Criminology

This is a Connected Degree
Portsmouth is the only University in the UK with the flexibility to choose when to do an optional paid placement or self-employed year. Either take a placement in your third year, or finish your studies first and complete a placement in your fourth year. You can decide if and when to take a placement after you've started your course.

Overview

Why do people commit crimes? And what should we do about it? From offender to victim, punishment to rehabilitation, this BSc (Hons) Criminology degree asks questions about the causes and consequences of crime. The answers may surprise you. They’ll certainly help you choose the right career path.

As you become an expert on the criminal justice system in England and Wales, you’ll develop skills for a range of careers – from policing and prisons, to probation and rehabilitation, as well as roles fighting fraud in the private sector or influencing Government policy. And because crime doesn’t respect borders, this course also gives you a uniquely international perspective.

Course highlights

• Explore the latest national and international debates and research in topics as varied as hate crime, state crime, terrorism, gang crime and victimology

• Get career-ready with an emphasis on skills and employability, including volunteering opportunities with organisations such as Hampshire Constabulary and local charities like Aurora New Dawn (supporting victims of crime) and Read and Grow Society (helping ex-offenders learn to read)

• Learn from an international team whose experience spans law and criminal justice, policing, probation and more – including a former private detective doing important research into missing persons and an expert in European responses to domestic violence

• Join lively debates in one of the country’s largest criminology departments and contribute your own ideas on how we should respond to crime as a society

• Build a professional network by meeting practitioners from criminal justice agencies, businesses and charities

• Customise your degree to match your ambitions: some modules reduce the amount to time you’d need to train for a policing career or as a probation officer ​

Careers and opportunities
You’ll complete this course with a range of different professional routes open to you in the public, private and charitable sectors.

There is demand for jobs in the criminal justice and penal sector. Her Majesty's Prison and Probation Service (HMPPS) has developed a Probation Workforce Strategy to recruit skilled people to probation officer roles and invest in ongoing professional development.

You'll graduate with the skills and knowledge you need to work in the police, probation and prison services in areas such as:

• community safety

• crime prevention

• fraud investigation

• youth offending teams

You'll also have relevant skills or knowledge to progress into other areas such as:

• counter fraud roles in banking, the NHS or the DWP

• economic crime investigation

• policy analysis and formulation for councils or the Government

• community rehabilitation

• postgraduate study and research

Graduate destinations

Our graduates have worked for organisations including:

• Hampshire Constabulary, Avon and Somerset Constabulary, Metropolitan Police, Thames Valley Police, South Wales Police, Kent Police

• National Probation Service

• G4S

• Financial service companies

Roles our previous graduates have gone onto include:

• investigative data analyst

• police officer

• probation service officer

• youth offending support officer

• offender case administrator

• detective

• personnel security analyst

• private investigator

• witness service team leader

Ongoing careers support

Towards the end of your degree and for up to five years after graduation, you’ll receive one-to-one support from our Graduate Recruitment Consultancy to help you find your perfect role

The University of Portsmouth is passionate about creating career-focused modules that do more than support your studies, they empower your academic journey and prepare you for what comes next.

We design modules that have:

• Clear themes and skills development as you progress through each year
• Assessments that feel meaningful, often based on real-world tasks rather than isolated exams
• Career-enhancing opportunities such as placements, live projects, enterprise and volunteering

For a full list of the modules you will study on this course, please visit https://www.port.ac.uk/study/courses/undergraduate/bsc-hons-criminology#modules

You’ll be assessed through:

coursework
examinations
presentations
group projects
a dissertation or major project

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:

Year 1 students: 18% by written exams, 7% by practical exams and 75% by coursework
Year 2 students: 10% by practical exams and 90% by coursework
Year 3 students: 8% by written exams, 13% by practical exams and 79% by coursework