BA (Hons) Crime and Criminal Justice
Course Overview
Crime is evolving. New technologies and more complex societal pressures are leading to new criminal activities. Our BA (Hons) Crime and Criminal Justice degree is designed to educate future criminal justice professionals. We offer you the deep understanding of the causes of crime, criminal behaviour and how to combat crime that are needed for a career safeguarding the public, supporting victims, protecting the vulnerable, and helping to rehabilitate offenders.We’ll guide you as you investigate the individual, social, legal and political forces that shape both crime and how it is controlled, as well as the interrelationships between research, theory, policy and practice in criminal justice. Areas such as criminal investigation, multi-agency working, ethics and diversity, the penal system, mental health, human rights, social justice, restorative justice, community safety, poverty, and safeguarding people at risk will be addressed, along with specific crimes such as human trafficking, modern slavery, gender and domestic violence, hate crime and terrorism, youth crime, illegal drug use and anti-social behaviour.
Our academic staff come from a diverse range of professional criminal justice backgrounds. They will encourage and support you to develop the practical skills, academic knowledge, and personal qualities (such as grit and resilience) needed to succeed in this dynamic sector.
Highlights
- Our Criminology courses are ranked first in the North West of England for teaching quality and student experience for the second year running by The Times and The Sunday Times Good University Guide 2022.
- Also, The Complete University Guide 2022 ranks us second in the UK and first in England for student satisfaction for Sociology (which includes our Crime and Criminal Justice courses).
- You’ll have the opportunity to learn interviewing techniques from experienced specialists.
- We work closely with organisations such as the College of Policing, the Crown Prosecution Service, Public Health England, the Home Office, and Her Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service, ensuring our course offers a truly holistic view of crime and criminal justice in the UK and fosters a culture of multi-disciplinary working and information sharing between agencies.
- If you’re an experienced criminal justice professional, you may be eligible for exemptions from certain modules based on your prior experience or qualifications. Please ask about our Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL) process.
- The course covers the four knowledge modules required by the National Offender Management Service (NOMS) as prerequisites for Probation Officer training. We’ll encourage you to gain the relevant experience necessary, and can advise and support you as you approach potential placement providers.
- We offer opportunities for you to visit criminal justice workplaces, such as prisons, law courts, police stations and rehabilitation centres so you can gain a first-hand understanding of these environments and how they operate.
- We work with experienced forensics professionals who have been responsible for training Scenes of Crime Officers (SOCOs) for the police, and offer you the chance to visit crime scene training locations to learn about securing crime scenes and evidence collection and preservation.
Key Features
- The criminal justice sector offers a wide range of rewarding and challenging careers. We’ll support you to gain both the professional and personal skills to succeed, coaching you in areas like critical thinking, evaluation and analysis, self-reflection, cultural sensitivity and developing mental resilience.
- We’ll also support you to gain vital academic and lifelong learning skills so that you are well prepared to research new innovations, apply your knowledge in new ways, and keep abreast of shifts in policy and practice in the criminal justice sector throughout your career.
- Our professionally experienced tutors bring their wealth of on-the-job expertise and practical knowledge into their research, teaching and one-to-one advice, ensuring you’re able to benefit from a wide range of highly informed criminal justice perspectives.
- We prefer to keep seminar and practical classes relatively small, so that you have plenty of opportunities to ask us questions and get help, as well as benefit from the ideas and support offered by your classmates.
- We’re committed to helping you develop your employability and career network. You’ll be encouraged to attend guest lectures and undertake volunteering activities that enhance your learning, help you make contacts in the industry, and contribute to your professional development.
- As well as helping you to develop academic and technical professional skills, we’ll focus on preparing you for the emotional and psychological demands of criminal justice work, and the intense situations you may face during your career.
Entry Requirements
- 112 UCAS points. We accept a full range of qualifications that carry UCAS points, including A-levels, BTECs and T-levels. Please see our guide to the UCAS Tariff for examples of how to achieve these points. For most courses, we are also able to consider non-tariffable qualifications.
- Any subjects are acceptable at Level 3. Social science and public service-related subjects are preferred.
- You should also have five GCSEs at grade C or above or grade 4 to 9 (or equivalent), including English and Mathematics.
- If you don’t have the above qualifications but possess relevant vocational experience in the criminal justice sector, we’ll be delighted to consider your application.
- To successfully complete the course, you'll be required to undertake voluntary work with relevant organisations. The timing and amount of voluntary activity is flexible, but as a guideline, we'd expect you to undertake 4-10 hours per week, in addition to the employability module elements of the course. These voluntary activities will involve regular unsupervised access to children, vulnerable adults and/or sensitive data, also known as regulated activity. The organisations will therefore require an Enhanced Disclosure certificate from the Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS). Charges are payable to cover the cost of the DBS Enhanced Disclosure application and annual registration with the online Update Service. You don't need to apply for DBS Enhanced Disclosure before starting the course.
- You may be required to attend an interview and/or provide a portfolio of work.
- If English isn’t your first language, you’ll also need IELTS 6.0 with no less than 5.5 in any band (or equivalent). We also accept a range of other English language qualifications – please visit our English Language Requirements web page for more details.
