourages students to think beyond social and legal constructions of crime.

  • Dispute Resolution Skills (LAW5001)

    This module focuses on the development of transferable skills based on real-life scenarios with an emphasis on enhancing employability. It revolves around dispute resolution exercises helping 'clients' to resolve disputes. It is designed to enhance practical lawyering skills. It also includes relevant elements of practice and procedure, such as analysis of the merits of a claim or defence and preparing a case for trial as well as selected pre-action considerations and trial procedures.

  • Critical Perspectives on Crime Control (CRM5004)

    This module examines a range of critical social scientific perspectives which have sought to make sense of crime control within its wider social context and in terms of its wider social significance. It considers the contributions of key social science theorists such as Stanley Cohen, David Garland, and Loic Wacquant and others whose work has focused upon crime control, and it seeks to apply their core ideas in order to illuminate our understanding of contemporary features of policy and practice.

  • Property Law (LAW5017)

    The module examines principles and the law, together with elements of practice, relating to freehold and leasehold property and associated rights and interests.

  Optional modules

  • Stage 2 Professional Development, Placement Preparation and Identifying Opportunities (SSC500)

    This module is for students in the School of Society and Culture who are interested in undertaking an optional placement in the third year of their programme. It supports students in their search, application, and preparation for the placement, including developing interview techniques and effective application materials (e.g. CVs , portfolios, and cover letters).

  • Harm in the 21st Century (CRM5003MX)

    This module explores the global challenges of harmful behaviours and activities in contemporary society by considering specific areas of concern for criminologists. By drawing on real-world examples in everyday life, the module examines how social problems and issues have arisen due to processes of globalisation that have changed the social, political and economic landscape of the 21st century.

  • Crime, Harm and Culture (CRM5009MX)

    The module aims to provide students with a critical appreciation of harm and crime by exploring relevant issues from film, television, music, fiction literature and art. By applying a criminological lens to different forms of popular culture, students will be able to examine a variety of media forms in terms of its content and its contemporary political, social and economic context using different theories and concepts.

  • Gothic Fictions: Villains, Virgins and Vampires (ENG5002MX)

    This module looks at eighteenth- and nineteenth-century novels to trace the variety and scope of literary contributions to the Gothic. It begins by discussing the origins of the Gothic novel, then moves to the heyday of the genre in the revolutionary 1790s, on to authors writing in the early and mid-nineteenth century, through to the decadence of the 1890s.

  • ‘Hurt Minds’: Madness and Mental Illness in Literature (ENG5013MX)

    This module considers changing attitudes towards, and a variety of theories of, the mind, examining how different cultures have understood ‘healthy’ and ‘unhealthy’ mental states. It will look at how the experience and treatment of mental illness has been represented in fiction. The mind is at its most fascinating when it behaves outside of expected social norms. By considering a variety of literary texts over several centuries, this module explores shifts in the definition, understanding, evaluation, and management of exceptional mental states.

  • Writing Genre Fiction (ENG5017MX)

    This module takes students into in-depth engagement with prose fiction writing in various genres, with possibilities including fantasy, science-fiction, period/historical, young adult fiction, horror, comedy, romance, crime, and thriller. The module is taught through lecture, seminars, and workshops where students are asked to submit and feedback to peers and tutors on a regular basis.

  • Law in Context: Commerce and Intellectual Property (LAW5019MX)

    This module focuses on the work of commercial lawyers in practice in helping businesses to trade. It analyses a range of contractual agreements dealing with the manufacture, sale, supply and distribution of goods, assets and services in general and intellectual property in particular.

  • Play and Games for Performance (PER5008MX)

    This module will introduce students to practical methods for designing games and play structures for participatory performances that invite audiences to become actively involved in the work. In addition to learning new tools for designing and facilitating play, students will be prompted to consider playfulness from a theoretical perspective, recognising the connection between the play of mimesis and theatrical performance.

  • Politics Beyond Parliaments (PIR5013MX)

    This module analyses the role of civil society and the public sphere in democratic governance and in democratization from a variety of theoretical perspectives.

  • Voter Behaviour and Effective Election Campaigning (PIR5014MX)

    This module undertakes an advanced examination of contemporary trends and developments in theories of electoral behaviour globally; then more specifically the relationship between electoral rules, electoral systems and election outcomes; the evolution of campaign techniques, and the role, mechanics, and accuracy of opinion polls in modern electoral politics. These global understandings are applied directly to the case of British politics.

• Optional placement year

• Gain valuable on-the-job experience through our optional placement year. We will support you in your second year in deciding whether to take this opportunity, and assist you in finding a placement and in being prepared for it. The placement could be in any appropriate external setting. Alternatively, you can gain this experience by selecting our Work-Based Learning module in your final year.

