Criminology (Placement Year)

BA Hons

  • UCAS code M931
  • Entry year 2026 or 2025
  • A level requirements BBB
  • Duration Full time 4 years
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We welcome applications from the United States of America

We've put together information and resources to guide your application journey as a student from the United States of America.

Overview

Top reasons to study with us

  • 6

    6th for Criminology

    The Times and Sunday Times Good University Guide (2025)

  • 9

    9th for Student satisfaction for Criminology

    The Complete University Guide (2025)

  • Joint 7th for Criminology The Guardian University Guide (2025)

Ready to see the world of crime and criminal justice differently? Join us to unpick theories and perspectives that explore today’s most pressing crime-related issues. You will study a wide range of topics and have the opportunity to connect with local agencies such as the police and the prison service. Work with our specialist careers advisors to plan your future in the criminal justice system and beyond.

Why Lancaster?

  • Critically explore crime and justice: A thought-provoking degree that examines crime through a social justice lens
  • Exceptional academic support: Work closely with engaged lecturers who value your ideas and are committed to helping you grow as a criminologist
  • Build connections: Network with experts from NGOs, charities, law enforcement, and other criminal justice organisations
  • Unlock your career potential: Tailored career advice to discover diverse pathways and practical steps you can take to achieve your goals
  • Work with Leading Experts: Our academics advise the United Nations and the EU, influence drug policies in the UK and overseas and work with national and local criminal justice agencies
  • Explore today’s challenges on topics such as drug-related crimes, sex offences, organised crime, and human rights violations

A rich history of Criminology

Lancaster is a city that has criminal justice at its heart. From the medieval period to contemporary times, the Castle in Lancaster has served as an assizes court, crown court and a fully functioning prison. From the infamous 1612 trial and execution of the ten people accused of witchcraft to the more recent exoneration of accused terrorists the ‘Birmingham Six’, Lancaster Castle has been the site of both persecution and justice. Past or present, this is not dramatised or romantic crime. This is real life: brutal, saddening, enraging, uncomfortable, but fascinating.

Criminology at Lancaster has a long and distinguished history informed by this past but looking strongly to the future of crime and punishment in the United Kingdom and internationally.

A critical view of crime and punishment

The city as a centre for criminal justice and injustice creates a strong sense of what our degree is about. On this course, you’ll look critically at the social, cultural, political, and economic contexts of crime and criminal justice, as well as viewing challenges through a social justice lens. You will examine how crime is portrayed in the media and popular culture and explore how deviancy is rendered as a criminal act and how activism and protest can be demonised.

You will learn to untangle the complex relationship between society, crime, and the criminal justice system and explore what alternative approaches to justice might look like now and in the future.

Together, we will investigate the historical, present, and future dimensions of crime—spanning urban streets to digital spaces in national and global perspectives.

Questions of justice

Our sense of who we are as a society revolves around our definitions and relationship with crime. Who decides what counts as ‘wrong’? Why is ‘justice’ such a contested word? Why do some communities have higher rates of crime than others? What does it mean to ‘police’? Why do well-intended preventative campaigns fail to reach many people?

You will engage with questions of morality, explore philosophical debates, and undertake deep self-reflection to focus on the meanings, values and judgements that frame crime. In doing so you will learn to ask and answer such difficult questions with evidence and confidence.

Engage with experts

Criminology at Lancaster takes you through landmark theories to the critical evaluation and analysis of statistics, to detailed studies of processes and pathways through the criminal justice system. You will be taught by an internationally recognised team of researchers who lead in shaping both criminal justice policy and the academic field of criminology.

Our expertise and research inform our teaching and give you an insight into the ways policies and laws are influenced and changed.

Topics might include:

  • Human rights
  • Asylum and migration
  • Green criminology
  • Cyber security and policing
  • Gendered harm
  • Media and popular culture
  • Youth justice
  • Crime and power

You will also gain insights directly from visiting speakers. Previously students have listened to talks from Victim Support, a Restorative Justice coordinator from Lancashire Constabulary, a Detective Inspector working in domestic abuse and a 'professional burglar' who turned his life around and now advocates for crime prevention and community support.

