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Explore the relationship between crime and the law, from the criminal justice system and issues with reoffenders, to crime in the media and the glamorisation of drugs.
Our MSc Criminology and Socio-Legal Research combines training in current debates in criminology with an introduction to legal theory and legal methods. It provides a good basis if you wish to conduct criminological research with a socio-legal dimension.
On this course you investigate topics including:
Philosophy of law and jurisprudence
Ripping, remixing, and viral culture
Surveillance and punishment
The English legal system
Methods of social control
This course should also interest you if you are without a background in law, as we make good use of legal materials, in addressing our sociological and criminological research questions.
Our expert staff have worked at a local, national and international level
We introduce you to the ‘criminological imagination’ and leave you to think in ways you have never before
We're ranked 6th in the UK for criminology (Guardian University Guide 2021)
Our expert staff
We are a large and friendly department, offering a diverse range of research interests and with staff members who are committed to teaching, research and publication that covers a broad geographical spectrum.
Many have worked at the local level with local authorities, justice councils, community partnerships and charities. Others have worked at a national and international level with bodies like the United Nations, the European Commission’s Expert Group on Public Understanding of Science, Amnesty International, The Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health, the Home Office and national non-governmental organisations.
Specialist facilities
Dedicated postgraduate support facilities
Our renowned off-campus Graduate Conference takes place every February
A unique Student Resource Centre where you can get help with your studies, access examples of previous students’ work, and attend workshops on research skills
The Sociology common room is open all day Monday-Friday, is stocked with daily newspapers, magazines and journals, and has free drinks available
Links with the Institute of Social and Economic Research, which conducts large-scale survey projects and has its own library, and the UK Data Archive, which stores national research data like the British Crime Survey
Our students’ Sociology Society, a forum for the exchange of ideas, arranging talks by visiting speakers, introducing you to various career pathways, and organising debates
Your future
This course provides excellent preparation for further academic study, and many of our postgraduates go on to successful academic careers, both in the UK and overseas.
Others have established careers in non-governmental organisations, local authorities, specialist think tanks, government departments, charities, media production, and market intelligence.
We work with the University’s Careers Services to help you find out about further work experience, internships, placements, and voluntary opportunities.
Entry requirements
UK entry requirements
A degree with aa overall 2:2, or international equivalent, in a Social Science, Humanities, Statistics or Maths. Your degree must also include at least two quantitative or research methods modules (this can also include the research project/dissertation).
Applications from students with a degree below a 2:2 or equivalent, or a non-social sciences degree will be considered dependent on any relevant professional or voluntary experience, previous modules studied and/or personal statement.
International & EU entry requirements
We accept a wide range of qualifications from applicants studying in the EU and other countries. Get in touch with any questions you may have about the qualifications we accept. Remember to tell us about the qualifications you have already completed or are currently taking.
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English language requirements
IELTS 6.5 overall with a minimum component score of 6.0
If you do not meet our IELTS requirements then you may be able to complete a pre-sessional English pathway that enables you to start your course without retaking IELTS.
Additional Notes
The University uses academic selection criteria to determine an applicant’s ability to successfully complete a course at the University of Essex. Where appropriate, we may ask for specific information relating to previous modules studied or work experience.
Structure
Example structure
Most of our courses combine compulsory and optional modules, giving you freedom to pursue your own interests. All of the modules listed below provide an example of what is on offer from the current academic year. Our Programme Specification provides further details of the course structure for the current academic year.
Our research-led teaching is continually evolving to address the latest challenges and breakthroughs in the field, therefore to ensure your course is as relevant and up-to-date as possible your core module structure may be subject to change.
The example structure below is representative of this course if taken full-time. If you choose to study part-time, the modules will be split across 2 years.
Teaching and learning disclaimer
Following the impact of the pandemic, we made changes to our teaching and assessment to ensure our current students could continue with their studies uninterrupted and safely. These changes included courses being taught through blended delivery, normally including some face-to-face teaching, online provision, or a combination of both across the year.
The teaching and assessment methods listed show what is currently planned for 2021 entry; changes may be necessary if, by the beginning of this course, we need to adapt the way we’re delivering them due to the external environment, and to allow you to continue to receive the best education possible safely and seamlessly.
What interests you? Do you want to deepen your knowledge, build invaluable research skills and develop your academic freedom? Your dissertation lets you study a topic of your choosing, in depth, with supervision and guidance from our world-leading academics.
Want to undertake legal research at postgraduate level? Interested in studying the principal sources of law operating within the UK system? Understand the essential techniques required for working with judicial decisions and statutes. Build research skills for reading legal materials, and develop your interpretative and critical evaluation abilities.
Contemporary Issues in Criminal Justice: Law, Policy and Practice
How important is the presumption of innocence until proven guilty? And how important is a defendant’s right to a fair trial? Study the law, policy and practice of the criminal justice system. Examine recent trends in criminal justice policy and specific aspects of the criminal process, from pre- to post-trial.
How do you design social research for projects? Examine the research process, from forming initial research questions through to writing up your findings. Develop your own research ideas via the approaches discussed, building a critical perspective on empirical research that will help you with future research goals.
How do we challenge our conventional understanding of crime? And what can we do about this? Examine the history of criminology and learn about the contemporary debates. Study topics like criminalisation, social deviance, and surveillance and punishment. Look ahead with analysis of new work by leading authors in the field.
How do you critically analyse quantitative data? What are the appropriate statistical techniques for your research questions? And how do you interpret your results? Learn to conduct investigations relevant to your own research, as well as be a critical user of other research.
Do hackers have ethics? Who owns digital media? Is surveillance justified? Explore the history of the digital media economy, looking at hacking, digital media piracy and peer-to-peer networks. Build your understanding of the social, economic and cultural role that digital media now plays in developed Western societies.
How does ethnographic research enable you to analyse relationships? Let you document symbols that inspire belief? Or inform you about social marketing and behaviour change? Study ethnographic research techniques from the perspective of both a social scientist and a policy maker, developing your critical abilities and understanding.
How has advertising tried to understand the consumer? What challenges are posed by international advertising? Or by the arrival of new media and alternative delivery systems? Explore the history of advertising in Britain and North America, then learn how to analyse and theorise about advertising and the wider creative industries.
Interviewing and Qualitative Data Analysis (optional)
What are the different approaches to qualitative data analysis? And when should qualitative interviews be used? Learn about the qualitative research process, including design, selection of interview subjects and analysis, so that you are equipped to tackle your own qualitative research in the future.
Citizenship, International Migration and Human Rights (optional)
This seminar is an introduction to major theoretical approaches and substantive issues in the current sociological thinking on citizenship, with a view on the postwar reconfigurations of the nation-state and citizenship via globalization and the expansion of transnational framework of human rights.
Substantively, the seminar explores the contemporary processes that underline the inclusions and exclusions in the body of citizenry: territorial and cultural closure of the nation, expansion of individual (human) rights and privileges, immigration and incorporation of diversity, European citizenship, globalization of economy and markets, and the transnationalization of normativity, actors, and claims for citizenship.
How are work and home life organised differently across the globe? Does gender add to this? Can we challenge our traditional understandings of work and home? As work helps to define your identity, explore the nature of both formal and informal work, using case studies from around the world.
What do we mean when we talk about organised crime? And how is this used as a tool for governance? Explore landmark studies and emerging horizons in the field of organised crime studies. Gain an understanding of the social, political, media, cultural and ideological topics related to organised crime.
Critical Perspectives on Terrorism and Counter-Terrorism (optional)
Is one man’s terrorist another’s freedom fighter? Go beyond that debate to really challenge your understanding of terrorism. Learn how to define and analyse terrorism. Examine themes on dimensions of terrorism, including political, animal rights and religious extremism. Explore counter terrorism, covering topics like surveillance, policing and the law.As part of this module you have the opportunity to visit the Counter Terrorism Headquarter in London for our annual optional field trip. You will be required to pay any associated travel costs if you choose to attend.
This module will critically assess current research, policies and practices related to current global security challenges, including those relating to human rights, climate change, migration, health, and the cybersphere
How do we understand crime in our increasingly globalised world? And what about forms of control and criminal justice policy? Critically examine criminological thought on globalisation, migration, policy convergence, punishment, and crimes against the state.
What is the significance of 'the de-centring of the subject'? What problems does the materiality of the body pose for sociology? Do claims for objectivity now make any sense at all? Gain an understanding of the significant debates in contemporary social theory, while learning to think analytically about theoretical questions.
