Criminology and Sociology

Criminology and sociology together form a natural and intellectually powerful pairing. Criminology investigates crime: its causes, its distribution across social groups and places, and the ways in which societies respond through law, policing, prosecution, and punishment. Sociology provides the theoretical framework that makes sense of all of this, examining how social structures, institutions, culture, and inequality shape human behaviour and the responses to it.

Together they offer a critical and empirically grounded way of understanding some of the most urgent questions in contemporary public life.

At the University of Derby, this programme engages with these questions in a rigorous and contemporary way. The COVID-19 pandemic and its aftermath have highlighted the social and economic factors that influence crime, and the programme is designed to give you the analytical tools to understand why crime is distributed unevenly, how policy responses are designed and evaluated, and what research evidence tells us about what works in prevention, rehabilitation, and justice. You will study sociological theory alongside criminological frameworks, develop skills in research methods and evidence evaluation, and engage with the legal, institutional, and political dimensions of criminal justice.

The programme includes a foundation year, which builds your academic skills and confidence before you enter the main degree. The typical entry tariff is 104 UCAS points, and the degree is studied full time.

Graduates from criminology and sociology programmes go on to careers in probation, the prison service, social work, victim support, policing, community justice, policy research, and the charity sector. Many progress to postgraduate study in criminology, social policy, social work, or law.