Law with Criminology
Law with criminology is a degree that pairs the formal study of legal rules with a critical examination of crime, deviance, and the institutions that respond to them. Law gives you the analytical framework to understand how the justice system works: its rules, its procedures, its rights and remedies, and its underlying principles. Criminology asks why people commit crimes, how crime is defined and measured, whether punishment works, and whether the justice system is fair.
Together they produce a graduate who understands both how law operates and whether it does what it claims to do.
This three-year full-time programme at Cardiff University develops rigorous legal analysis alongside criminological theory and research. You will study the core subjects required for qualifying in law, covering contract, tort, criminal law, public law, and property, alongside criminology modules that address questions of criminal behaviour, social control, policing, sentencing, and prison. With a typical tariff of 152 points, the programme is selective and attracts students who want both the professional relevance of a law degree and the critical social science perspective that criminology provides.
Cardiff's law school is one of Wales's strongest, and its location in the Welsh capital provides proximity to the Welsh legal and justice systems.
The critical perspective that criminology brings sharpens your engagement with law: when you have studied the sociology of policing, the evidence on deterrence, or the racial disparities in criminal justice, your legal analysis is enriched in ways that purely doctrinal study cannot match. The analytical and research skills you develop across both subjects are broadly applicable.
Graduates move into legal practice, the criminal justice system, policing, probation, social work, policy, research, journalism, and a range of roles in the public and voluntary sectors focused on crime, justice, and social welfare. Many continue to professional legal training or postgraduate study in criminology or law.