Criminal Psychology (Taught)

Overview

If you're looking to start your career in criminal psychology, or you're already working in the field and want to progress, our MSc Criminal Psychology degree course will give you the knowledge and skills you need.

Understanding the psychology of crime is essential to its investigation. On this course, you'll explore and analyse the role of psychology within complex criminal investigative techniques, such as police interviewing and deception detection, and gain insight into courtroom psychology and jury decision making.

You'll delve into key issues such as offender profiling and the links between offending behaviour and mental health. You'll customise your degree by choosing specialist subjects, such as missing persons investigations or offender rehabilitation.

When you graduate, you'll be ready to work with offenders or victims within any area of the criminal justice system, including policing, law enforcement, probation and intelligence analysis.

This course is not accredited by the British Psychological Society (BPS).

• Understand the psychology of offending behaviour within the contexts of causation, intervention, rehabilitation and mental health, while also weighing up the efficacy of current legislation

• Learn from an experienced team of criminal psychology specialists in our School of Criminology and Criminal Justice, and hear from industry expert guest speakers from around the world

• Have the opportunity to use our lab equipment to carry out your own research, such as our eye-tracking and VR technology, and crime scene and operational simulation spaces

• Enrich your learning through events and field trips – examples include Bethlem Museum of the Mind, on the grounds of the infamous 'Bedlam' Hospital, and a Life Behind Bars conference, hearing from those with lived experience of incarceration

• Be part of our community of researchers by getting involved with our criminology research groups, such as the Collaboration of Forensic Interviewing and the Probation, Prison and Penology research group

• Interact and explore criminal psychology with fellow professionals from the world of criminal justice

• Complete a major project based on your chosen area of research, with the support of qualified and enthusiastic experts in the field

Careers and opportunities
On this Master's in Criminal Psychology, you'll gain a tailored postgraduate qualification to add to your undergraduate degree, or to back up your existing career knowledge from the field. You'll delve deep into the subjects you choose to study through research, gaining an evidence-based perspective and a greater ability to be analytical and evaluative.

You'll graduate with the tools you need to not only understand the difference criminal psychology can make to the justice system, but also to challenge existing processes and make improvements.

If you already work in the field of criminal justice, you'll be ready to pursue higher-level roles, or to break into a different area of the discipline. If you're still to embark on your career in criminal justice, you'll gain the knowledge and advanced research problem-solving skills you need to stand out to employers and contribute positively to justice system reform.

You could also go on to further study, or progress on to a graduate scheme such as PoliceNow or the Civil Service Fast Track Apprenticeship Scheme.

Graduates of this course can go on to roles such as:

• police or law enforcement officer

• probation or prison officer

• data analyst

• intelligence analyst

• cybersecurity

Graduates of this course can go on to work for organisations such as:

• the Civil Service

• national and international Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs)

• Government agencies and departments internationally

• probation and prison service

• the Courts

• local administration / authorities

• private security companies

• charities

Course Modules

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 the link to the course page.

https://www.port.ac.uk/study/courses/postgraduate-taught/msc-criminal-psychology#modules