International Criminology MA

Core modules:

Issues in Comparative Penology

This module studies punishment in its social contexts. It examines how penal systems work and in what ways they vary between different societies. The module will draw on an ongoing survey of penal systems in twelve countries. Students of different nationalities will have every opportunity to discuss and compare their own countries' experiences. Topics covered will include sentencing, imprisonment, non-custodial penalties, young offenders, privatisation of punishment, penal philosophies and the sociology of punishment.

15 credits

The Research Process

This module provides an introduction to the principles and practices of social science research. It will provide an overview of key concepts and distinctions, such as between epistemology and ontology, methods and methodology, subjectivity and objectivity, inductive and deductive reasoning, as well setting out some of the main principles of ethical social science research. It will also encourage students to critically reflect on how to put these principles into practice. It will teach students how to conduct literature searches, as well as exploring some of the main data collection and analysis techniques used in social science research, and how research studies are designed.

15 credits

Responding to Crime in Europe

This provides an introductory examination, at Master's level, of the levels of crime and the approaches taken in responding to crime across Europe. The focus will be comparative, considering the levels of victimisation, criminal justice organisation, and crime prevention initiatives that have been taken and put in place in different European countries.

15 credits

The Cultures of Criminology

Criminology is a subject area to which the academic disciplines of sociology, psychology, economics and law are brought to bear. This module explores the cultures of criminology - what criminologists take for granted as common-sense about the theory and methods they use to explore various subjects - to discover the very different theoretical and related methodological assumptions made by criminologists of particular academic persuasions. This aids our understanding of the benefits and shortcomings of choosing one theoretical perspective over another, and of the complexities of cross-cultural, comparative research. All of which has direct relevance to what could be called 'applied criminology' - the world of policy and administration.

15 credits

Dissertation (International Criminology)

Students must complete a 10,000-12,000 word dissertation on a legal topic of their choice within the field of international criminology. The dissertation gives the student the opportunity to explore an area of their interest in some depth. To achieve a masters standard the student is required to demonstrate an up-to-date critical analysis of the topic chosen for discussion.

60 credits

Optional modules - examples include:

Crime and Globalisation

The module examines crime in global perspective, including crime problems that have typically gone below the criminological radar and crime problems of the Global South. The module will examine crimes that cross national borders, new forms of (often organised) crime, crimes comitted by nation states, 'crimes' in zones without law and new, transnational, definitions of criminal conduct. In this module students will encounter case studies of crimes from a variety of global locations and will engage with up to the minute criminological research and theorising that attempts to understand and explain crime in a global context.

15 credits

Criminality, Victimhood and War

The module will examine the contested nature of criminality and victimhood within the context of war. Set against the backdrop of the post-9/11 War on Terror, it will explore how states, soldiers, contractors and civilians can all be characterised as both criminals and victims.

15 credits

Global Terrorism and Counterterrorism

This module critically examines terrorism and counterterrorism, and its impacts on law, criminal justice, and security. It draws on theoretical, legal and empirical terrorism research, and case studies from the UK, USA and other jurisdictions as well as considering efforts to define terrorism, and explores the roles of the media and social media in framing terrorism. The module examines efforts to combat terrorism through new legislation, policing, application of exceptional government powers, and community-based initiatives alongside exploring intended and unintended consequences of counterterrorism, including impacts on targeted communities and legitimacy implications.

15 credits

Gender and Violence

Gender and Violence focuses on inter-personal violence - sexual violence; 'domestic' violence; 'domestic' murder; male-on-male violence; and child abuse. The module examines whether and how extreme violence could be theorized as gendered. It explores how sexual and 'domestic' violence have been and are represented in popular discourse; in the law; in criminal justice processes; and in service provision and it traces developments in these areas, using case-studies and international comparisons.

15 credits

International Criminal Law

This module examines the material and subjective elements of international crimes namely, the crime of genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes, and the crime of aggression; the criminal responsibility of individuals, and the mechanisms for the prosecution and punishment of the offenders. It also considers alternative methods of attributing justice. The module will mainly focus on the International Criminal Court and its jurisprudence and on the jurisprudence of the Yugoslav (ICTY) and the Rwanda (ICTR) Tribunals.

