Our LLB Law with Criminology is perfectly suited for those wishing to become a legal practitioner specializing in criminal law. The course lets you study two complementary perspectives while you gain the initial academic skills to become a qualified solicitor or barrister in England and Wales.
We’re internationally known for both our law and criminology expertise – and our law with criminology course puts you at the heart of legal innovation.
Our course gives you the intellectual knowledge and transferable skills that make up the first stage of professional legal education. You’ll learn the core principals of law in England and Wales while you develop your understanding of criminology – and the complexities this presents. You’ll also put theory into practice with work-based modules that will help you develop the hands-on skills and expertise to compete in both the criminal justice system and the legal profession.
With our course, you’ll practise your skills as you study. Work placements are integral to the programme – we place our students with professional legal bodies, so you get work experience alongside your theoretical studies.
You’ll be encouraged to put your skills to good use through our Legal Advice Centre, where you can help people and get your first taste of the law in practice.
The skills you’ll gain on this course will not only set you up for a career in the legal field but prepare you for other exciting paths. Sectors like the Civil Service, government, education, and many more find a law degree highly desirable – you’ll have plenty of career choices after graduation.
Past students of this course have gone on to work for organisations like Irwin Mitchell, U.S Department of the Treasury, Crown Prosecution Service, and Home Office.
When it comes to support, you’ll be matched with a Personal Tutor to get the backing you need. You’ll also get support from our Student Learning and Graduate Academic Assistants who have personal experience in your subject.
Aside from being a route to pursuing a career within the legal profession, law and criminology courses open up career opportunities within the criminal justice system – in both the UK and abroad.
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In Year 1, you will study the English Legal System, Legal Method, Public Law, Contract Law, and in Year 2 you will explore Criminal Law, Tort, EU Law, Contemporary Criminological Theory and Victimology.
Year 3 will focus on Land Law and Equity and Trusts, plus you'll be able to tailor your final year to your career prospects by choosing the modules you study. Choose between:
Part-time students will study these modules over 4 or 6 years.
You will develop your knowledge and understanding, and cognitive and practical skills, through lectures, seminars, workshops and self-directed study using a variety of resources, including the library and e-learning.
You will develop your knowledge and understanding of primary sources of law such as case law, legislation and other relevant material including examination of how the laws are made and developed, of the institutions within which the law is administered and the personnel who practise law. You will explore a wide range of legal concepts, values, principles and rules, as well as the complexities of law and criminology.
Your cognitive and practical skills will also be expanded and you'll gain the ability to identify accurately and analyse legal issues by applying knowledge of legal principles and concepts to complex practical situations and make reasoned judgements based on informed understanding of arguments. You will be able to research and interpret the primary and secondary source material of law and apply the findings to the solution of legal problems, and then evaluate and judge the value of relevant doctrinal and policy issues in relation to law, criminology and a range of legal topics.
You will gain confidence in undertaking independent research and identifying, retrieving, investigating and managing information from a range of academic sources, both paper and electronic to produce up-to-date and relevant information. Finally, you will be able to use and apply correct and accurate legal terminology orally in moots and presentations and in writing.
This module aims to enable you to develop an understanding of the English legal system and how it works in order to provide a foundation for the further study of law. You will examine the nature and function of legal institutions and the role of the legal profession within the English legal system and explore the provision of legal services and methods of alternative dispute resolution. You will become familiar with, and be able to use, legal skills and knowledge in respect of issues and problems involving the English legal system.
This module aims to broaden and expand your understanding of the common law system, legal reasoning, case analysis, the judicial hierarchy, handling precedents and statutory interpretation. After studying this module, you will comprehend the basic principles and debates underpinning the position of the courts in the UK constitution, appreciate how to read a case, and be able to pick out its material facts and ratio, as well as distinguish this from obiter dicta and develop an understanding of the different rules and approaches that courts use to interpret statutes. The module will also provide you with a grounding in legal ethics so as to instil a basic understanding of a lawyer's duties toward their clients and the court.
This module aims to provide you with a sound knowledge and understanding of the law of contract, focusing on the main principles, cases and statutory provisions relevant to contract law. This will act as a firm foundation for subsequent law modules as well as for postgraduate and professional study after the programme. The module also aims to develop your competence in the analysis and solution of legal problems, develop your legal research skills and recognise the relationship between the law of contract and other areas of English and European law. This is a core module and is a requirement of the professional bodies.
