Criminology and Law
Entry requirements
A level
Excludes General Studies.
The Access to HE Diploma in a Science, Social Science or Health subject to include 30 Level 3 credits at Distinction. Plus GCSE English and Mathematics at grade 4 / C or above.
GCSE/National 4/National 5
5 GCSEs at grade 4 / C or above to include English and Mathematics.
International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme
Pearson BTEC Level 3 National Extended Diploma (first teaching from September 2016)
UCAS Tariff
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About this course
This course has alternative study modes. Contact the university to find out how the information below might vary.
Our Criminology and Law degree is designed to equip you with a detailed understanding of the social, moral, psychological, philosophical and legal aspects of criminology, complemented by ongoing study of constitutional, administrative and criminal law.
You’ll have the opportunity to gain a detailed understanding of the workings of the criminal justice system, policing and different aspects of punishment, enhanced by regular interaction with criminal justice agencies. You’ll hear from guest speakers from different sectors of the criminological spheres, such as the Prison Service, Police, UK Borders Agency and Youth Offending Team. We also organise a number of practical field trips – in the past visiting Rye Hill and Onley prisons, The Old Bailey and The Holocaust Centre (additional costs may apply).
The practical focus of the course is designed to enhance your job prospects. The Law element aims to provide you with an understanding of practical legal skills and knowledge, such as of dispute resolution, written and oral advocacy, negotiation and client interviewing and counselling, useful in most careers.
Course content is regularly reviewed by our Partnership Group, which is made up of key criminal justice agencies and allied professions, including West Midlands Police, HM Prison Service, the Coventry Rape and Sexual Abuse Centre, MIND and the Citizens Advice Bureau. We strongly encourage our students to gain practical work experience; you can volunteer as a special constable or spend a year on professional placement working in organisations, such as victim support, youth hostels for young offenders (subject to application and availability).
**Key Course Benefits**
* Excellent professional links with employers including Police, HM Prison Service and Positive Youth Foundation.
* New £59 million state-of-the-art Alison Gingell Building provides facilities for teaching and research, featuring hospital simulation.
* The opportunity to develop the skills employers’ desire, such as working to deadline, presentation, verbal and written communication and report writing.
* Expert guest lecturers which recently have covered topics including policing and mental health, representing victims of sexual abuse, female genital mutilation, and deaths in police custody.
* Opportunities to participate in exciting field trips abroad, which have previously included the John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York and the Stasi museum in Berlin (additional costs may apply).
Modules
Your main study themes are:
**Crime, media and culture** Provides an overview of the emerging theoretical framework of cultural criminology. We address key issues in relation to crime, criminalisation and control in the late modern context.
**Prisons and punishment** Explores a range of philosophical, theoretical and applied issues related to the penal system. The focus is on historical and contemporary issues in penology. We aim to equip you with a critical understanding of the penal system, philosophies related to punishment, the history and development of the prison service and other penal service providers, and contemporary theories and issues relating to punishment in prison and the community.
**Policing and society** Introduces key issues relating to policing democratic societies. This includes a critical evaluation of the relationships between the police, the state and the citizen.
**English legal system** Aims to provide you with sound knowledge of the English legal system and its operation, including civil and criminal procedure. It is designed to enable you develop a critical awareness of the legal system, its strengths and shortcomings.
For more information about what you will study, please visit our website.
Tuition fees
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The Uni
Coventry University
School of Psychological, Social and Behavioural Sciences
What students say
We've crunched the numbers to see if overall student satisfaction here is high, medium or low compared to students studying this subject(s) at other universities.
How do students rate their degree experience?
The stats below relate to the general subject area/s at this university, not this specific course. We show this where there isn’t enough data about the course, or where this is the most detailed info available to us.
Law
Teaching and learning
Assessment and feedback
Resources and organisation
Student voice
Who studies this subject and how do they get on?
Most popular A-Levels studied (and grade achieved)
Sociology
Teaching and learning
Assessment and feedback
Resources and organisation
Student voice
Who studies this subject and how do they get on?