Great student experience, great student support

At Lancaster we pride ourselves on providing excellent student experience and support. It is at university that you will build up not only your professional networks, but equally important your confidence and your social group. For example, you can join the Criminology Society and take part in a wide variety of events, ranging from academic and career-informed activities that complement existing criminological knowledge, to fun and social nights designed to help foster a strong sense of community.

Our historic city offers great opportunity for rewarding experience. You may take part in field trips to the Castle and visit its fascinating former prison, magnificent Crown Court and Lancashire Police Museum. The supportive and personalised experience we offer is designed to make your time with us memorable, enjoyable and successful.

A police officer from Lancaster Constabulary

Build networks: make connections

Employers value experience and creating new connections is vital to your future.  We’ll introduce you to professionals at NGOs and charities, as well as local criminal justice agencies such as Lancashire Constabulary, the Police Federation for England and Wales, Police Scotland, HMP Lancaster Farms, HMP Thorn Cross, prison education providers Novus, and Probation and Youth Justice.   The Psychology Employability Programme allows you to undertake an exciting placement either within a local organisation or at the University as a research assistant to build up your employability skill sets.

We’ll also help you access a variety of placement and volunteering opportunities. Recent students have undertaken roles within West Mercia Police, HMP Lancaster Farms, Partners of Prisoners (POPS) and Family Support, Red Rose Recovery, Global Telemetrics (Security Liaison) and Enterprise. 

Your Placement Year

Sometimes known as a year in industry, your placement year will take place between your second and final year of study and this will extend your degree to four years.

Placements and Internships

Hear from students and employers on how Lancaster University could support you to gain real-world experience and bolster your CV with a placement or internship as part of your degree.

A student working on a piece of stained glass.

A placement year is an excellent way to...

  • try out a role that you may be interested in as a career path
  • start to build your professional network (some placement students are offered permanent roles to return to after they graduate)
  • develop skills, knowledge and experience to put you ahead of the field when you graduate

You'll spend your third year...

in a graduate-level position, where you’ll work for between nine and twelve months in the type of role that you might be considering for after you graduate. A very wide range of companies and organisations offer placements across all sectors.

As a full-time employee, you’ll have a job description with specific responsibilities and opportunities to access training and development, the same as other employees.

A whiteboard showing a diagram of 'how to create a CV'

Our Careers and Placements Team...

will help you to search and compete for a suitable placement with expert advice and resources, such as creating an effective CV, and tips for applications and interviews.

You will still be a Lancaster University student during your placement and we’ll keep in touch to check how you are getting on.

Students drinking coffee in a campus coffee bar

The university will...

use all reasonable effort to support you to find a suitable placement for your studies. While a placement role may not be available in a field or organisation that is directly related to your academic studies or career aspirations, all offer valuable experience of working at a graduate level and gaining a range of professional skills.

If you are unsuccessful in securing a suitable placement for your third year, you will be able to transfer to the equivalent non-placement degree scheme and continue with your studies at Lancaster, finishing your degree after your third year.

Careers

Our Criminology degree creates opportunities to work in a wide array of exciting and impactful careers, offering the chance to work at the intersections of justice and social change.

Alongside real-world experience, you’ll gain the professional skills that employers value. In addition to your comprehensive knowledge of crime and criminal justice in a range of contexts you will be a strong communicator with the confidence to speak in public, put forward an argument and make sound decisions. Able to think critically, carry out research and analyse data, you will be a valuable asset in any professional role.

Your degree will prepare you for roles with criminal justice agencies (the Police, Prison Service, the National Probation Service), the Home Office, the Department for Health, Social Services, charities and the Youth Offending Service.