This module aims to examine general principles relating to the UK Constitution and the organisation and powers of the State. You will gain an awareness of the law and practice relating to the control of the Administration of the UK State and will consider the law relating to Human Rights and aspects of Civil Liberties in the UK. This is a core module and is a requirement of the professional bodies.
This module aims to enable you to acquire a sound knowledge and understanding of criminal law, including a detailed knowledge of the key principles, cases and statutory provisions relevant to criminal law. You will develop skills in the analysis and solution of legal problems and in researching case law and statute law in relation to criminal law, while recognising the relations between criminal law and other areas of law. This is a core module and is a requirement of the professional bodies.
The module aims to provide a general knowledge and understanding of tort law and lay a sound foundation upon which to develop knowledge, skills and competencies needed for the Vocational Stage of legal education and training, and subsequent careers in legal practice or higher qualifications in law. The study of case law will develop skills in extracting and communicating the meaning of written reports. Students will be challenged to achieve a higher level of understanding and application of the law in practice and attention will be given to the ethical issues that can arise. This is a core module and is a requirement of the professional bodies.
This module allows you to engage with recent theoretical developments and trends influencing criminological discussion, debate and research.
These developments and trends are assessed in relation to emerging social, political and cultural patterns.
Building upon your first-year modules, you will be able to apply theoretical knowledge to a range of contemporary issues and trends of prominent criminological interest and concern.
The module aims to expand thinking around victimisation and consider this topic from a broader perspective, assessing societal responses to victimisation and who we believe to be a victim.
The module will explore multiple crime types such as sexual and domestic violence, homicide, sex work, hate crime, financial crime; state crime and other types of crime, comparing and contrasting different theories and perspectives in relation to the concept of victimisation.
In addition, the module aims to develop your reflective learning skills by reflecting on your learning and formulating feedback for the work of others.
This module aims to provide a thorough understanding of the legal system of the European Union (EU) and of the rules and principles governing the free movement of goods, persons, services and capital within the EU’s internal market. You will apply knowledge of EU law to the analysis of legal issues and develop your skills of information retrieval from a range of sources. The module includes the study of the history and development of the EU, the EU’s institutional framework, sources of EU law and law-making procedures, the main substantive principles underlying EU Law and the relationship between EU law and national law. An exhaustive overview of the jurisdiction of the EU courts will also be offered. This is a core module and is a requirement of professional bodies.
Please note that you must select EU Law as an optional module if you want to study the Barristers Training Course after graduating because EU Law is currently a requirement of the academic component of Bar training to become a barrister.
This module aims to explore human rights in an international, historical and comparative perspective. You will be introduced to the rationale for this body of law and to major themes in international human rights jurisprudence. Special attention will be paid to the European Convention of Human Rights and its impact in the United Kingdom, in particular issues arising from the incorporation of the European regime through the Human Rights Act. In addition, the seminars and lectures will address specific human rights to provide you with in depth analysis of the application of human rights to factual scenarios. The course is designed to maximise your career potential, providing an insight into the extent to which universally protected values, articulated as legal claims impact domestic jurisdictions. The course also seeks to critically evaluate those values, their universal validity, and their implementation at regional level with the view of broadening your knowledge of law and to become sensitive to other values and normative regimes.
This module aims to provide a critical understanding of the law in the context of dealings in land. The module will build upon your knowledge of legal principles by bringing these together with rules of land law. Your ability to evaluate issues, including ethical issues, and to solve land law problems at a high level of understanding is enhanced, together with your personal and professional development and employability skills. This is a core module and is a requirement of the professional bodies.
This module aims to build upon your knowledge of legal principles by bringing these together with rules of trust law and principles of equity, including the ethical principles which govern the role of a trustee as fiduciary and principles relevant to the quantification of damages and availability of assets for their recovery. You will develop your critical understanding of the law of trusts and equitable principles, and your ability to present and argue positions in relation to issues of equity and trust law. You will analyse practical problems accurately and debate issues at a high level of understanding. This is a core module and is a requirement of the professional bodies.
This module aims to engage you in an active investigation of the practical rules and abstract principles underlying the operation of the Law of Evidence in criminal and civil trials. The module will enable you to subject the law of criminal and civil evidence to critical examination and will thus contribute to the shaping of your own value system. It builds on your knowledge of the substantive law by placing it in the context of trial practice. A key purpose of the module is training in advanced level writing, argument, analysis and legal research.
