Criminology

Course summary

Criminology is the study of crime, criminals, and the law. This course will allow you to gain an understanding of different types of crime, influences on perceptions of crime and why some crimes are unreported. It will also allow you to gain an understanding of why people commit crime, drawing on elements of sociology, psychology and biology. You will also look at how criminological theory is used to support policy development and how campaigns are created. Criminology can only be taken alongside three other Level 3 qualifications (BTECs or A Levels). Unit 1 focuses on under-reporting of crimes such as hate crime, domestic abuse, honour crime and state crime. You will learn why each of these crimes are under-reported, the impact this has on victims and wider society, and what campaigns exist to encourage a change in behaviours and attitudes towards crime. You will also be required to plan and design your own campaign. For this unit, you will create a detailed folder of notes that will be used to support your work in the controlled assessment. This is done through a variety of teacher-led lessons, independent research and group work. Unit 2 explores biological, sociological and psychological explanations of crime. You will evaluate how effective each of these ideas are in explaining criminality and assess the policies that have been developed based on these theoretical approaches. You will also study how campaigns can impact laws and policies, for example Sarah's Law and Clare's Law. You will apply your learning across the course to real life cases such as the Ipswich serial murders, Jamie Bulger and Sarah Everard. An understanding of criminology is relevant to many job roles within the criminal justice sector, social and probation work and sociology and psychology. Job roles could include working for the National Probation Service, the Courts and Tribunals Service, or the National Offender Management Service. It would also benefit students looking at roles within the police, forensics, youth work, charity work or working as victim support. This course supports access to studying degrees such as Criminology, Law, Criminal Justice, Sociology and Psychology.