Why study Criminology?
Criminology is a way of studying how crime is socially defined, why some people commit crime, what happens to them when they do and the analysis of the impact of their actions. It is also a study of the police, court and penal systems, which collectively are described as delivering justice in a democratic society. This programme will enable students to focus on questions such as: is crime or ‘deviant’ behaviour learned or inherited, autonomous or determined; the extent to which punishment, or the threat of it, deters such behaviour; and how we evaluate policies directed towards these and similar issues. Criminal justice is one of the biggest growing areas of employment in the twenty-first century. The course enables students to understand the relationship between theory, policy and practice.
