In your final year, you’ll further develop your knowledge of the youth justice system in England and Wales by exploring its tensions and contradictions, evaluating the competing theories explaining youth crime and youth culture, and finding out about the most recent developments and key innovations in the field. We’ll teach you how various agencies put criminological theories into practice to address crime, exploring the impact of austerity and the financial and ideological tensions between different institutions. You’ll also conduct an independent research project on a relevant topic from inception to completion, with guidance from an appropriate member of academic staff.

You could choose to further your understanding of the workings of the English and Welsh justice system. You might learn about sexual misconduct: its underlying theories, its consequences for offenders, victims and society, and the barriers to justice faced by victims of sex crimes.

You could find out about investigative psychology in police investigations and the courtroom, and/or the impact of organised crime on society, the economy and policing jurisdictions. You also have the option to examine the theories and evidence underlying the neighbourhood policing model and evaluate how successful different community policing practices are for preventing crime and anti-social behaviour under austerity, including in a global pandemic situation.

You’ll also have the opportunity to learn more about current political and international topics. You could deepen your knowledge of the implications of increasing globalisation for criminal justice, covering the tensions between local and international notions of justice as well as issues such as terrorism, human trafficking and capital punishment. You might learn how domestic and international terrorism has demanded new responses over the past two decades and evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of modern counter-terrorism measures.

You could find out how social media facilitates political activism, protest and campaigning, but can also be misused by bad actors for political ends. You could also develop an understanding of the relationship between sport, processes of globalisation and the sphere of international politics, covering topics such as racism in sport and the history and politics of FIFA.

You might opt to broaden your knowledge of history and political, sociological and philosophical schools of thought. You could find out about the varieties of feminist ideas, debates, practices and activisms. You might explore scholarly ideas about the concept of ‘evil’ and ask whether this concept helps or hinders our understanding of current issues including war and terrorism. You could choose to learn how religious, biological, social and sociological understandings of sex and sexuality have been, and are still, used to prescribe and regulate people’s sexuality and sexual behaviour.

You could look into the justifications for, and critiques of, capitalism and its proposed alternatives. You might study the social origins, causes, contexts and consequences of racism, and/or the broad approaches of Welfarism, Neoliberalism and ‘modernisation’ that inform the policies that are applied to public services.

Modules are subject to change and availability.

Assessment
We’ll assess you using a range of methods, including case studies, presentations, essays, short, weekly pieces of writing, portfolios, poster presentations, data analysis exercises, examinations and group projects, as well as your Individual Major Project. You’ll receive constructive feedback throughout the course to help you improve your work.

Introduction

Explore the nature of crime, justice and punishment and prepare for a career in criminal justice and crime prevention by studying for our Criminology degree in Cambridge.

Explore the causes of crime, the effectiveness of punishment, and how crime and victimisation are represented in the media.

In doing so, you’ll challenge your existing opinions. You’ll also develop skills in evaluating contrasting evidence, critical thinking and crafting arguments by learning how sociologists, psychologists, political theorists and law experts approach crime and complex social problems.

Our BA (Hons) Criminology course places value on hands-on learning. We learn through case studies, the latest research and interactive sessions. There may be field trips to courts, prisons and sites such as Auschwitz.