What can I do with a criminology degree?

Criminology degrees at Leeds Beckett allows you to study a vastly political and culturally relevant topic that concerns and affects everyone.  You’ll be introduced to a range of perspectives on crime, its impact on society, explore the theories at the core of criminology and gain a deeper understanding of our current responses to crime.

What is criminology?

Criminology is the study of crime on an individual and social level, drawing on a number of different disciplines such as psychology, sociology, history and economics. It explores a number of different areas, such as offenders, victims of crime and the criminal justice system and the parties involved in it, such as the police, prison service and the Crown Prosecution Service.

Careers with a criminology degree

Criminology can lead to a wide variety of careers. Typical employers directly related to a criminology include:

• Central and local government
• The police and prison service
• Court services
• Security services
• The NHS
• Educational institutions
• Charities

Postgraduate study                                                       

At Leeds Beckett, students can go on to study MSc Criminology. The course will give you the skills and knowledge to work with the victims of crime, in the rehabilitation of offenders, in crime prevention and in the shaping of crime policy.

Other postgraduate options could include specialising in different areas of crime, such as the criminal justice process, policing, law, youth justice, crime scene investigation or cybercrime to name some examples.

What kind of skills will I gain?

Graduates are highly valued by employers inside and outside of the criminal justice sector for the range of skills developed during their degree study. Some of the skills you will gain are:

Written and verbal communication – through writing essays or reports, creating and delivering presentations and leading/contributing to group discussion

Critical thinking – through interactive group work in seminars, reflective report writing and exploring and applying theory

Team work – through working in groups for assignments and in seminar activities

Research skills – through the planning and execution of a research project

Analytical skills – through analysing and evaluating literature and research data

Organisation and planning – through planning your own workload

IT skills – from using Microsoft Office programmes for assessments and e-tools to locate appropriate research literature

What other experience will I gain on the course?

Throughout the degree programme, students are actively encouraged to visit the Magistrates’ or Crown Court in pairs or small groups to enable you to observe various criminal justice roles within the court and critically observe the distribution of power in the court.

As well as this, you are signposted to a variety of volunteering opportunities. The course team work closely with the volunteering and partnerships offices to identify links with organisations in the local community that provide suitable opportunities.

As part of the course, all students are offered the option to study abroad.