This module will cover:

- Concepts related to criminology
- Understanding concepts, theories and relationship surrounding victims and offenders
- Motivations for offending
- Impact of crime of individuals
- Introduction to the Criminal Justice System
- Roles and responsibilities of those who work in the Criminal Justice System
- Impact of diversity on the Criminal Justice System
- Crime prevention theories and strategies
- Problem solving techniques and their effectiveness
- Reviewing specific initiatives of crime prevention
- Core functions and methods associated with community policing and the Neighbourhood Policing Guarantee
- How the police can utilise community engagement to foster effective partnerships
- Models of policing and their effectiveness
- Evidence Based Policing
- Crime pattern analysis
- How information and intelligence can be used in other key areas including community, response, public protection and major policing operations and impact on public perception.
- Sources of information and intelligence including that held by other agencies
- Practical issues relating to the gathering and retention of information and intelligence
- The intelligence cycle and the relationship with the National Intelligence Model and National Decision Model
- Data protection and data managements regulations and protocols

1. Video segments – You will create a series of short, documentary‑style segments (video or animated slides) in a social media reel/ ‘CrimTok’ style exploring the nature and impact of society on the criminal justice system; and depiction of offenders and victims in their chosen TV drama. The videos will centre around one TV drama of real or fictional crime and sociologically related depictions selected from a list provided to you by the tutors and chosen by the you. You will be able to show their understanding of topics relating to society and the criminal justice system as well as the impact of crime on individuals and relationship between victims and offenders. They will demonstrate critical analysis of the topic applying concepts and theories to scenarios presented in the drama. Due to the format of dissemination, the short clips will use an engaging public communication style.

2. Group presentation – You will be given a crime-based scenario and some information and intelligence around the problem. You will work together in their group using the sources provided, their knowledge of theories and concepts from the module and undertaking secondary source research to unpick the problem and outline a proposed course of action to address it. This will be presented visually and verbally to a panel.

Students will learn through a variety of session types, including lectures, tutorials, workshops, practicals and assignment support sessions.

On this module a variety of techniques will be used to support students’ learning, including the use of real or simulated case studies, discussions, virtual and physical simulations, guest speakers and individual and group tasks.

For the group presentation assessment, similar scenarios will be provided in timetabled sessions and you will work to understand these problems and prepare appropriate responses. There will also be an opportunity for your groups to present to an academic prior to the summative presentation, allowing for feedback to refine the content or delivery. For the ‘CrimTok’, we will use examples from social media to explore different styles of delivery, and you will have the opportunity to practice some of these on provided materials (e.g. case study, news reports, short episodes, YouTube video) to support you in deciding which style you prefer.

1. Apply legislation, data protection regulations and the rights of the individual in relation to information and intelligence collection and retention.

Application and problem solving

2. Communicate information surrounding offenders and victims using theories of offending and victimology to the public in a digitally accessible way.

Communication; Digital literacy

3. Describe the relationship between the public, the police and the criminal justice system and the impact of community engagement or the lack thereof.

Knowledge and understanding

4. Apply theories of crime and crime prevention, problem-solving theories, tools, intelligence processes and practical methods to crime and community-based problems.

Application and problem solving

- Simulation suite
- Virti
- ThingLink

College of Policing (2025) Crime Reduction Toolkit. Available at: https://www.college.police.uk/research/crime-reduction-toolkit

Jones, S. (2021) Criminology. 7th ed. London : Oxford University Press.

Krushas, A.E., Kulig, T.C. and Goslar, M. (2025) A Review of Personal Recurrent Victimization : Examining the Literature on Recurrent, Repeat, Multiple, Poly, and Revictimization. 1st ed. 2025. Cham: Springer Nature Switzerland. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-88601-0.

Lab, S.P. (2023) Crime prevention . Eleventh edition. New York, New York ; London, England :; New York, New York ; London, England : Routledge. Available at: https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003271673.

Parsons, D. (2021) Community policing today : issues, controversies, and innovations . First Edition. Edited by J. Kremling. London : SAGE. Available at: https://doi.org/10.4135/9781544336749.

Ever wondered why crime happens and how it could be prevented or how the criminal justice system works? This module will introduce you to the criminal justice system and key concepts and theories in Criminology to help you answer these questions. It will also equip you with some practical tools for tackling crime based and community problems. We will draw on real life problems and scenarios to apply your learning in a realistic way so that when you face similar issues in your future employment, you’ll have an array of knowledge and tools in your arsenal to deal with them.