This module aims to provide an opportunity to develop practical skills in legal drafting, advocacy and litigation. It includes a taught element with a concentration on the drafting of documents and written submissions. The majority of the course is devoted to guided student participation in moot court exercises and internal/external competition(s) which will involve as appropriate domestic, European, Human Rights or international law. You will be assessed on the basis of written and/or oral submissions and such other assessments. It is limited to 16 students selected by the programme team.
The module aims to explore competing responses to crime, deviance and harm, across different contexts, with a particular focus on class and race.
It aims to support you in developing a critical awareness of the impact of current policy, or lack of it, on criminal justice practices and develop an awareness of alternative approaches and ideological perspectives, particularly a human rights frame.
The focus is on understanding how key concepts and theories apply to criminal justice systems and practices and/or criminological work environments.
The module aims to teach you how to undertake comparative criminal justice analysis across jurisdictions, and how to justify the relevance and importance of the data used in a country (case) study approach.
The module takes a comparative approach to understand the similarities and differences in criminal justice systems, penal policy, sentencing approaches and ‘cultures of punishment’ across jurisdictions.
It builds critical appraisal skills on whether the approaches and philosophies in court sentencing and punishments in certain countries are more meaningful, socially just responses than in others, and from which policy transfer ideas can be learned.
This module enables you to evaluate the various interventions used to reform or rehabilitate offenders.
The module will critically assess key agencies involved in rehabilitation and punishment, analysing the experiences of those subject to community justice.
You will also learn to critically analyse the various barriers to successful re-entry, desistance and rehabilitation of lawbreakers, the role risk plays in assessing offenders, as well as addressing how to tackle intersectionality in the criminal justice system, promoting an ethics-based human rights perspective.
This module provides you with an overview of models of investigation from a theoretical and practical perspective.
You will critically examine existing and evolving legislation, policies, processes and developments in investigative practice.
It explores the role of investigations as a fact-finding exercise and goes beyond the confines of criminal investigation to consider investigation within the context of an examination of facts and the search for ‘truth’ within criminal, civil and administrative justice contexts.
This module discusses the dynamics of violence from a gender-informed perspective and how it is used by perpetrators, controlled, and used to control.
The module highlights the interconnections between violence, gender, sexuality and crime and illustrates the blurred boundaries between interpersonal, self-inflicted, community and structural violence.
In completing the module, you will learn about the social and spatial parameters of violent crime, theoretical and layperson perspectives on violence, the links between sex, sexuality and violence, and how violence is gendered.
This module aims to facilitate your critical engagement with crimes of the powerful, defined as illegal conducts perpetrated by offenders who hold an exorbitant degree of resources (both material and symbolic) as well as power when compared to those they victimise.
The module follows the tradition of study established by Edwin Sutherland. However, the focus moves from the generic interest in white-collar crime to the crimes of the powerful (or power crimes).
This module provides students with the unique experience of studying alongside people accommodated in prison. It uses the criminal justice system as a point of reference to examine contemporary issues and debates relating to crime control and theories of punishment and in which ideas of rehabilitation, system reform, and social justice are embedded. You will participate in the co-creation of a model of learning that develops your critical engagement with knowledge through dialogue and in-class exchange of perspectives and ideas.
This module explores a green perspective on crime and criminal justice as well as the implications of crime and criminal behaviour involving the environment and animals. It explores perspectives on green criminology as a sub-discipline of criminology and examines crimes against the environment, crimes against animals, corporate environmental harm and ecological justice and species justice. The module critically evaluates the failure of traditional forms of criminal justice and policing in dealing with environmental harms and considers the impact that environmental harms have on society.
This module introduces you to the key theoretical perspectives surrounding mental health and offending, and ensure they are familiar with the key legislation, policy and practice in this area. This will enable you to critically question the relationship between mental health and offending, develop a practical understanding of the current legal framework and service provision in England for ‘mentally disordered offenders’, and support them to critically evaluate the key debates and controversies in the field.
This module aims to introduce you to the key debates in drug policy, mainly focusing on the interface with the criminal justice system.
It will facilitate their abilities to critically analyse and evaluate the laws, policies and institutions of drug control and their social, political and economic contexts.
The module aims to develop your understanding of the roles of the key agencies and stakeholders involved in drug policies and interventions and to foster critical interest in drug policy reform.
This module aims to introduce you to the key debates in drug policy, mainly focusing on the interface with the criminal justice system.
