BA (Hons) Crime and Criminal Justice

Program Overview

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Course Details

Crime is evolving. New technologies and more complex societal pressures are leading to new criminal activities. Our BA (Hons) Crime and Criminal Justice degree is designed to educate future criminal justice professionals. We offer you the deep understanding of the causes of crime, criminal behaviour and how to combat crime that are needed for a career safeguarding the public, supporting victims, protecting the vulnerable, and helping to rehabilitate offenders.

We’ll guide you as you investigate the individual, social, legal and political forces that shape both crime and how it is controlled, as well as the interrelationships between research, theory, policy and practice in criminal justice. Areas such as criminal investigation, multi-agency working, ethics and diversity, the penal system, mental health, human rights, social justice, restorative justice, community safety, poverty, and safeguarding people at risk will be addressed, along with specific crimes such as human trafficking, modern slavery, gender and domestic violence, hate crime and terrorism, youth crime, illegal drug use and anti-social behaviour.

Our academic staff come from a diverse range of professional criminal justice backgrounds. They will encourage and support you to develop the practical skills, academic knowledge, and personal qualities (such as grit and resilience) needed to succeed in this dynamic sector.

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Highlights

Our Criminology courses are ranked first in the North West of England for teaching quality and student experience for the second year running by The Times and The Sunday Times Good University Guide 2022.

Also, The Complete University Guide 2022 ranks us second in the UK and first in England for student satisfaction for Sociology (which includes our Crime and Criminal Justice courses).

You’ll have the opportunity to learn interviewing techniques from experienced specialists.

We work closely with organisations such as the College of Policing, the Crown Prosecution Service, Public Health England, the Home Office, and Her Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service, ensuring our course offers a truly holistic view of crime and criminal justice in the UK and fosters a culture of multi-disciplinary working and information sharing between agencies.

If you’re an experienced criminal justice professional, you may be eligible for exemptions from certain modules based on your prior experience or qualifications. Please ask about our Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL) process.

The course covers the four knowledge modules required by the National Offender Management Service (NOMS) as prerequisites for Probation Officer training. We’ll encourage you to gain the relevant experience necessary, and can advise and support you as you approach potential placement providers.

We offer opportunities for you to visit criminal justice workplaces, such as prisons, law courts, police stations and rehabilitation centres so you can gain a first-hand understanding of these environments and how they operate.

We work with experienced forensics professionals who have been responsible for training Scenes of Crime Officers (SOCOs) for the police, and offer you the chance to visit crime scene training locations to learn about securing crime scenes and evidence collection and preservation.

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Key Features

The criminal justice sector offers a wide range of rewarding and challenging careers. We’ll support you to gain both the professional and personal skills to succeed, coaching you in areas like critical thinking, evaluation and analysis, self-reflection, cultural sensitivity and developing mental resilience.

We’ll also support you to gain vital academic and lifelong learning skills so that you are well prepared to research new innovations, apply your knowledge in new ways, and keep abreast of shifts in policy and practice in the criminal justice sector throughout your career.

Our professionally experienced tutors bring their wealth of on-the-job expertise and practical knowledge into their research, teaching and one-to-one advice, ensuring you’re able to benefit from a wide range of highly informed criminal justice perspectives.

We prefer to keep seminar and practical classes relatively small, so that you have plenty of opportunities to ask us questions and get help, as well as benefit from the ideas and support offered by your classmates.

We’re committed to helping you develop your employability and career network. You’ll be encouraged to attend guest lectures and undertake volunteering activities that enhance your learning, help you make contacts in the industry, and contribute to your professional development.

As well as helping you to develop academic and technical professional skills, we’ll focus on preparing you for the emotional and psychological demands of criminal justice work, and the intense situations you may face during your career.

By choosing to study with us, you'll have the chance to enjoy Bolton's many shops, bars, restaurants and leisure facilities. Manchester, one of the UK's most multicultural and lively cities, is less than 20 minutes away by train. Not forgetting, the North West of England is renowned for its beautiful countryside, coastline and heritage. This makes Bolton an ideal base from which to explore some of the best cultural and outdoor activities the UK offers.

Program Outline

Whether you are new to the field or have many years’ experience of working in the criminal justice sector, this fascinating degree offers you a wide ranging, yet detailed, view of crime and criminal justice in preparation for a career in this demanding yet rewarding sector.

On successful completion of this course you’ll have an in-depth theoretical and applied knowledge and understanding of crime and its consequences, an extensive knowledge of the criminal justice system, and a keen understanding of contemporary social issues and problems. You’ll also have a valuable range of skills and competencies specific to practice in the criminal justice sector, along with transferable skills that are attractive to employers in any sector. These include the ability to present and develop a cohesive argument, IT skills, research and problem-solving skills, communication skills and team-working skills.

We’ll encourage you to prepare for your career from day one. Professional development planning is an essential part of the course, and we’ll help you to explore potential career paths through discussion and one-to-one meetings with staff. We’ll also organise presentations from a host of different crime and criminal justice organisations, who will explain the services they provide, the careers available in their sector, and how you may be able to help them and gain valuable experience and knowledge by volunteering with their organisation.

Exploring the workings of criminal justice agencies, like the police, courts, prisons and probation service, as well as the wider roles in offender management and crime prevention being taken over by private companies and voluntary groups, will likely help you identify and focus on potential career paths. Undertaking relevant practical voluntary experience can help confirm your career choice, build your skills and enhance your employability.

What can I do with this qualification?

Our BA (Hons) Crime and Criminal Justice course has been designed to meet the needs of the criminal justice sector, which includes a wide range of public, private and not-for-profit organisations that provide crime prevention, victim support, and offender management and rehabilitation services.

As a graduate, you’ll be prepared to work for a variety of criminal justice organisations, such as the Police Service, Her Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service, British Transport Police, related private sector providers such as Serco and G4S, and for charities working in areas such as victim support. You may also be attracted to roles offered by security and intelligence agencies such as the Ministry of Defence, the UK Border Force, and Immigration Enforcement, or seek employment in related fields such as Trading Standards and HM Revenue and Customs.

Graduates may move on to postgraduate or professional study, such as a Master’s degree in Social Work, a Postgraduate Certificate in Education (PGCE) if you wish to work as a teacher, or the LLM Common Professional Examination if you are interested in becoming a lawyer.

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Alternative career options

Graduates can also use the qualification as a stepping stone to enter a range of other careers, and for some of these roles, both relevant experience and/or postgraduate study may be required. Some of these roles include:

Magistrate

Social work

Public health and safeguarding

Teaching and education

International aid/development

Mentoring

Health promotion

Behaviour management

Work with refugee and asylum seekers

Advice work

Community safety

Family support

Political research

Charity and advice work

Human Resources