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Criminology

Entry requirements


A level

B,B,B

Access to HE Diploma

D:30

Pass with 45 Level 3 credits including 30 Distinctions and a number of merits/passes in subject specific modules

International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme

33

With three Higher Level subjects at 655

Leaving Certificate - Higher Level (Ireland) (first awarded in 2017)

H2,H2,H2,H2

Pearson BTEC Level 3 National Extended Diploma (first teaching from September 2016)

DDM

Scottish Advanced Higher

B,B,C

Scottish Higher

B,B,B,B,C

T Level

M

Each application will be considered on its individual merits. Where the T Level subject area does not directly match the degree programme being applied for, the personal statement and reference will be particularly important in demonstrating interest, enthusiasm and suitability for the subject.

UCAS Tariff

120-136

We've calculated how many Ucas points you'll need for this course.

About this course


Course option

3years

Full-time | 2024

Subject

Criminology

**Explore how societies are organised, and how people are united and divided. Within the context of modern forms of power, examine the nature of crime and criminality from a critical, sociological perspective.**

This degree is for anyone who wants to understand how modern societies are structured, but also for those with an interest in crime and criminality. This interdisciplinary degree will give you the skills and experience to pursue a wide range of careers.

**Why study BA Criminology at Goldsmiths**
- You'll be taught by researchers at the cutting edge of criminological and sociological research on urban crime, control and security, and globalisation and crime. And, as part of a tight-knit group of students, you'll benefit from the support and expertise of your teachers throughout your degree.

- Reflecting on contemporary society, you’ll develop a deep understanding of the problems of crime and control and how this affects people’s lives today.

- You’ll learn to discuss crime and control in a sophisticated way, drawing on a wide range of sociological and criminological concepts and theories.

- You’ll learn essential analytical and methodological tools that will help you analyse and understand criminological problems.

- This Sociology with Criminology degree brings issues of social inequality and social justice to the foreground. You will learn how ‘race’, gender, class and nationality connect to crime and control.

- We’re international in our outlook: students learn about crime and control in the UK and beyond. You’ll explore themes such as genocide, environmental harm, state crime, and crimes by corporations to get you to think about the idea of criminology in broader terms.

- You’ll have the opportunity to take on a work placement that matches your interests and aspirations. You could find yourself supporting a victim of crime, attending court, or mentoring young people.

- You’ll learn from leading experts in the Department of Sociology, and benefit from their research in the areas of crime and justice, culture, human rights, socio-legal studies, urban sociology, science and technology studies, and more.

- Your studies will be further enriched by guest speakers, visiting lectures and industry professionals who offer first-hand knowledge and experience, including criminal justice professionals and those working in non-governmental or community organisations.

- Based in New Cross, a changing area of south London, we’ll take you on walking tours of the local area so you’ll be able to see how theories learnt in lectures apply to the local community.

- By studying at Goldsmiths, you’ll join one of the world’s leading departments of Sociology. We're ranked Top 10 in the UK for sociology (QS World University Rankings by Subject 2023).

Modules

This programme will allow you to consider crime and control from a sociological perspective. You will study:

How our knowledge of crime and criminality is refracted through culture and how the media represent crime, law and social order
Explanations for why people commit ‘crime’
How governments respond to ‘crime’, and how they might respond differently
The history and development of criminology as a discipline
Social control, policing, surveillance and security
Crime as a global phenomenon and its policing in the context of global inequality, the movement of peoples, international trade, human rights and state violence
Practical cases and stories from people working in and with experience of the criminal justice system
Research methods for the empirical investigation of sociological and criminological topics

Year 1 (credit level 4)
In your first year you will take the following compulsory modules:
Modern Knowledge, Modern Power
Methods of Worldmaking 1
Crime, Control and the State 1a
Crime, Control and the State 1b
Culture and Society
Imaginative Criminology

Year 2 (credit level 5)
In your second year you'll take the following compulsory modules:
Methods of Worldmaking 2
Criminal Justice in Context
Gender, ‘Race’ and Crime
Explaining Crime

You'll then take up to 45 credits of recommended second-year modules, one of which must be The Goldsmiths Elective.

The Goldsmiths Elective allows you to choose a relevant interdisciplinary module from another academic department.

Crimes Against Humanity
Law and Contemporary Society
Governing Everyday Life
Religion, Crime, and Law
The Goldsmiths Elective

With any remaining credits, you can then choose from the full list of optional modules across the Department of Sociology. This list is updated annually and may include:
Sociology Work Placement
Goldsmiths’ Social Change Module
Law and Contemporary Society
The Making of the Modern World
Knowledge and Subjectivity
Social Change and Political Action
Leisure, Culture and Society
London
Sociology of Culture and Communication
Central Issues in Sociological Analysis
Migration in Context
Food and Taste

Year 3 (credit level 6)
In your final year you take the following compulsory modules:
Confronting climate crisis
Dissertation
Police, Prisons and Power

You'll also choose two option modules, including the possibility of a work placement. The list of optional modules will be produced annually by the Department of Sociology, and recent modules have included:
Citizenship and Human Rights
Race, Racism and Social Theory
Law, Identity and Ethics
Globalisation, Crime and Justice
Crime, Control and the City
Crimes of the Powerful
Privacy, Surveillance and Security
Social Theory Through Film
Identity and Contemporary Social Theory
Analysing the Complexity of Contemporary Religious Life
Visual Explorations of The Social World
Childhood Matters: Society, Theory and Culture
Thinking Animals
Migration, Gender and Social Reproduction
Subjectivity, Health and Medicine
Thinking with Others, Philosophy and Cultural Difference
Experiment Earth Sciences Politics Disasters

Please note that due to staff research commitments not all of these modules may be available every year.

Assessment methods

You’ll be assessed by a variety of methods, depending on your module choices. These include coursework, examinations, group work and projects.

The Uni


Course location:

Goldsmiths, University of London

Department:

Sociology

Read full university profile

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.

36%
Criminology

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.

Sociology

Teaching and learning

65%
Staff make the subject interesting
66%
Staff are good at explaining things
73%
Ideas and concepts are explored in-depth
57%
Opportunities to apply what I've learned

Assessment and feedback

Feedback on work has been timely
Feedback on work has been helpful
Staff are contactable when needed
Good advice available when making study choices

Resources and organisation

53%
Library resources
67%
IT resources
61%
Course specific equipment and facilities
12%
Course is well organised and has run smoothly

Student voice

Staff value students' opinions
Feel part of a community on my course

Who studies this subject and how do they get on?

93%
UK students
7%
International students
16%
Male students
84%
Female students
88%
2:1 or above
23%
First year drop out rate

Most popular A-Levels studied (and grade achieved)

B
B
C

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.

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.

£19,200
med
Average annual salary
90%
low
Employed or in further education
61%
high
Employed in a role where degree was essential or beneficial

Top job areas of graduates

21%
Sales, marketing and related associate professionals
13%
Sales assistants and retail cashiers
10%
Childcare and related personal services

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.

Sociology

The graph shows median earnings of graduates who achieved a degree in this subject area one, three and five years after graduating from here.

£16k

£16k

£25k

£25k

£27k

£27k

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 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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This information is from the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA), for undergraduate students only.

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?

Have a question about this info? Learn more here