Law with Criminology

Law with criminology is a degree that combines the formal study of legal rules and institutions with the social scientific examination of crime, deviance, and the criminal justice system. Law provides the technical and analytical framework for understanding how societies regulate behaviour and resolve disputes, while criminology asks why crime happens, who is criminalised and why, and whether the systems we have for responding to crime and harm actually work. Together, they give you both the formal legal knowledge needed for a professional career and a critical perspective on the social and political dimensions of justice.

At the University of Winchester, this three-year full-time programme embeds legal skills throughout the curriculum, including mooting, negotiation, and client interviewing as core components of how law is taught, assessed, and practised. This emphasis on skills-based learning reflects Winchester's commitment to preparing graduates who can practise as well as think, developing the professional competencies that legal employers and the wider world expect alongside your doctrinal and analytical knowledge. The criminology strand gives you a sociological and psychological lens through which to examine crime, punishment, policing, and the justice system, deepening your understanding of the social contexts in which law operates.

Graduates from law with criminology go on to qualifying as solicitors and barristers, to careers in the criminal justice system including probation, policing, and prison service, to social work, policy research, and campaigning organisations, and to a wide range of roles in business and the public sector where legal and analytical skills are valued. Many also pursue postgraduate study in law, criminology, criminal justice policy, or social work, deepening their expertise for specialist academic or professional careers.