BA Criminology

On our four-year BA Criminology (including foundation year), we work with you to develop your subject-specific knowledge, and to improve your academic skills. You receive a thorough grounding in these areas during your foundation year (known as Year Zero) to prepare you for a further three years of undergraduate study at Essex.

You are an Essex student from day one, a member of our global community based at the most internationally diverse campus university in the UK.

At Essex, our course will allow you to explore the nature of crime, criminal justice and punishment within wider social contexts. Our flexible course means that you can study an exciting range of topics, from the impact of computer games on crime, to terrorism and migration, to policing and controlling society.

We are a large and friendly department, offering a range and diversity of research interests, with leading international experts in the areas of:

• Organised crime, surveillance and counter-terrorism
• Environmental harm
• Visual criminology
• Social history and crime

You'll also receive training in criminological methods – how to design a survey, conduct an interview, and use quantitative analysis from basic statistic to big data – in order to ask the difficult questions.

Our BA Criminology is run by the Department of Sociology and Criminology, which is 2nd in UK for research power in sociology (Times Higher Education research power measure, Research Excellence Framework 2021).

Our expert staff

All lecturing staff are actively researching at the cutting edge of their respective disciplines and bring the very latest research findings into the classroom. All are prominent writers and the criminology team collectively authored the best-selling criminology textbook, ‘Criminology: A Sociological Introduction', used on undergraduate courses across the country.

Our staff have worked at local, national and international level with bodies like local councils, the Home Office, Amnesty International and the United Nations.

Core staff on this programme include:

• Dr Anna Di Ronco

  Dr Anna Di Ronco is Director of our Centre for Criminology and a member of our Human Rights Centre and our Centre for Migration Studies. Anna's research critically addresses policies and policing practices that penalise people and exclude them from the urban space. As part of this, Anna works with environmental activists to expose their criminalisation and defend their right to protest.

• Professor Anna Sergi

  Professor Anna Sergi researches how organised crime groups form and how they influence everyday life, from trade to politics. She explores ways of identifying and countering the dangers of mafia infiltration, focusing specifically on the ‘ndrangheta, one of the world's most extensive and powerful criminal organizations.

• Professor Pete Fussey

  Professor Pete Fussey works on the human rights impact of AI and other emerging technologies in policing and security contexts. His research focuses on surveillance, digital sociology, algorithmic justice, human rights, intelligence oversight, and technology and policing. His recent work on facial recognition technology has informed policy at the UN and EU levels, been transposed into national policy, was discussed in parliament and featured in over 300 news stories including the front pages of The Guardian and FT.

• Professor Eamonn Carrabine

  Professor Eamonn Carrabine has published widely in criminology and sociology. He is most well-known for his award winning research on visual criminology, and he is currently writing a series of books on the ‘iconography of punishment'. The first of which concentrates on representations of punishment in medieval and renaissance worlds, indicating that the relationships between the history of art and history of punishment are closer and stranger than we might think. He currently serves as the Editor-in-Chief on the British Journal of Criminology, and between 2015 to 2019 Michele Brown (University of Tennessee) and Eamonn co-edited the journal Crime, Media, Culture.

Specialist facilities

By studying within our Essex Pathways Department for your foundation year, you will have access to all of the facilities that the University of Essex has to offer, as well as those provided by our department to support you:

• We provide computer labs for internet research; classrooms with access to PowerPoint facilities for student presentations; AV facilities for teaching and access to web-based learning materials
• Our new Student Services Hub will support you and provide information for all your needs as a student
• Our social space is stocked with hot magazines and newspapers, and provides an informal setting to meet with your lecturers, tutors and friends

Our Department of Sociology and Criminology also offers excellent on-campus facilities:

• Our Centre for Criminology hosts expert speakers and practitioners
• A unique Student Study Centre where you can get help with your studies, access examples of previous students' work, and attend workshops on research skills
• The common room is open all day Monday-Friday, has a hot drinks vending machine, water cooler and microwave as well as a small number of lockers 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

Careers linked to criminology are varied. Our courses provide an excellent training for work within the criminal justice system, for example as community safety officers, risk assessors, court managers, researchers, paralegals, police officers, probation officers and youth workers.

Our recent graduates have gone on to work for a wide range of high-profile companies including:

• The Institute of Public Finance
• Guardian Professional
• United
• Synergy Healthcare Research
• National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children
• Home Office

We also work with the University's Student Development Team to help you find out about further work experience, internships, placements, and voluntary opportunities.

Enhance your degree and demonstrate your quantitative skills with Q-Step. By following the Q-Step pathway of modules within your existing course, you will graduate from Essex with a qualifier award at the end of your degree, signalling to employers your capability in highly sought after quantitative research skills.

UK entry requirements

UK and EU applicants:

All applications for degree courses with a foundation year (Year Zero) will be considered individually, whether you:

• think you might not have the grades to enter the first year of a degree course;
• have non-traditional qualifications or experience (e.g. you haven’t studied A-levels or a BTEC);
• are returning to university after some time away from education; or
• are looking for more support during the transition into university study.

Standard offer: Our standard offer is 72 UCAS tariff points from at least two full A-levels, or equivalent.

Examples of the above tariff may include:

• A-levels: DDD
• BTEC Level 3 Extended Diploma: MMP
• T-levels: Pass with E in core

If you are unsure whether you meet the entry criteria, please get in touch for advice.

Mature applicants and non-traditional academic backgrounds:

We welcome applications from mature students (over 21) and students with non-traditional academic backgrounds (might not have gone on from school to take level 3 qualifications). We will consider your educational and employment history, along with your personal statement and reference, to gain a rounded view of your suitability for the course.

International applicants:

Essex Pathways Department is unable to accept applications from international students. Foundation pathways for international students are available at the University of Essex International College and are delivered and awarded by Kaplan, in partnership with the University of Essex. Successful completion will enable you to progress to the relevant degree course at the University of Essex.

English language requirements

English language requirements for applicants whose first language is not English: IELTS 5.5 overall with a minimum of 5.5 in each component, or specified score in another equivalent test that we accept.

Details of English language requirements, including component scores, and the tests we accept for applicants who require a Student visa (excluding Nationals of Majority English Speaking Countries) can be found here

If we accept the English component of an international qualification it will be included in the academic levels listed above for the relevant countries.

English language shelf-life

If you require a Student visa to study in the UK please see our immigration webpages for the latest Home Office guidance on English language qualifications.

Pre-sessional English courses

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.

Pending English language qualifications

You don’t need to achieve the required level before making your application, but it will be one of the conditions of your offer.

If you cannot find the qualification that you have achieved or are pending, then please email ugquery@essex.ac.uk.

Additional Notes

If you’re an international student, but do not meet the English language or academic requirements for direct admission to this degree, you could prepare and gain entry through a pathway course. Find out more about opportunities available to you at the University of Essex International College

Course structure

Our research-led teaching is continually evolving to address the latest challenges and breakthroughs in the field. The following modules are based on the current course structure and may change in response to new curriculum developments and innovation.

We understand that deciding where and what to study is a very important decision for you. We'll make all reasonable efforts to provide you with the courses, services and facilities as described on our website and in line with your contract with us. However, if we need to make material changes, for example due to significant disruption, we'll let our applicants and students know as soon as possible.

Teaching

• From year 1, undergraduate students in the Department of Sociology and Criminology typically attend a one-hour lecture and a one-hour class for each module per week. There are some variations in place depending on the module.
• Lab sessions to improve technical research skills
• Any language classes involve language laboratory sessions
• Our classes are run in small groups, so you receive a lot of individual attention

Assessment

• Your assessed coursework will generally consist of essays, reports, in-class tests, individual or group oral presentations, and small scale research projects