15 credits

Policing and Society

The aim of the module is to explore relationships between the police, citizens and their wider socio-political context. After all, the police are the 'litmus paper' for the unfolding dynamics of society. The module starts by familiarising students with key concepts, such as discretion, coercion and accountability. The module then goes to explore in-depth the history of policing, theories of policing, police powers and citizens' rights, community policing and patterns of policing in late-modern global societies, including civilianisation, privatisation and transnationalisation. This module draws partly on empirical evidence from England and Wales and other common law jurisdictions, but is also grounded in sociological theories about policing and society.

15 credits

Media, culture, crime and punishment

This module critically explores how meanings around criminality and criminal justice are constructed, perceived and contested through a range of different cultural forms and practices.

The module will support students to examine the role of cultural representations of crime in reproducing and resisting/contesting intersecting structural inequalities of race, gender, and social class across different geographic contexts.

Students will be supported to critically consider questions including:

How are crime and punishment portrayed in popular culture, political discourse and news coverage?

How do these cultural representations shape our understandings of, and attitudes to, crime and criminal justice?

How have activists, artists, academics and others sought to challenge and contest some of the dominant representations of crime and punishment that dominate popular culture?

Through a series of interactive workshops, we will focus on empirical examples and case studies from a range of contexts to consider how crime and criminal justice are represented in popular culture and public debate. We will explore and engage in current debates, asking if the burgeoning popularity of 'true crime' series has made us more concerned about serious crime; how we might read representations of police in film and television programmes as forms of 'copaganda'; and how media depictions of urban unrest shape criminal justice reactions to it.

15 credits

Qualitative Methods in Criminological Research

This module introduces students to a variety of qualitative research methods that are used in criminological research. Topics covered typically include interviews, ethnography, audio-visual methods and qualitative data analysis. As well as learning about the benefits, practicalities and limitations of qualitative research tools, techniques and processes, students on this module will have opportunities to learn how to apply them to their own research projects. Students will also have opportunities to learn to critically analyse the use of qualitative methods by criminologists and develop an understanding of how qualitative methods are used to create knowledge.  

15 credits

Introducing Quantitative Methods for Criminologists

Data is everywhere. They come from a myriad of sources such as survey data collected by research organisations and government agencies (including national victimisation surveys such as the Crime Survey for England and Wales), internal data used for operational services (Probation, Crown Courts, Prisons, NHS) and open data (Police Force Data, etc). 

With the amount of data being collected and analysed, it is crucial to acquire the skills to analyse them, but more importantly, the ability to comprehend and critically assess data to gain meaningful insight. 

This module aims to equip students with foundational statistical literacy skills to understand and critically evaluate data and inferences drawn from those data. It will introduce the principles of research design providing students with a wide array of methodological approaches to research, data collection and statistical methods for data analysis.

The module explicitly emphasises the key role of theory in all the stages of the research process and places a strong emphasis on hands-on learning, with a series of tutor-supported tutorials that complement the core lectures. The module is taught using a common statistical software package to analyse data from surveys and public sources.

15 credits

Criminological Research in Policy and Practice

Research and evaluation are now really important in the development of policy on criminal justice and crime prevention in many countries. Evaluations can govern whether initiatives are adopted and rolled out and their implications.

The module will explore, using case studies from across the world, what the influence of research results and the results of evaluations have been - and when research and evaluation does not seem to have had an impact and why. It will also consider the extent to which research results and evaluation of initiatives have influenced the work of criminal justice practitioners throughout the criminal justice system -  from policing through to sentencing and the penal system. It will look at the interaction of policy initiatives from different countries and how they relate to political ideologies and pressures, as well as practical challenges. Students will learn how initiatives in criminal justice and crime prevention can be evaluated and the choices to be made in doing an evaluation. 

15 credits

Restorative Justice

This module examines the historical and theoretical foundations of restorative justice as a response to offending behaviour. The various practices associated with restorative justice (including victim-offender mediation, family group conferencing and police-led conferencing) around the world are examined and their relationship with 'formal' systems of criminal justice considered. The module also critically considers the effectiveness of restorative justice practices from the perspectives of a variety of stakeholders, including victims, offenders, communities and politicians.

15 credits