  Core modules

  • School of Society and Culture Placement Year (SSC600)

    Students have the opportunity to gain work experience that will set them apart in the job market when they graduate by undertaking an optional flexible placement year. The placement must be a minimum of 24-weeks (which can be split between a maximum of two different placement providers) and up to a maximum of 48-weeks over the course of the academic year. The placement is flexible and can be undertaken virtually, part or full time and either paid or voluntary. This year allows them to apply and hone the knowledge and skills acquired from the previous years of their programme in the real world.

• Final year

• In your final year, you’ll have the opportunity to demonstrate your research skills with a dissertation on a legal issue that inspires you, or undertake work-based learning for credit, including within our Law Clinic. You’ll be able to further tailor your degree to your interests and career ambitions by choosing from a selection of Criminology and Criminal Justice modules, and Law modules such as, for example, those intending to progress to vocational training as either a solicitor or barrister, including Criminal Law and Practice, Business Law and Practice, and Trusts and Practice.

  Optional modules

  • Leisure, Consumerism and Harm (CRM6008)

    This module explores contemporary developments within the study of leisure and consumerism, offering a theoretically informed understanding of key issues at the forefront of the discipline. Students will have the opportunity to study the changing nature of criminology’s engagement with leisure against a backdrop of global consumer capitalism.

  • Fear, Crime and Control in the City (CRM6009)

    This module critically examines steadfast and emergent social issues at the interplay between social control and the social, providing students with a critical understanding of how the social is regulated socially, culturally and legally. We will do this by looking as social issues in urban space. We will explore meanings, cultural significance, and political consequences from a criminological perspective.

  • Dissertation (LAW6000)

    The production of a substantial dissertation (10,000 words) on a legal or legally related area with content and form determined by the student. For the LLB Law and Criminology the dissertation will be set in context.

  • Work-Based Learning (LAW6001)

    A 40 credit module in which students develop intellectual, practical, transferable and ethical skills in a work-based learning context. The placement may be in or for any work-based organisation, though many of these will be law related. Students may be placed within one of the Law School’s Law Clinic projects or within a Law Clinic partner organisation or they may choose to find the whole or part of their work experience independently.

  • Criminal Law and Practice (LAW6003)

    This module will build on the principles taught in Criminal Law, and introduces students to the practical/professional application of criminal litigation; it will look at the criminal justice process from investigation and the decision to charge; detention and interrogation, and introduce the substantive law and rules around criminal evidence; funding criminal legal services; through to the criminal litigation process; and sentencing and appeals.

  • Family Law (LAW6004)

    This module will examine the principles of family law from both theoretical and practical perspectives.

  • Human Rights (LAW6005)

    This module provides an in-depth analysis of the law relating to human rights with reference to national, regional and international law principles. It examines the development and scope of fundamental rights in both theory and practice, and the legitimate limits and restrictions on rights in the interests of balancing conflicting interests in democratic societies.

  • Trusts and Practice (LAW6006)

    The module examines equitable principles and the law relating to trusts and estates. The module supports the development of a practical understanding of the law sitting behind wills and the administration of trusts and estates.

  • Business Law and Practice (LAW6007)

    This module considers the “life” of business organisations, how they operate and how they are governed. It critically assesses the concepts and principles of corporate law as well as key elements of practice and procedure in how they operate and are governed. The module builds upon elements of contract law and applies them in a commercial setting.

  • Immigration Law (LAW6010)

    This module focuses on the key and topical issues in Immigration, Nationality and Refugee law in the UK. The UK’s system of immigration control is fully considered and there is some emphasis on the application of decision making to those entering the UK both for immigration purposes and as refugees. There is consideration of the global and European context and of the influence of policy, politics and the media in the field.

  • American Crime Writing (ENG6005MX)

    This module considers the development of twentieth-century American crime fiction from hard-boiled detectives, to myths of the mafia, and postmodern reinventions of the genre. This module will explore the cultural contexts of American crime writing, prevailing conventions of the genre, as well as challenges to those conventions.

  • Features Journalism Workshop (ENG6008MX)

    This module offers students an in-depth experience of professional writing. We will explore technique in features and literary journalism; music reviews, opinion columns and longer immersion features as well as other contemporary works of non-fiction feature writing, both short- and long-form, from sub-genres including profiles and interviews, autobiography and columns, travel writing, and reportage. We will learn to research and produce our own works of professional nonfiction and critically evaluate them.

  • Equality and the Law (LAW6016)

    This module will consider how Equality Law has developed over the last century and introduce students to key principles and debates in this area. To promote inclusion, the module will look at Equality Law in a social, political, and legal context. In respect of the latter, there will be a key focus on discrimination in the workplace. The module will also consider how we enforce equality rights (including the challenges for enforcement), and how they may evolve in the future.

Every undergraduate taught course has a detailed programme specification document describing the course aims, the course structure, the teaching and learning methods, the learning outcomes and the rules of assessment.

The following programme specification represents the latest course structure and may be subject to change: