Law With Criminology

Law and criminology address questions that are among the most important a society faces: how should wrongdoing be defined and judged, what explains crime and criminal behaviour, and how effectively do our legal and criminal justice systems serve the goal of justice? Studied together, they give you both the analytical rigour of legal reasoning and the social scientific perspective that criminology brings to understanding crime, punishment and the institutions that manage them. At Edge Hill University, this part-time programme combines these complementary disciplines while also building in substantial practical and international exposure.

The programme includes a sandwich placement year, a year abroad and a work placement, giving you the opportunity to apply your learning in professional and international contexts. Your legal studies will cover the core areas of English law, including contract, tort, criminal law, public law and the principles of the English legal system, alongside the skills of legal analysis and argument. Your criminology studies will explore theories of crime and deviance, the sociology of punishment, policing, the criminal justice system, victimology and social policy.

You will develop both the ability to reason within a legal framework and the critical distance to evaluate whether that framework achieves its stated goals.

Graduates from this combined degree move into careers in law, the criminal justice system, social work, probation, policing, policy research, the third sector and a wide range of other fields. Those who wish to qualify as solicitors or barristers will need to complete the relevant professional training, and this degree provides a strong academic foundation for that pathway. Others move directly into roles in youth justice, prison and probation services, victim support, policy analysis and community development, where the understanding of law and crime developed on the degree is directly applicable.