Criminology and Criminal Justice

Criminology and criminal justice ask fundamental questions about how societies define, respond to, and attempt to prevent harm. Criminology investigates the nature, causes, and distribution of crime, examining how social, economic, and psychological factors shape criminal behaviour and how communities and institutions respond to it. Criminal justice examines the systems through which societies manage wrongdoing, including policing, prosecution, courts, prisons, and alternatives to punishment, asking whether these systems are effective, fair, and humane.

Together, they form a discipline that is both analytically demanding and socially urgent.

At Birkbeck College, this part-time BSc takes a critical and questioning approach to criminology, exploring conventional frameworks in criminal justice alongside alternative perspectives on harmful behaviour in society. You will examine what crime is and how it comes to be defined that way, who commits crime and under what social conditions, and whether punishment achieves the goals attributed to it. The programme encourages you to think creatively about responses to harm, engaging with restorative justice, community approaches, and comparative criminal justice systems alongside more traditional criminological debates.

Birkbeck's evening university model means you will study alongside students from diverse professional backgrounds, enriching discussion with a range of lived perspectives on the questions the degree addresses.

Criminology and criminal justice graduates work across a range of sectors. Many enter the police service, probation, prisons, victim support, youth justice, social work, and community rehabilitation. Others move into policy research, think tanks, NGOs, journalism, or government roles concerned with public safety and justice reform.

The critical and analytical skills developed through the degree transfer well across the public sector and third sector. Postgraduate study in criminology, criminal justice, law, social work, or public policy is a natural continuation for those wishing to specialise further.