Most popular A-Levels studied (and grade achieved)
After graduation
The stats in this section relate to the general subject area/s at this university – not this specific course. We show this where there isn't enough data about the course, or where this is the most detailed info available to us.
Law
What are graduates doing after six months?
This is what graduates told us they were doing (and earning), shortly after completing their course. We've crunched the numbers to show you if these immediate prospects are high, medium or low, compared to those studying this subject/s at other universities.
Top job areas of graduates
Law graduates tend to go into the legal industry, and they usually take similar routes. Jobs are competitive — often very competitive - but starting salaries are good and high fliers can earn serious money - starting on over £24k in London on average. Be aware though - some careers, especially as barristers, can take a while to get into, and the industry is changing as the Internet, automation and economic change all have an effect, If you want to qualify to practise law, you need to take a professional qualification — many law graduates then go on to law school. If you want to go into work, then a lot of law graduates take trainee or paralegal roles and some do leave the law altogether, often for jobs in management, finance and the police force. A small proportion of law graduates also move into another field for further study. Management, accountancy and teaching are all popular for these career changers, so if you do take a law degree and decide it’s not for you, there are options.
Sociology
What are graduates doing after six months?
This is what graduates told us they were doing (and earning), shortly after completing their course. We've crunched the numbers to show you if these immediate prospects are high, medium or low, compared to those studying this subject/s at other universities.
Top job areas of graduates
We have quite a lot of sociology graduates, although numbers fell last year. But graduates still do pretty well. Most sociology graduates go straight into work when they complete their degrees, and a lot of graduates go into jobs in social professions such as recruitment, education, community and youth work, and housing. An important option for a sociology graduate is social work - and we're short of people willing to take this challenging but rewarding career. Sociology is a flexible degree and you can find graduates from the subject in pretty much every reasonable job — obviously, you don't find many doctors or engineers, but you do find them in finance, the media, healthcare, marketing and even IT. Sociology graduates taking further study often branch out into other qualifications, like teaching, law, psychology, HR and even maths, so don’t think a sociology degree restricts you to just one set of options.
What about your long term prospects?
Looking further ahead, below is a rough guide for what graduates went on to earn.
Law
The graph shows median earnings of graduates who achieved a degree in this subject area one, three and five years after graduating from here.
£19k
£22k
£26k
Note: this data only looks at employees (and not those who are self-employed or also studying) and covers a broad sample of graduates and the various paths they've taken, which might not always be a direct result of their degree.
Sociology, social policy and anthropology
The graph shows median earnings of graduates who achieved a degree in this subject area one, three and five years after graduating from here.
£18k
£22k
£22k
Note: this data only looks at employees (and not those who are self-employed or also studying) and covers a broad sample of graduates and the various paths they've taken, which might not always be a direct result of their degree.
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This information comes from the National Student Survey, an annual student survey of final-year students. You can use this to see how satisfied students studying this subject area at this university, are (not the individual course).
This is the percentage of final-year students at this university who were "definitely" or "mostly" satisfied with their course. We've analysed this figure against other universities so you can see whether this is high, medium or low.
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You can use this to get an idea of who you might share a lecture with and how they progressed in this subject, here. It's also worth comparing typical A-level subjects and grades students achieved with the current course entry requirements; similarities or differences here could indicate how flexible (or not) a university might be.
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Post-six month graduation stats:
This is from the Destinations of Leavers from Higher Education Survey, based on responses from graduates who studied the same subject area here.
It offers a snapshot of what grads went on to do six months later, what they were earning on average, and whether they felt their degree helped them obtain a 'graduate role'. We calculate a mean rating to indicate if this is high, medium or low compared to other universities.
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Graduate field commentary:
The Higher Education Careers Services Unit have provided some further context for all graduates in this subject area, including details that numbers alone might not show
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The Longitudinal Educational Outcomes dataset combines HRMC earnings data with student records from the Higher Education Statistics Agency.
While there are lots of factors at play when it comes to your future earnings, use this as a rough timeline of what graduates in this subject area were earning on average one, three and five years later. Can you see a steady increase in salary, or did grads need some experience under their belt before seeing a nice bump up in their pay packet?
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