- Please note that this course is subject to the University of Bolton's Fitness to Practise procedure.
Where changes are made to material information contained in this course description or a decision is taken to suspend a course between the offer of admissions and enrolment, we will inform applicants at the earliest possible opportunity and will outline the various options available to the applicant.
Career Opportunities
Whether you are new to the field or have many years’ experience of working in the criminal justice sector, this fascinating degree offers you a wide ranging, yet detailed, view of crime and criminal justice in preparation for a career in this demanding yet rewarding sector.
On successful completion of this course you’ll have an in-depth theoretical and applied knowledge and understanding of crime and its consequences, an extensive knowledge of the criminal justice system, and a keen understanding of contemporary social issues and problems. You’ll also have a valuable range of skills and competencies specific to practice in the criminal justice sector, along with transferable skills that are attractive to employers in any sector. These include the ability to present and develop a cohesive argument, IT skills, research and problem-solving skills, communication skills and team-working skills.
We’ll encourage you to prepare for your career from day one. Professional development planning is an essential part of the course, and we’ll help you to explore potential career paths through discussion and one-to-one meetings with staff. We’ll also organise presentations from a host of different crime and criminal justice organisations, who will explain the services they provide, the careers available in their sector, and how you may be able to help them and gain valuable experience and knowledge by volunteering with their organisation.
Exploring the workings of criminal justice agencies, like the police, courts, prisons and probation service, as well as the wider roles in offender management and crime prevention being taken over by private companies and voluntary groups, will likely help you identify and focus on potential career paths. Undertaking relevant practical voluntary experience can help confirm your career choice, build your skills and enhance your employability.
What can I do with this qualification?
As a graduate, you’ll be prepared to work for a variety of criminal justice organisations, such as the Police Service, Her Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service, British Transport Police, related private sector providers such as Serco and G4S, and for charities working in areas such as victim support. You may also be attracted to roles offered by security and intelligence agencies such as the Ministry of Defence, the UK Border Force, and Immigration Enforcement, or seek employment in related fields such as Trading Standards and HM Revenue and Customs.
Graduates may move on to postgraduate or professional study, such as a Master’s degree in Social Work, a Postgraduate Certificate in Education (PGCE) if you wish to work as a teacher, or the LLM Common Professional Examination if you are interested in becoming a lawyer.
Alternative career options
Graduates can also use the qualification as a stepping stone to enter a range of other careers, and for some of these roles, both relevant experience and/or postgraduate study may be required. Some of these roles include:
- Magistrate
- Social work
- Public health and safeguarding
- Teaching and education
- International aid/development
- Mentoring
- Health promotion
- Behaviour management
- Work with refugee and asylum seekers
- Advice work
- Community safety
- Family support
- Political research
- Charity and advice work
- Human Resources
Fees & Funding
Home/EU Fees
Home students starting this course in the first year will be required to pay a Home fee of £6,000 for the academic year 2024/25.
International Fees
No fee information is currently available, please contact the University of Bolton’s Academic Fees team by emailing AcademicFees@bolton.ac.uk for more information.
Bursaries
Important note regarding tuition fees for the 2024-25 academic year: EU nationals who meet residency requirements (have settled or pre-settled status) may be eligible for 'Home' fee status. If you do not meet these residency requirements, overseas fees will apply. Irish citizens living in the UK or Ireland will be eligible for 'Home' fee status under the Common Travel Area arrangement. Please read the student finance for EU students web page on www.gov.uk for information.
The fees for a student's course of study will be set for the normal duration of that course subject only to inflationary increases – measured by the Consumer Price Index (CPI) recorded in March each year to take effect for subsequent start dates.
How to apply
Home Applicants
You may apply directly to the University using the University's online application form. Please select your chosen start date from the list below:
You should have to hand:
-
Details of the educational establishments you attended and dates
-
Your certificates for the qualifications you are using to gain entry to the course – you will need to enter the completion date and upload copies
-
Details of any employment history including name, address, dates and role
-
Personal statement – this can be either input into the relevant field or uploaded separately
-
Details including e-mail addresses of two referees, at least one of which should be someone who can provide an academic reference
Please make sure any documents you wish to upload in support of your application are in pdf or jpeg format. Personal statements may be word documents.
Please ensure your data is correct at each stage of the application before you proceed to the next page. If you use the back button at any time during the application, you should check the validity of the data you have already input.
If you experience difficulties during the application process, contact the Admissions Team on 01204 903394 or admissions-team@bolton.ac.uk
-
Apply online: University of Bolton BA (Hons) Crime and Criminal Justice-27 January 2025 (Course Full)
-
Apply online: University of Bolton BA(Hons) Crime and Criminal Justice - 22 September 2025
International Applicants
International applications are not possible for this course
As an international student you are not allowed to study this course because of the restrictions on your visa.
We offer a wide range of full-time courses in lots of different subjects, many of our courses start in September and January. If you would like to see what courses are available please visit our Course Search.
