Criminological theory and philosophy is a key theme of this module. The module aims to introduce the main theoretical approaches in criminology from its origins to the present day. The module introduces and examines the main types of theory that have sought to explain crime, criminality and social control. The critical philosophical approach adopted in this module encourages students to see social order and crime as theoretical problems rather than social facts available for straightforward empirical investigation.

The Measuring Crime module will help you to develop highly valuable skills in data-handling and analysis. It is a module about crime data, particularly data from sources that influence criminal justice policy and practice. The data we use also informs government and the general public about the nature (and the extent) of crime.

Focusing on the Crime Survey for England and Wales, Police Recorded Crime, and criminal justice statistics from the courts, our lectures explore issues around data generation, reliability, validity and the ways it can be presented.

In the accompanying computer-based workshops, you will learn how to analyse and present data using Excel and SPSS. In these workshops we also consider data that has been used in previously published research, this data is based on the official criminal histories of offenders. Our learning approach gives you an extremely well-rounded understanding of some of the most influential information about crime.

Social research is at the heart of social science perspectives on criminology. Research provides an important means of producing evidence within criminology and in the planning and evaluation of policies and provision within the criminal justice system. The module introduces the theoretical foundations and processes of different forms of social research used within criminology focusing in particular on criminological fieldwork.

This module introduces students to a range of contemporary crime ‘problems’ through a study of academic debates and perspectives. The historical, socio-economic and cultural contexts will be explored whereby students will be encouraged to critically analyse the process of criminalisation, criminal justice responses, and how these criminal or ‘deviant’ activities have come to be considered problematic. Specialist areas of criminological debate will be addressed, such as cultural criminology, the criminology of everyday life and the relationship between crime, pleasure and transgression.

What role do police forces play within the criminal justice system? What are some of the contemporary issues in policing? Where do the police fit into a broader framework of security, governance and regulation?

This module tackles fundamental questions such as these and helps you to think and write critically about key concepts connected to the nature, culture and structure of police forces in the UK.

The module is led by research-active staff and its content is informed by their latest research. You will explore a range of issues that shape UK policing, including:

• police use of force
• policing ethnic minorities
• policing protest
• victims and the police
• women in policing

We have excellent links to Lancashire Police, which inform this module. A combination of lectures and seminars is used to enhance your critical thinking skills and your verbal and written communication. Assessment through a group presentation will give you experience of public speaking and team-working.

This option can be taken alongside half-unit modules in Criminology taught in the second year. You can take one of the Criminology option modules and be assessed in the usual way (one essay plus exam) for a half-unit, and can also undertake this half-unit extended essay on a topic related to that particular module. However, the topic does not have to relate directly to a taught module and you can talk to staff about carrying out a small piece of documentary or other research in relevant areas of Criminology.

This module aims to provide you with knowledge and understanding of:

• The range, extent and nature of cybercrime in the 21st Century.
• The role of the Internet and other ICT in criminal networking, planning and communication for both cyber (online) and 'traditional' (offline) crime.
• The challenges inherent in responding to cybercrime and online aspects of traditional crime and criminality.
• Criminal justice and other (e.g. personal and private security) responses to cybercrime and criminality.
• The application of established criminological theories to cybercrime and online criminality.

In this module students will explore the intricate and evolving world of financial misconduct, its impacts, and relevant laws and regulations. The module covers a spectrum of financial crimes, including fraud, corruption, money laundering, financing terrorism, and cartels from criminological and legal perspectives. Students will be introduced to global and domestic regulatory frameworks governing the financial system, gain valuable insights into the challenges and strategies in financial crime prevention, and analyse common financial crime modes of opertating through real-world case analyses. Ethical considerations in the technological and financial industry as well as the evidence-based approach towards laws and regulation will also be emphasized. Additionally, the module aims to enhance employability by providing knowledge and skills sought after in finance, law enforcement, compliance, and risk management.

How does society respond to environmental harms? What is the legal response to such issues? Which social and/or economic factors cause environmental risk? What influence or impact does media coverage have on ‘green’ issues?

This fascinating and highly relevant module considers the above questions and journeys through the following topics:

• Anthropocentric environmental harms (human beings’ ethical relationship with the natural environment)
• Environmental victimisation (those harmed by changes in their environment)
• Socio-economic factors
• Socio-legal responses
• Media coverage of ‘green ‘issues
• Protest, movements and environmental activism
• Animal rights
• Zemiology (social harms)

The academics who lead this module are researching the Illegal Wildlife Trade overseas. They will introduce you to this research and will encourage you to consider the overlap between environmental harm and other areas of criminology.

What are human rights? How are they implemented or contravened? What is the relationship between complex human rights issues and society today?

This module uses the context of the European human rights regime to investigate civil liberties and human rights protection. You will adopt a critical and comparative approach as you gain a comprehensive grounding in the law of human rights.

We will tackle some of the most complex and relevant issues such as the right to life, freedom from torture, freedom of expression, and capital punishment. Specific case studies allow you to engage with issues and questions regarding whistle-blowing and enforced disappearances.

Our teaching is research-led and combines seminars, tutorials and lectures. You will be encouraged to read as widely as possible on the subject and we will help you to develop your skills in critical analysis, discourse and debate.

Many commentators claim that organised crime is one of the greatest problems facing contemporary societies. Law enforcement officials around the world have reported a significant increase in the range and scope of international criminal activity since the early 1990s. Worldwide shifts in social, political and economic arrangements- often described as ‘globalisation’ - have opened up opportunities for organised crime groups. The extent of groups involved in transnational organised crime (TOC) and the profits made means TOC has become a priority area for governments around the world.

