Course description
"The highlight of my course has been taking Data Analysis and Crime Mapping course units.
"Both areas have opened many opportunities for me in the field of criminology."
Prerna Meshram / Criminology MA
Tackling complex problems of crime, including its causation and control, requires skilled thinkers. Our MA Criminology will give you specialist knowledge of current themes and historical debates across various areas of criminology. You’ll put the theory into practice from day one and develop intellectual, critical, and analytical skills needed for a successful career.
Our innovative course is taught by experts from sociological, legal, and psychological backgrounds with real-world experience. You’ll benefit from research-led teaching, as well as strong links to wider criminal justice professions and industry.
You’ll study core areas of criminological theory and research, including the relationships between criminology, criminal justice, and public policy. A broad selection of optional course units allow you to explore specialist topics in depth, such as:
- Crime mapping and spatial analysis;
- White collar and corporate crime;
- Crime and networks;
- Prisons in the UK.
See a full list of mandatory and optional course units below.
The course provides a strong foundation for careers in research, policy, advocacy and the wider criminal justice sector. You’ll gain a critical understanding of contemporary criminological issues, as well as vital transferable skills such as research, analysis, communication and independent thinking.
This course is eligible for the 1+3 studentship offered by the Economic and Social Sciences Research Council (ESRC) North West Social Sciences Doctoral Training Partnership (NWSSDTP), offering a unique, fully-funded route into postgraduate research. If your application is successful, you’ll be able to seamlessly transition from master's-level study to a PhD. Find out more on our 1+3 ESRC NWSSDTP webpage .
Aims
This course aims to:
- Develop your intellectual, critical and analytic skills in the academic areas of criminology and criminal justice.
- Provide you a thorough understanding of the key theoretical and political positions and concepts within criminology and criminal justice, as well as the ability to use this knowledge in sophisticated ways in the critical assessment and development of public policy and interventions.
- Provide you with the opportunity to explore a range of optional courses in particular areas of study that are either professionally relevant or of academic interest.
- Improve your quantitative and qualitative research method skills in a way that is consistent with the demands of the discipline and the professional market.
- Develop your appreciation for interdisciplinary studies as the only way to confront the complexity of our object of study, an interest in the applied dimension of scientific knowledge and the awareness of the ethical implications of the scientific criminological project.
- Enhance your transferable skills including proficiency in oral and written communication; the capacity for independent learning; the ability to reflect on the ethical and ideological components of your work; and the capacity for working co-operatively with others to produce professional outputs in a timely fashion.
- Develop criminological knowledge and research skills for the writing of a master's dissertation.
Special features
A prestigious department
You will study in a department which has set the foundations in several areas of criminological study. Professor Ken Pease received an OBE for his service to crime prevention; Professors Russell and Rebecca Dobash are known as pioneers in the study of intimate partner violence; and Professor Howard Parker changed the way we think about drug-use.
Real-world impact
We put theory into practice. Our academics and students are dedicated to shaping policymaking and practice nationally and internationally in diverse areas including drug policy, domestic abuse, and policing. We work closely with government, civic organisations like the police, and private companies to advise and effect meaningful change.
Teaching and learning
The MA in Criminology is taught by an interdisciplinary team using a variety of delivery methods:
- lectures;
- workshops;
- student-led presentations and debate;
- group work;
- individual research.
Coursework and assessment
Most course units are assessed by 3,500-word essay, or by essay and presentation.
Part-time students
Part-time students complete the full-time course over two years. There are no evening or weekend course units available on the part-time course.
Course unit details
A master’s degree is formed of 180 credits.
120 of these credits are made up by a mix of mandatory and optional course units, worth between 15 and 30 credits each. You will need to select between four and eight of these course units, with 60 credits taken each semester. The availability of individual optional course units may be subject to change. Information that is sent to you in August about registration onto the course will clearly state the course units that are available in the academic year ahead.
The remaining 60 credits are awarded through a compulsory research component in the form of media production (such as an ethnographic documentary film, a photographic book, an image and sound documentary, or other) and a written dissertation. Your dissertation must be within the area of one of the course units you have chosen.
Your dissertation research is supported by weekly research methodology lectures designed to improve your academic and legal research and writing skills.
Part-time students
Part-time students take four out of the five compulsory course units in the first year, and then take the other one in year two. The remaining 60 credits of optional course units are selected and taken accordingly over the two years.
Other exit awards
Students who do not fulfil the criteria for passing the taught element of the course at the masters' level of 50% will not be permitted to progress to the dissertation element of the course and will leave the course with the highest award that the credits that have been passed will allow.
Dissertation
- Supervised summer dissertation of 12-15,000 words.
Exit awards
Students who fail to fulfil the requirements to pass the 180 credits necessary to attain the final degree of MA can leave the course with the award of Postgraduate Diploma by passing 120 credits at the pass mark of 40%, or can qualify for the Postgraduate Certificate by passing 60 credits at the pass mark of 40%. Students who do not fulfil the criteria for passing the taught element of the course at the Masters' level of 50% will not be permitted to progress to the dissertation element of the course, and will leave the course with the highest award that the credits that have been passed will allow.
Course unit list
The course unit details given below are subject to change, and are the latest example of the curriculum available on this course of study.
| Title | Code | Credit rating | Mandatory/optional |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dissertation (MA Criminology and MSc Digital Trust, Society and Security | CRIM62000 | 60 | Mandatory |
| Advanced Theoretical Criminology | CRIM70501 | 15 | Mandatory |
| Evaluating Policy & Practice | CRIM70542 | 15 | Mandatory |
| Criminal Justice Research & Policy | CRIM70561 | 15 | Mandatory |
| Criminological Research Methods | CRIM72221 | 15 | Mandatory |
| PG Crime Mapping: an introduction to GIS and Spatial Analysis | CRIM60142 | 15 | Optional |
| Comparative Criminology | CRIM60642 | 15 | Optional |
| White-Collar and Corporate Crime | CRIM61142 | 15 | Optional |
| Understanding Violence | CRIM70552 | 15 | Optional |
| Drugs: Markets, Policies and Consumption | CRIM70572 | 15 | Optional |
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What our students say
The highlight of my course has been taking Data Analysis and Crime Mapping course units. Both areas have opened many opportunities for me in the field of criminology.
Prerna Meshram, Criminology MA
Facilities
As a School of Social Sciences student, you are supported by first-class resources.
As well as access to networked study areas and one of the best-resourced academic libraries in the country, The University of Manchester Library .