Partner Organisation Applicants
University of Bolton Group Partners
Bolton College
University Collegiate School
Alliance Learning
University of Bolton
For valued members of the University of Bolton Group and progressing students, we try to make our application process as simple and as fast as possible.
By selecting the link for your chosen course from the list shown below, you will be taken directly to our online application form. Please read the user guidance before completing this, and ensure you upload all supporting documents such as certificates and your personal statement when you apply.
When you are asked to add a contact email address, please ensure you add your college/university email account address as well as your personal address. If you do not add your college address as your contact address, we will be unable to identify you as a partner and offer you the benefits of being part of our group.
If you are ready to apply directly, please select your chosen start date from the list below.
Before applying, please read the entry requirements section of this page.
If your course runs at multiple locations or has various start dates, please be sure to select the correct application link from the list below.
Before beginning your application, you should have the following information to hand:
Details of the educational establishments you attended and dates
Your certificates for the qualifications you are using to gain entry to the course – you will need to enter the completion date and upload copies
Details of any employment history, including name, address, dates and role
Personal statement – this can be either input into the relevant field or uploaded separately
Details including email addresses of two referees, at least one of which should be someone who can provide an academic reference
Please make sure any documents you wish to upload in support of your application are in pdf or jpeg format. Personal statements may be word documents.
Please ensure your data is correct at each stage of the application before you proceed to the next page. If you use the back button at any time during the application, you should check the validity of the data you have already inputted.
If you experience difficulties during the application process, contact the Undergraduate Admissions Team on 01204 903394 or admissions-team@bolton.ac.uk
-
Apply online: University of Bolton BA (Hons) Crime and Criminal Justice-27 January 2025 (Course Full)
-
Apply online: University of Bolton BA(Hons) Crime and Criminal Justice - 22 September 2025
We look forward to receiving your application and you continuing your academic journey with us!
Teaching & Assessment
The School of Law at the University of Bolton is led by professionally qualified and specialist staff with a wide range of experience in practice, teaching and research. Teaching and learning on our BA (Hons) Crime and Criminal Justice course is supported by a variety of methods. You can expect lectures, seminars, workshops, practical role play and direct study.
In the majority of modules, formal lectures are used to introduce a topic, with follow-up small group seminars where you’re encouraged to explore this knowledge in greater depth. We’ll offer additional tutorials, ensuring you have space to ask questions or seek individual help. Independent learning is essential for the course and you should spend much of your time reading around and researching the topics covered in your modules.
We’ll also offer you chances to hear guest speakers from local criminal institutions and visit criminal justice agencies. Moreover, you’ll be strongly encouraged to undertake voluntary activities that support your studies and give you opportunities to gain first-hand experience and practical skills in criminal justice environments.
In terms of assessment, we aim to provide creative ways for you to demonstrate your theoretical and practical knowledge. You can expect assessments to involve exams, report writing, essays, demonstrations, and presenting evidence and practical forensic crime scene role play using appropriate technology and environments (including police crime scenes and specialist court mock-ups). Some assessments will contribute to your final module mark and allow you to demonstrate that you’ve met the learning outcomes, while others are designed to help you identify areas that need extra attention on your part, or where you need extra support from your tutors.
Modules
The modules listed below may be a mixture of compulsory and optional. You may not have the opportunity to study all the modules shown as part of the course.
- Historical Perspectives of Criminal Justice and Academic Development
- Introduction to Criminology and Social Policy
- Ethics and Diversity in the Justice System
- Group Dynamics and Team Working
- Criminal Investigation Process: Suspect to Sentence
- Using Research: Evidence Based Practice
- Perspectives on Criminal Justice
- Mental Health and Criminal Justice
- Youth Crime and Juvenile Justice System
- Crime and Criminal Behaviours
- Employability and Career Development
- Researching Criminal Justice: Project Propsal
- Rehabilitation: Philosophies and Approaches
- Criminal Justice: Safeguarding People at Risk
- Honours Project
- Practices within the Penal System
- Gender Violence and Society
Assessment methods
| Level | Assessment method |
|---|---|
| Level 1 | Coursework 90% Practical exams 10% |
| Level 2 | Coursework 86% Practical exams 14% |
| Level 3 | Coursework 100% |
Learning Activities
| Level | Activity |
|---|---|
| Level 1 | Guided independent study 67% Scheduled learning and teaching activities 33% |
| Level 2 | Guided independent study 72% Placement/study abroad 9% Scheduled learning and teaching activities 19% |
| Level 3 | Guided independent study 83% Scheduled learning and teaching activities 17% |
The university will use all reasonable endeavours to deliver your course as described in its published material and the programme specification for the academic year in which you begin your course. The university considers changes to courses very carefully and the university will minimise any changes. Please be aware that our courses are subject to review on an ongoing basis and changes may be necessary due to legitimate staffing, financial, regulatory and academic reasons. The content of course modules and mode of associated assessments may be updated on an annual basis. This is to ensure that all modules are up-to-date and responsive to employment and sector needs. The published course material and the programme specification contain indicative ‘optional modules’ that may be subject to change due to circumstances outside of our control. For this reason, we cannot guarantee to run any specific optional module.