Our Youth Justice module is an opportunity to consider the tension between perceptions of children as ‘troubled’ and ‘troublesome’. We will also explore the criminal justice response to children who are in conflict with the law.

The competing themes of welfare and justice are closely examined, along with the recent history of youth justice policy. Following these thematic explorations, we take a more in-depth look into specific topics, including:

• female offenders
• youth imprisonment
• comparative youth justice
• children in care

This module is led by a research-active lecturer with an interest in children in the care and criminal justice systems; the lecture on children in care draws specifically on their cutting-edge research. The combination of lectures and small group teaching helps you to develop your understanding, deepen your criminological knowledge, and develop your critical evaluation skills.

Informed by the latest research, this module critically examines the complex interactions between the media and crime.

Included in this fascinating area of study are:

• theories of deviancy, moral panics and newsworthiness
• representations of youth and female offenders
• sex and hate crimes
• revenge pornography and cybercrime
• critical explorations of the use of media in the context of crime and criminal justice

We take a multi-disciplinary approach to the module so you will study key media concepts and then discuss how these relate to crime, deviancy and criminal justice issues.

The module assessment is both novel and creative. You will produce a media portfolio - completing a literature review on a topic of your choice - before engaging in a critical analysis using sources such as newspapers, documentaries or social media content. This approach helps to ensure that you develop a practical understanding of media analysis and of the representation of crime in the media.

Our academic staff research extensively in the areas of crime and media. They will use their research to guide lecture content and, where appropriate, will provide you with data from their projects to analyse and discuss.

This full-unit option offers you the opportunity of developing and using research skills by undertaking a piece of documentary or field research in an area of criminology.

You will prepare a dissertation based on empirical research on a topic within the field of criminology. You should agree your topic with your supervisor, who will need to have expertise in the agreed area so that they can provide guidance for your research.

This option can be taken alongside third year taught half-unit modules in Criminology. You can therefore take one of the third year Criminology option modules and be assessed in the usual way (one essay plus exam) for a half-unit, and can also undertake this half-unit extended essay on a topic related to that particular module.

The topic does not have to relate directly to a taught module and, if you wish, you can talk to staff about a small piece of documentary or other research in relevant areas of Criminology.

For this extended essay you will be individually tutored and therefore the availability of the option is subject to the department's ability to provide a suitable supervisor for you chosen subject.

This module introduces students to a range of topics and perspectives related to decolonisation, with a focus on those demographics whose needs have been historically neglected, marginalised and overlooked within the fields of Criminology & Criminal Justice. This is a key point made by an evolving and expanding body of decolonial scholarship, criminology itself has accused of neglecting to represent the voices and therefore needs of a wide majority of populations. Criminology has been concerned with criminality, criminal behaviour, offenders, and offending behaviour. This prioritizes a focus on the individual, in terms of punishment, reform, and rehabilitation. Per decolonization, students will be introduced to more expanded perspectives, looking at concerns with criminalization and deviance invention and ultimately how institutional rules and practices impact the ability of individuals to participate and contribute, in law abiding ways.

An engaging and highly relevant module, Drugs, Crime and Society examines the nature and extent of drug taking in the UK and beyond.

We will:

• explore the difficulties of researching hidden populations, like drug users
• engage with theories of drug use from a sociological, psychological and cultural perspective
• consider global and national drug markets
• investigate the links between drugs and crime
• evaluate policing responses to drugs

You will be taught by research-active lecturers who will introduce you to the latest research in this field and contemporary debate. For example, you might study current research and publications concerning cannabis cultivation, world markets, and drug distribution among friends (also known as ‘social supply’).

This module will focus on hate crime, but will draw on notions from a range of international sources and jurisdictions.

Issues covered will focus on the question of what is ‘hate crime’, before ensuring that you gain an understanding of the harms of ‘hate crime’. There will be a discussion of the perpetrators of ‘hate crime’ as well as the policing of such. The international perspective to this module will be gained from a discussion of ‘hate crime’ as a human rights problem, with a particular focus on freedom of speech. Substantive issues will also be explored, notably, the notion of criminalising collective memory, with a focus on outlawing Holocaust denial and other crimes against humanity.

This module will assess the legal and practical issues surrounding responses to massive violations of human rights, before the political and moral issues involved in using national and international courts will be discussed. The imposition of truth commissions as well as other techniques of ‘transitional justice’ to respond to massive human rights violations will be critically analysed in order to deduce the success of such responses.

How should we understand the role of punishment under democracy? How do the historical, cultural and ideological relationships that underpin and, to a certain extent, determine punishment inform our conceptions of Justice, Fairness, and Equality?

This module examines both the historical and philosophical dimensions of modern democratic punishment. We will probe the punitive landscape charted by theorists like Michel Foucault, Norbert Elias, and Emile Durkheim. This module will also consider the “new punitiveness” and the “old” in search of an explanation for the rise of the incapacitative approach to punishment, its permanence and its implications for the legitimacy of the democratic project.

This module will introduce you to a range of sexual crimes and forms of sexual offending as defined by UK and international law.

The module will cover a number of key areas:

• types of sexual crimes governed by UK and international law – what constitutes a particular sexual crime, how it is sometimes committed, and the extent of such crimes;
• ways in which sex crimes and offending behaviour is explained – considering who the perpetrators are and why they commit crimes of a sexual nature, as well as the wider social context which may help explain why some sexual crimes are defined by law and how new crimes emerge as the social context changes;
• critically examine how the crimes are dealt with by the criminal justice system such as the laws and policies which surround these crimes, their implementation and how well they operate in practice in terms of treatments, support and punishments given to sexual offenders and their victims.