MSc in Criminology and Criminal Justice

• Applicants are normally expected to be predicted or have achieved a first-class or strong upper second-class undergraduate degree with honours (or equivalent international qualifications), as a minimum, in law, sociology, politics, economics, social policy, psychology, history, or another subject relevant to criminology.
• For applicants with a degree from the USA, the minimum GPA sought is 3.7 out of 4.0.
• If you hold non-UK qualifications and wish to check how your qualifications match these requirements, you can contact the National Recognition Information Centre for the United Kingdom (UK NARIC).
• Extensive employment experience within the broad field of criminal justice may be regarded by the Board of Admissions as compensating for a lack of an undergraduate degree to the required standard.
• Applicants whose first language is not English are usually required to provide evidence of proficiency in English at the higher level required by the University.

Core course and compulsory research methods course

The compulsory core course runs weekly for the first eight weeks of the first two terms. 

Explanation and understanding in criminology

In the first term, this theme develops understanding of the organising categories and central claims of a range of modern criminological perspectives of crime and social control. It will equip you to recognise the main problems, questions, dichotomies and ideas that have shaped modern criminological thought, and to understand the nature of ‘theory’ and ‘explanation’ within criminology.

Understanding criminal justice

The second half of the course offers you a thorough grounding in the criminological understanding of criminal justice/penal institutions and processes. The core themes of classic research on these processes are introduced, before you are introduced to contemporary issues and controversies in criminal justice and punishment. The course introduces you to competing theoretical perspectives on the criminal justice process and encourages you to think about the role of the state/criminal law in the regulation of human behaviour and the place and limitations of criminal justice interventions in producing safe societies.

Research design and data collection

This course is focused on the challenges and the opportunities that different methods of data collection have for validity and reliability of data. Methods include experiments and quasi-experiments; questionnaires and survey research; field research, and the collection of written documents. The scientific method, theory testing and research design will also be discussed. Ethical concerns are given special emphasis.

Optional subjects

You will take five optional modules over the first and second terms of the year. Option courses run for eight weeks in each term. Recent option modules have included:

• Race and gender
• Sentencing
• Public and private policing 
• Research Methods
• Prisons
• Comparative, Criminal Justice, Security and Human Rights
• Politics of Crime Control
• Comparative and Transnational Justice
• Criminal Justice, Migration and Citizenship
• Crime and the Family
• Violence and Civilisation
• Criminal Justice in Transitional Settings
• Risk, Security and Criminal Justice
• The Death Penalty
• Youth Justice