Overview
Students studying Criminology at UCS will be challenged to seek answers to fundamental questions such as: What is crime? Why do people commit crime? Why and how do we punish offenders? Are we all equal before the law? How does the Criminal Justice System, and institutions such as prisons, work? How do we prevent crime? Criminology is an academic discipline with strong roots in Sociology, Psychology, Law, Social Policy and Philosophy. It is a discipline with a number of robust and lively theoretical and empirical debates. Through engaging in these debates students will gain the very important undergraduate skill of critical evaluation which will underpin their understanding crime and its study.
Criminology students will challenge ‘common-sense’ notions of criminal and deviant behaviours, will critically examine a wide range of criminological theories and academic research and will learn to make informed assessments as to the value and applicability of theoretical claims and research findings based on available academic literature and evidence. Criminology is an inherently reflexive discipline in that it studies and deals with public issues that have a contested value basis. To this end, students will be introduced to a variety of research methods and ethical considerations, so that they can challenge and understand the limitations and ambiguities of research.
Criminology at UCS offers:
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An emphasis upon the criminal justice system and prisons
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A variety of invited Guest speakers with specialist practitioner or research knowledge
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Engagement with lively and controversial contemporary debates
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Observational visits to local Magistrates and Crown Courts
Employers value the qualities and skills of criminology graduates, and most students find suitable work within a short time of graduation. A number of students also go on to study at postgraduate level.
Typical employers include local and central government, the Police, HM Prison Service and the National Probation Service, further and higher education institutions, and paid roles within charitable, counselling and voluntary organisations.
Further Information
Careers
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The most recent figures available from the Higher Education Statistics Agency
(HESA) reveal that 85% of Criminology graduates in 2011/12 found employment within six months of graduation
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Around 60% of graduate jobs are open to graduates of any discipline and Criminology graduates are well equipped with the advanced skills and confidence to thrive in a variety of occupations
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Criminology students are good at problem solving, have good analytical and research skills, and have excellent information and data management skills
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Employability is taken very seriously at UCS and employers are directly involved in a number of taught and additional sessions over the 3 years
o Excellent links with Suffolk Constabulary, local magistrates, the Crown
Prosecution Service and the probation service.
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Quite a number of our graduates also go on to pursue further qualifications at masters and doctoral levels
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Online and face to face resources and advice are available from the UCS Careers and Employability Service for all UCS students
For more information on careers for graduates please see:
http://www.prospects.ac.uk|
http://courses-careers.com/|
These are also excellent places to go to if you are unsure which career paths are opened up by particular degree courses.
For this course all modules are assessed and a range of assessment methods are used, including essays, reports, case studies, critiques, reviews and formal examinations.
Timetable
We try to keep the timetable for a full time student to be spread over 4 days throughout the degree course.
Find out more about:
The School of Applied Social Sciences|
UCS Ipswich|