Crime and Data Science

Crime and data science is an innovative combination that brings the analytical power of modern data science to bear on some of the most pressing questions in criminology and criminal justice. Criminology asks why crime occurs, how it is distributed across societies, and how effectively the criminal justice system responds to it. Data science provides the computational, statistical, and machine learning tools needed to extract insight from the large and complex datasets that crime data, justice system records, and social science research generate.

Together they produce graduates with an unusual combination of social scientific understanding and technical capability. This three-year full-time degree at the University of Exeter includes a sandwich placement year, a year abroad, and embedded work placement experience.

You will develop both criminological knowledge and data science skills, learning to apply quantitative methods, statistical analysis, and computational tools to questions about crime patterns, criminal justice outcomes, and social harm. The programme develops your ability to work with real data, interpret results critically, and communicate findings clearly, alongside a substantive understanding of the criminological theories and empirical research that give those analyses meaning and context. The placement year and year abroad give you professional and international experience that connects your academic learning to real working environments.

A typical entry tariff of 152 UCAS points reflects the academic selectivity of the Exeter programme. Graduates from crime and data science programmes are well placed for careers in crime analysis, policing intelligence units, criminal justice agencies, policy research, governmental statistics, social research, cybercrime investigation, and the growing number of roles in both public and private sectors where data analytical skills are applied to questions of security, justice, and social harm.