Criminology and Criminal Justice - BA

University of Greenwich

This course is designed to provide students with a clear explanation of the English legal system and how it actually works in practice. As crime does not occur in a vacuum, it is essential that students of criminology are aware of the legal system and the public debates surrounding issues that help to shape criminal law at an early stage in their criminological careers. Thus students need an overall perspective on what is law; what the courts are for; the role and training of legal professionals; the criminal trial process from arrest to trial and the purpose of sentencing and punishment. As such, this course will introduce Criminology students to the criminal justice system with a specific focus on the workings of the criminal courts so that they can actually experience it as a working, changing entity and understand the possibilities for future employment within the legal system.

The aim of this course is to provide a basic grounding in Forensic Criminology. The course includes an introduction into forensic psychology and crime scene investigation. Forensic Criminology as a core course is designed to promote analytical and evaluative skills, as well as encourage the application of material to appropriate case studies. In terms of transferable skills students will, through seminar work, applied approach and problem solving, develop a knowledge and understanding of the subject area, as well as an appreciation of the ethical and complex issues that surround forensic criminology.

The purpose of this course is to equip students with a basic knowledge and understanding of criminological theory and its practical application in the fields of criminology and criminal justice. The course will consider a wide range of different theories of crime, criminality, victimisation and criminalisation.

The School of Law places high importance on encouraging students to make links with local communities and workplaces to enhance employability skills. The focus of the course will be on the practice of the criminal justice system as a whole and the different agencies that comprise it. Students will explore the relationships between different agencies, the internal and external challenges to ?best practice? in criminal justice and consider the extent to which the criminal justice system truly works as a system instead of being a disparate collection of agencies. Topics will address the work of state and private run agencies and also third sector organisations. Students will research the progress of individuals subjected to criminal justice interventions and evaluate the aim of ?end to end? management of offenders and the outcomes of such practice.

This level four course aims to identify and begin to explore the means by which we understand society and the key social processes that define it and how these can be used to explain deviant behaviour. It introduces the central issues, theories and concepts which are associated with societal processes, structures and divisions and the ways in which these relate to the construction of criminal and deviant behaviour. In doing so it considers a broad range of societal aspects, in particular those deemed ?social problems? and explores their relationship to crime and deviance, such as social exclusion, poverty, family structures, schooling, discrimination and socialisation. Students are therefore encouraged to consider the contention that in order to understand crime they need to first consider the wider social context within which it takes place.