A dedicated careers team is on hand to help you make decisions about your future, and we’ll explain how to access professional bodies and criminal justice organisations.You will graduate with the skills, experience and contacts you need for a rewarding career within the criminal justice system and beyond

Our graduates have gone on to roles with:

  • Criminal justice agencies (the police force, HM Prison Service, the National Probation Service, GSL UK)
  • The Home Office & Ministry of Justice
  • The Department for Health and Social Care
  • Local Government
  • NHS trusts
  • Charities
  • Youth offending services
  • Legal and Consulting firms
  • Banks and financial institutions

You may also choose to go on to further study or gain professional qualifications that will take your career further.

Careers and employability support

Our degrees open up an extremely wide array of career pathways in businesses and organisations, large and small, in the UK and overseas.

We run a paid internship scheme specifically for our arts, humanities and social sciences students, supported by a specialist Employability Team. The team offer individual consultations and tailored application guidance, as well as careers events, development opportunities, and resources.

Whether you have a clear idea of your potential career path or need some help considering the options, our friendly team is on hand.

Lancaster is unique in that every student is eligible to participate in The Lancaster Award which recognises activities such as work experience, community engagement or volunteering and social development. A valuable addition to your CV!

Find out more about Lancaster’s careers events, extensive resources and personal support for Careers and Employability.

Careers

Find out about some of the careers our alumni have entered into after graduation.

Entry requirements

These are the typical grades that you will need to study this course. You may need to have qualifications in relevant subjects. In some cases we may also ask you to attend an interview or submit a portfolio. You must also meet our English language requirements.

Find more about these qualifications and others not shown here

Learn about how we will assess your application

Qualifications and typical requirements accordion

Contact Admissions

If you are thinking of applying to Lancaster and you would like to ask us a question, please complete our enquiry form and one of our team will get back to you.

International foundation programmes

Delivered in partnership with INTO Lancaster University, our one-year tailored foundation pathways are designed to improve your subject knowledge and English language skills to the level required by a range of Lancaster University degrees. Visit the INTO Lancaster University website for more details and a list of eligible degrees you can progress onto.

Contextual admissions

Contextual admissions could help you gain a place at university if you have faced additional challenges during your education which might have impacted your results. Visit our contextual admissions page to find out about how this works and whether you could be eligible.

Course structure

Enhancing our curriculum

We continually review and enhance our curriculum to ensure we are delivering the best possible learning experience, and to make sure that the subject knowledge and transferable skills you develop will prepare you for your future.

We will publish more detailed information about the structure of this degree course for 2026-entry in June 2025, ahead of our summer undergraduate open days. This will include overviews of the core modules you will take and examples of optional modules which may be available to you.

Fees and funding

We set our fees on an annual basis and the 2026/27 entry fees have not yet been set.

As a guide, our fees in 2025/26 were:

Home International
£9,535 £24,700

Fees and funding information

Additional fees and funding information accordion

Scholarships and bursaries

Details of our scholarships and bursaries for students starting in 2026 are not yet available.

You can use our scholarships for 2025-entry applicants as guidance.

Important information

The information on this site relates primarily to 2026/2027 entry to the University and every effort has been taken to ensure the information is correct at the time of publication.

The University will use all reasonable effort to deliver the courses as described, but the University reserves the right to make changes to advertised courses. In exceptional circumstances that are beyond the University’s reasonable control (Force Majeure Events), we may need to amend the programmes and provision advertised. In this event, the University will take reasonable steps to minimise the disruption to your studies. If a course is withdrawn or if there are any fundamental changes to your course, we will give you reasonable notice and you will be entitled to request that you are considered for an alternative course or withdraw your application. You are advised to revisit our website for up-to-date course information before you submit your application.

More information on limits to the University’s liability can be found in our legal information.

Our Students’ Charter

We believe in the importance of a strong and productive partnership between our students and staff. In order to ensure your time at Lancaster is a positive experience we have worked with the Students’ Union to articulate this relationship and the standards to which the University and its students aspire. View our Charter and other policies.

Undergraduate open days 2025

Our summer and autumn open days will give you Lancaster University in a day. Visit campus and put yourself in the picture.

Undergraduate Open Days
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  • The city and beyond

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