Colonialism, Cultural Diversity and Human Rights (optional)
How has colonialism created human rights problems, now and in the past? And what part did mandates for free markets, industrialism and state sovereignty play? Study thinkers like Cesaire, Fanon, Arendt, Agamben and Taussig. Discuss specific international situations like Palestine, forced removal of Aboriginal children and the war on terror.
Advanced Quantitative Analysis: Models for Cause and Effect (optional)
How do you interpret studies using panel data? What are the various approaches to panel data analysis? And can you analyse the same data using different methods? Gain the knowledge and confidence to manipulate panel data sets, while developing practical skills in selecting and conducting panel data analysis.
Survey Sampling, Non-Response and Inference (optional)
How do you deal with sampling error? What problems arise from non-response errors? And can you reduce such errors? Examine methods for mitigating non-responses errors and understand the key issues in managing data and survey processes, while gaining practical experience of designing samples.
Wish to design questionnaires? Build your theoretical knowledge and the practical tools to develop and write survey questions, and to construct questionnaires. Apply your understanding to the development of your questionnaire and implementation materials. Receive feedback on your questionnaire design.
Migration: Theory, Concepts and Selected Issues (optional)
Throughout the module, we will discuss international theories of migration and social integration, examine migration and refugee policies in a comparative perspective, the difference between statistical and taste-based discrimination, and the perpetuation of bias, how we gain an understanding of labour market integration; and the debates surrounding migration, prostitution and sex work.
Graduate students are encouraged to take part in our weekly Departmental Seminar which regularly features eminent outside speakers
Assessment
Your modules are assessed by coursework and your dissertation
Dissertation
Your 15,000-word dissertation allows you to focus in-depth on your chosen topic from April onwards
You work with close supervision from academic staff
Fees and funding
Home/UK fee
£8,760
International fee
£18,800
EU students commencing their course in the 2021-22 academic year will be liable for the International fee.
Fees will increase for each academic year of study.
What's next
Open Days
We hold Open Days for all our applicants throughout the year. Our Colchester Campus events are a great way to find out more about studying at Essex, and give you the chance to:
tour our campus and accommodation
find out answers to your questions about our courses, student finance, graduate employability, student support and more
meet our students and staff
If the dates of our organised events aren’t suitable for you, feel free to get in touch by emailing tours@essex.ac.uk and we’ll arrange an individual campus tour for you.
We aim to respond to applications within two weeks. If we are able to offer you a place, you will be contacted via email.
For information on our deadline to apply for this course, please see our ‘how to apply’ information.
Visit Colchester Campus
Home to 15,000 students from more than 130 countries, our Colchester Campus is the largest of our three sites, making us one of the most internationally diverse campuses on the planet - we like to think of ourselves as the world in one place.
The Campus is set within 200 acres of beautiful parkland, located two miles from the historic town centre of Colchester – England's oldest recorded town. Our Colchester Campus is also easily reached from London and Stansted Airport in under one hour.
If you live too far away to come to Essex (or have a busy lifestyle), no problem. Our 360 degree virtual tour allows you to explore the Colchester Campus from the comfort of your home. Check out our accommodation options, facilities and social spaces.
Exhibitions
Our staff travel the world to speak to people about the courses on offer at Essex. Take a look at our list of exhibition dates to see if we’ll be near you in the future.
At Essex we pride ourselves on being a welcoming and inclusive student community. We offer a wide range of support to individuals and groups of student members who may have specific requirements, interests or responsibilities.
The University makes every effort to ensure that this information on its programme specification is accurate and up-to-date. Exceptionally it can be necessary to make changes, for example to courses, facilities or fees. Examples of such reasons might include, but are not limited to: strikes, other industrial action, staff illness, severe weather, fire, civil commotion, riot, invasion, terrorist attack or threat of terrorist attack (whether declared or not), natural disaster, restrictions imposed by government or public authorities, epidemic or pandemic disease, failure of public utilities or transport systems or the withdrawal/reduction of funding. Changes to courses may for example consist of variations to the content and method of delivery of programmes, courses and other services, to discontinue programmes, courses and other services and to merge or combine programmes or courses. The University will endeavour to keep such changes to a minimum, and will also keep students informed appropriately by updating our programme specifications.
The full Procedures, Rules and Regulations of the University governing how it operates are set out in the Charter, Statutes and
Ordinances and in the University Regulations, Policy and Procedures.
Ask us a question
Want to quiz us about your course? Got a question that just needs answering? Get in touch and we’ll do our best to email you back shortly.
