History and Criminology

History and criminology sit in productive dialogue with each other. History shows how crime, punishment, and deviance have been defined and responded to differently across time and place, while criminology uses that perspective to question the assumptions behind modern criminal justice systems. Together they encourage you to think critically about what we call crime, who gets labelled a criminal, and what the consequences of those labels have been for individuals and communities across centuries.

At the University of Essex, this three-year full-time degree encourages you to explore precisely these overlaps and influences between the two disciplines. In history, you will develop skills in working with primary sources, constructing evidence-based arguments, and engaging with the social, political, and cultural forces that shaped the past. In criminology, you will study the theoretical frameworks that explain offending and victimisation, the operations of the criminal justice system, and the social structures that determine who is policed, prosecuted, and punished.

Bringing these together, you will examine how legal categories have shifted, how prisons and policing have evolved, and how the treatment of marginalised groups has been shaped by broader historical forces.

You will develop strong analytical and research skills, the ability to work with a wide range of sources and methodologies, and the capacity to make coherent arguments about complex social phenomena. These capabilities transfer well across many professional contexts.

Graduates from history and criminology combinations pursue careers in probation, criminal justice organisations, social work, policy, education, journalism, heritage, archiving, the charitable sector, and academia. The degree is also a useful foundation for postgraduate study in criminology, social policy, history, law, or public administration, for those who wish to deepen their expertise or pursue research. Roles that require understanding social inequality, institutional behaviour, and the long histories of crime and punishment are particularly well matched to this degree.