Criminology and Film & Visual Culture

Criminology and film and visual culture is an unusual but productive pairing, combining the social scientific study of crime with a discipline that examines how images, films and visual media shape our understanding of the world. Criminology asks why crime happens, who is affected by it, and how societies respond through law enforcement, courts, prisons and prevention programmes. Film and visual culture explores how stories are told through moving images, how cinema reflects and constructs social realities, and what visual representation reveals about power, identity and culture.

Together the disciplines give you tools for understanding both how crime operates in social life and how it is represented, dramatised and sometimes distorted in media and popular culture.

At Liverpool Hope University you will study both disciplines across four years of full-time study. A sandwich year in professional practice and a year abroad are incorporated into the programme, giving you extended professional and international experience alongside your academic study. You will explore how crime is defined, who makes those definitions and why, and what happens across the criminal justice system, from policing and prosecution to sentencing and rehabilitation.

Alongside this, you will develop skills in film analysis, visual literacy and critical media studies, including the ability to interrogate representations of crime, deviance and justice in cinema and other visual forms.

Graduates with this combination of skills are well suited to careers in criminal justice, social work, probation, community development, journalism, media production and public policy. The visual culture component opens doors in communications, arts administration and film-related careers, while the criminology provides the analytical grounding for work in public services and the voluntary sector. Many graduates pursue postgraduate study in criminology, social policy, media studies or law, or enter practice-based training routes in probation, social care or youth justice.