It will facilitate their abilities to critically analyse and evaluate the laws, policies and institutions of drug control and their social, political and economic contexts.
The module aims to develop your understanding of the roles of the key agencies and stakeholders involved in drug policies and interventions and to foster critical interest in drug policy reform.
This module examines the relevant theories, literature and public discourses surrounding the concept of children as victims and the child protection system.
The module critically reviews the concept of victimisation and contemporary issues relating to child protection in England and Wales.
In addition, you will learn about the range of challenges surrounding child protection, including situations leading to failures in multi-agency approaches and child safety and protection strategies.
Gangs and youth violence are a ‘hot’ topic in the media and a primary concern of government and police, and joint enterprise has emerged as a significant justice issue.
Drawing on a rich history of gang research and theory, this module explores debates over how these social problems should be understood and addressed.
It seeks to engage you in these debates, equipping them to critically analyse and evaluate representations of the issue and current policy and practice.
This module explores and critiques the globalisation of crime and the extent to which a ‘globalised’ response to transnational crime exists.
You will discuss, evaluate, engage and critically analyse various topics, including corruption (corporate and public), democracy, legitimacy, the drugs trade, arms trade, and smuggling and trafficking of humans and body parts.
The focus will be on the international policing and justice systems and various and rapidly changing responses to these crime types, allowing you to discuss, argue and evaluate their effectiveness.
This module uses the workplace as a site of learning and professional development.
It fosters the growth of essential employability skills and a critical understanding of workplace policies and practices.
A central theme of this module is reflective practice, and you are engaged in the process of action and reflection.
The module also supports the meaningful integration of theoretical knowledge and placement practice and a critical awareness of ethical and professional behaviours.
In summary, this module cultivates various skills and valuable knowledge useful for further studies and employment.
See the course specification for more information about the course content:
We review our courses regularly to improve your experience and graduate prospects so modules may be subject to change.
Students who complete the programme are able to compete effectively for jobs in the criminal justice system in the UK and abroad, as well as in legal practice.
There are many sectors where a law degree is highly desired, including business (Human Resources, Tax and Insurance), charity, management, administration, the Civil Service, education and government. You might choose to pursue a career as a Solicitor, Barrister, Legal Executive, Paralegal, or in a community advisory role.
Many students pursue studies for the professional qualifications which for solicitors will be the Solicitors Qualifying Exam from the autumn of 2021 and for barristers is the Bar Practice Course/Barrister Training Course. The LLB complies with the Bar Standard’s Board requirements for the academic component of Bar training comprising the seven Foundations of Legal Knowledge.
The LLB also provides a very good basis for the Solicitors Qualifying Exam (SQE) which is being introduced in September 2021, although an LLB degree is not a requirement for the Solicitors Qualifying Exam.
Graduates also study for Master’s degrees, sometimes before pursuing the professional exams.
Our Employability Service will help you to develop skills desired by top employers and gain valuable work experience. We provide workshops, events and one-to-one support with job hunting, writing your CV and cover letters, interview coaching and advice on how to network effectively. We also support you in securing part-time work, placements, internships, and volunteering opportunities, and offer an enterprise support service for those looking to start their own business.
After qualifying as an attorney of the High Court of South Africa, Dr Jones embarked on an academic career focusing primarily on commercial law. She is currently the Programme Leader for the University’s LLB programmes, and lectures Tort, UK Company Law and Comparative Corporate Governance.
Dr Ward main areas of research are young people living in state care, illicit drug use, and youth transitions to adulthood, and she has held funding awards from the ESRC and Home Office to examine the lives of care leavers making the transition to independent living. She is currently researching the magistracy and transformations to summary justice in the lower criminal courts.
We’ll carefully manage any future changes to courses, or the support and other services available to you, if these are necessary because of things like changes to government health and safety advice, or any changes to the law.
Any decisions will be taken in line with both external advice and the University’s Regulations which include information on this.
Our priority will always be to maintain academic standards and quality so that your learning outcomes are not affected by any adjustments that we may have to make.
At all times we’ll aim to keep you well informed of how we may need to respond to changing circumstances, and about support that we’ll provide to you.
Start: September 2023
Duration: 3 years full-time, Usually 4 years or 6 years part-time
Code: M100
Start: October 2023
Duration: 3 years full-time, 4 years full-time with placement, 4 years part-time
Code: L350
Start: October 2023
Duration: 3 years full-time, 4 years full-time with placement, Usually 4 or 6 years part-time
Code: M101