Law with Criminology

Law and criminology is a combination that approaches crime and justice from two complementary perspectives. Law provides the formal technical framework: the statutes, cases, and principles that define what conduct is criminal, how criminal procedure operates, and what rights defendants and victims have within the justice system. Criminology adds the social scientific dimension, asking why crime occurs, how different communities experience it, what the evidence says about effective responses, and how criminal justice institutions actually function in practice rather than in theory.

Together they develop a graduate who can engage with crime and justice both at the level of legal doctrine and at the level of social analysis.

At the University of Suffolk, this part-time law programme is a dynamic degree that balances academic study with opportunities to develop the legal skills that enhance employability. A range of learning and teaching approaches provide flexibility alongside rigour, maintaining high academic standards while attending to the student experience. The part-time delivery suits those who are managing work, family, or other commitments alongside their study.

The programme has no listed tariff or fixed duration, and admissions consider a range of qualifications and backgrounds.

You will study the qualifying law subjects needed for professional legal practice in England and Wales, including criminal law and procedure, alongside criminological content examining offending patterns, victimisation, policing, courts, and the broader justice system. The combination develops both legal reasoning skills and sociological and psychological understanding of crime as a social phenomenon.

Graduates from law with criminology programmes continue to professional legal training routes, move into criminal justice careers in probation, youth justice, the courts service, or the police, or work in social research, policy, community safety, and the voluntary sector. Postgraduate study in criminology, law, or criminal justice policy is another option.