Bachelor of Criminology

Program Overview

Deakin University's Bachelor of Criminology provides a comprehensive understanding of crime and criminal justice, equipping students with the skills to address harmful behaviors and contribute to a fairer system. Through core and specialized units, students explore the causes and impacts of crime, develop critical thinking abilities, and gain practical experience through work-integrated learning opportunities. Graduates are prepared for diverse careers in fields such as corrections, law enforcement, and policy analysis.

Program Outline

Degree Overview:

Discover why crime occurs, how we can address it, and graduate with the skills to make a real difference in the criminal justice system. Gain a deep understanding of the causes and impacts of a range of individual and organized criminal activities, from environmental crime to illicit digital surveillance. Learn how to use this knowledge to develop effective responses to harmful behaviors. Deakin’s criminology course is the most established in Australia. Our curriculum has been developed and designed in conjunction with professional bodies including Victoria Police, the Department of Justice and Community Safety Victoria, and the Australian Institute of Professional Intelligence Officers, ensuring your study experience closely reflects the needs of the industry. If you like to learn by doing, work-integrated learning opportunities challenge you to apply your skills in real-world contexts and provide the perfect preview to your future role. Do you want to help ensure fairer outcomes and a better criminal justice system? Our criminology experts will take you behind the thinking and research surrounding a breadth of criminology topics, while you build a portfolio that showcases your critical thinking and ability to meet complex questions of criminal justice with empathy and confidence. Discover how justice and criminality is defined and by whom, how our courts and correctional processes operate, and the desirable outcomes of criminal justice processes. You will also get hands-on experience through our work-integrated learning opportunities, which allow you to bridge theory with practice and gain insight into how the study of criminology applies across different industries and sectors. You may even take your learning overseas and gain a global perspective on how other countries approach criminology .

• Overseas study programs to be confirmed in 2022 and beyond, subject to government travel restrictions.

Outline:

Core Units:

• Introducing Crime and Criminology (ACR101)
• Introducing Crime and Criminal Justice (ACR102)
• Issues in Criminal Justice (ACR201)
• Explaining Crime (ACR202)
• International and Comparative Criminal Justice (ACR301)
• Criminology Research (ACR302)

Criminology Units:

• Crime, Victims, and Justice (ACR203)
• Crime, Media, and Justice (ACR204)
• Criminology in Action (ACR206)
• Crime Prevention and Security (ACR211)
• Inequality, Power, and Justice (ACR214)
• Surveillance and Social Justice (ACR304)
• Crime, Terrorism, and Security (ACR305)
• Careers in Criminal Justice (ACR306)
• Black Market Economics: Exploring the Underworld of Illicit Trade (MAE266)

Elective Units:

• Up to 12-credit points can be non-ACR coded units.
• No more than 8-credit points taken outside the Faculty of Arts and Education.
• Students must ensure they select appropriate Level 2 and Level 3 units to fulfill course requirements.
Students are encouraged to consider completing a second major sequence and therefore may wish to select elective units in accordance with that major sequence. Please refer to A310 Bachelor of Arts for a list of Faculty of Arts and Education major sequences.

Assessment:

Assessment within the award of Bachelor of Criminology varies from written assignments and/or examination to practical and technical exercises and performance.

Careers:

Graduates from this course can look forward to a diverse and challenging career, in roles such as:

• corrections officers
• crime prevention advisers
• crime researchers and analysts
• crime trends analysts
• criminologists
• federal and state police officers (requires further training)
• forensic psychologists (requires further study)
• intelligence analysts
• parole officers
• policy advisors