University of Portsmouth has participated in the Teaching Excellence Framework. These ratings were awarded in 2023, for four years.
Course summary
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 and Criminal Justice 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
- community safety
- crime prevention
- fraud investigation
- youth offending teams
- 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
- Hampshire Constabulary, Avon and Somerset Constabulary, Metropolitan Police, Thames Valley Police, South Wales Police, Kent Police
- National Probation Service
- G4S
- Financial service companies
- 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
Modules
Year 1 Core modules in this year include:
- Crime and Society (20 credits)
- Criminal Justice (20 credits)
- Essential Skills for Criminologists (40 credits)
- Psychology for Criminologists (20 credits)
- Understanding Criminology (20 credits)
- Comparative Criminal Justice (20 credits)
- Questioning Criminology (20 credits)
- Researching Criminology (20 credits)
- Contemporary Terrorism and the Global Response (20 credits)
- Crimes of the Powerful (20 credits)
- Drugs and Society (20 credits)
- Empire and Its Afterlives in Britain, Europe, and Africa (20 credits)
- Engaged Citizenship in Humanities and Social Sciences (20 credits)
- Forensic Linguistics: Language As Evidence (20 credits)
- Fundamentals of Forensic Investigation (20 credits)
- Gang Crime (20 credits)
- Global Environmental Justice (20 credits)
- Global Security (20 credits)
- Hate Crime (20 credits)
- Intercultural Perspectives On Communication (20 credits)
- Introduction to Teaching (20 credits)
- Marketing & Communication (20 credits)
- Missing Persons: Issues and Investigation (20 credits)
- Modernity and Globalisation (20 credits)
- Nationalism and Migration: Chaos, Crisis and the Everyday (L5) (20 credits)
- News, Discourse, and Media (20 credits)
- Penology and Prison (20 credits)
- Policing and Society (20 credits)
- Principles of Economic Crime Investigation (20 credits)
- Professional Experience L5 (20 credits)
- Psychology and Security (20 credits)
- Puritans to Postmodernists: American Literature (20 credits)
- Transitional Justice & Human Rights (20 credits)
- Underworlds: Crime, Deviance & Punishment in Britain, 1500-1900 (20 credits)
- Victims of Crime: Key Players in Criminal Justice (20 credits)
- Wildlife Crime: Threats and Response (20 credits)
- Youth Crime, Youth Justice (20 credits)
- Contemporary Criminologies (20 credits)
- Criminal Justice and Human Rights (20 credits)
- Dissertation (Criminology) (40 credits)
- Black Criminology, Race and the Criminal Justice System (20 credits)
- Contemporary Terrorism and the Global Response (20 credits)
- Crime and New Technologies: Theory and Practice (20 credits)
- Dangerous Offenders and Public Protection (20 credits)
- Economic Crime and Fraud Examination (20 credits)
- Forensic Linguistics: Language and the Law (20 credits)
- Forensic Psychology: Investigation (20 credits)
- Gender and Crime (20 credits)
- Green Crime and Environmental Justice (20 credits)
- Information Security Management (20 credits)
- Introduction to Teaching (20 credits)
- Management of Criminal Investigations (20 credits)
- Miscarriages of Justice (20 credits)
- Money Laundering and Compliance (20 credits)
- Policing: Law, Policy and Practice (20 credits)
- Policing:Communities, Intelligence and Information (20 credits)
- Political Extremism (20 credits)
- Professional Development: Recruiters and Candidates (20 credits)
- Professional Development: Recruiters and Candidates (20 credits)
- Professional Experience L6 (20 credits)
- Treatment and Rehabilitation of Offenders (20 credits)
- True Crime - the Making of a Genre (20 credits)
Assessment method
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
How to apply
31Jan
This is the deadline for applications to be completed and sent for this course. If the university or college still has places available you can apply after this date, but your application is not guaranteed to be considered.
Application codes
Please select a course option – you will then see the application code you need to use to apply for the course.
Points of entry
The following entry points are available for this course:
- Year 1
- Year 2
- Year 3
Entry requirements for advanced entry (i.e. into Year 2 and beyond)
We welcome applications for advanced entry. If you’d like to apply for advanced entry, you need to select the required year when you complete your UCAS application.
Entry requirements
Qualification requirements
UCAS Tariff - 112 - 120 points
A level - BBB - BBC
Pearson BTEC Level 3 National Extended Diploma (first teaching from September 2016) - DDM - DMM
Access to HE Diploma
Scottish Higher - Not accepted
Pearson BTEC Level 3 National Diploma (first teaching from September 2016)
Pearson BTEC Level 3 National Extended Certificate (first teaching from September 2016)
Scottish Advanced Higher
International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme - 29 points
Welsh Baccalaureate - Advanced Skills Challenge Certificate (last awarded Summer 2024)
Leaving Certificate - Higher Level (Ireland) (first awarded in 2017) - H3, H3, H3, H3, H4 - H3, H3, H3, H3, H3
Cambridge International Pre-U Certificate - Principal
GCSE/National 4/National 5
T Level - M
English language requirements
| Test | Grade | Additional details |
|---|---|---|
| IELTS (Academic) | 6 | English language proficiency at a minimum of IELTS band 6.0 with no component score below 5.5. |
| PTE Academic | 54 | An overall score of 54 with a minimum of 51 in each skill. |
| TOEFL (iBT) | 79 | 79 with a minimum of 18 in Reading, 17 in Listening, 20 in Speaking and 17 in Writing. |
| Cambridge English Advanced | Cambridge English: Advanced (CAE) taken after January 2015. An overall score of 169 with no component score less than 162. | |
| Cambridge English Proficiency | Cambridge English: Proficiency (CPE) taken after January 2015. An overall score of 169 with no component score less than 162. | |
| Trinity ISE | Pass | Trinity College Integrated Skills in English (ISE) Level III with a Pass in all 4 components |
Student Outcomes
Operated by the Office for Students
Employment after 15 months (Most common jobs)
Go onto work and study
The number of student respondents and response rates can be important in interpreting the data – it is important to note your experience may be different from theirs. This data will be based on the subject area rather than the specific course. Read more about this data on the Discover Uni website.
Fees and funding
Tuition fees
| EU | £9250 | Year 1 |
| England | £9250 | Year 1 |
| Northern Ireland | £9250 | Year 1 |
| Scotland | £9250 | Year 1 |
| Wales | £9250 | Year 1 |
| Channel Islands | £9250 | Year 1 |
| Republic of Ireland | £9250 | Year 1 |
| International | £17200 | Year 1 |
Tuition fee status depends on a number of criteria and varies according to where in the UK you will study. For further guidance on the criteria for home or overseas tuition fees, please refer to the UKCISA website .
Additional fee information
Students who are resident in EU countries: please note that the net fee is inclusive of the Transition Scholarship
Placement Year and Year abroad:
UK/Channel Islands and Isle of Man students – £1,385
EU – £1,385 (including Transition Scholarship)|
International (Non-EU) – £2,875.
Fees are accurate at the time of publishing and are subject to change at any time without notice.
Fees may also go up in later years, in line with inflation.
For more information about fees, go to port.ac.uk/ug-tuition-fees
Provider information
University of Portsmouth
University House
Winston Churchill Avenue
Portsmouth
PO1 2UP