What can I do with a criminology degree?

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

What does the postgraduate study of Criminology look like?

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 studying criminology?

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.