Criminology and Criminal Justice (Distance Learning)
Entry requirements
There are no specific qualification requirements, we will assess your application on its own merits.
There are no specific qualification requirements, we will assess your application on its own merits. Applicants without relevant Level 3 qualifications will be required to produce a short written artefact to better assist the course leader as to the suitability of the applicant.
About this course
**Overview**
Develop your interest in criminology and the justice system to an advanced level or gain the qualification you need to start or advance your career in areas such as policing, probation or security on this BSc (Hons) Criminology and Criminal Justice course.
Studying by distance learning, you'll examine the causes and consequences of crime and how this intersects with related disciplines such as law, sociology and psychology. You'll also develop the knowledge to assist you with a successful career in a criminal justice profession or for organisations that seek to reform and change the justice system and responses to crime.
Don't worry if you're new to University learning or returning to study after a break – you'll get a grounding in the key academic and research skills you need for studying at degree level.
**Course highlights**
- Debate and question contemporary crime, control and punishment and criminal justice system issues such as investigation methods and forms of policing
- Explore responses to crime from multiple perspectives as you study its relationship with other disciplines including law, sociology, psychology and the history of police science
- Shape your learning to match your interests or career ambitions with modules covering specialist topics like organised crime, forensic psychology, cybercrime and terrorism
- Be taught by leading academics from the University's School of Criminology and Criminal Justice who are experts in fields such as victimisation, policing and surveillance
- Gain a Certificate of Higher Education (CertHE ) after 18 months and a Diploma of Higher Education (DipHE) after 36 months, even if you don't complete the full course
- Have the chance to achieve your degree more quickly if you have relevant prior learning or work experience
- Study modules that allow you to qualify for Probation Officer training after the course
**Careers and opportunities**
Crime will unfortunately always be part of society. So there will always be a demand for graduates with the specialist skills you learn on this course.
What areas can you work in with a criminology and criminal justice degree?
With your degree, you can start or advance your career in areas such as:
- probation service
- the police
- crime prevention
- community safety
- security
- campaign and reform groups related to justice
- youth justice
- crime analysis and research
- victim support
- post-conviction support
- the courts and legal system
The transferable critical thinking, analytical and communications skills you learn will also be in demand in other industries.
Our Careers and Employability service can help you find a job that puts your skills to work in the industry or support you in getting a promotion. After you leave the University, you can get help, advice and support for up to 5 years as you advance in your career.
Modules
Year 1
Core modules include:
- Criminal Justice and the Legal System
- Essential Skills in Criminal Justice Studies
There are no optional modules in this year.
Year 2
Core modules include:
- Questioning Criminology and Justice
- Understanding Criminology
There are no optional modules in this year.
Year 3
Core modules include:
- Research Methods and Analysis
Optional modules include:
- Advanced Investigation and Operational Policing
- Contemporary Terrorism and the Global Response
- Cybercrime and Security
- Forensic Psychology: Investigation
- Fundamentals of Forensic Investigation
- Organised Crime
- Victimology - Victimisation and the Criminal Justice System
Year 4
Core modules include:
- Contemporary Criminologies
Optional modules:
- Advanced Investigation and Operational Policing
- Contemporary Terrorism and the Global Response
- Cybercrime and Security
- Forensic Psychology: Investigation
- Fundamentals of Forensic Investigation
- Organised Crime
- Rehabilitation of Offenders
- Victimology - Victimisation and the Criminal Justice System
Year 5
Core modules include:
- Dissertation
We use the best and most current research and professional practice alongside feedback from our students to make sure course content is relevant to your future career or further studies.
Therefore, some course content may change over time to reflect changes in the discipline or industry and some optional modules may not run every year. If a module doesn’t run, we’ll let you know as soon as possible and help you choose an alternative module.
Assessment methods
You’ll be assessed through essays and reports, with essay titles provided at the beginning of the academic year. You’ll be able to test your skills and knowledge informally before you do assessments that count towards your final mark.
You can get feedback on all practice and formal assessments so you can improve in the future.
The way you’re assessed may depend on the modules you select. As a guide, students on this course last year were typically assessed as follows:
Stage 1 students: 100% by coursework
Stage 2 students: 100% by coursework
Stage 3 students: 100% by coursework
The Uni
University of Portsmouth
Faculty of Humanities and Social 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.
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.
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.
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.
£25k
£25k
£29k
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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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?
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