Law with Criminology

Law with Criminology is a combination that allows you to study the legal framework governing society alongside the social science that examines why people break those laws, how crime is defined and constructed, and how the criminal justice system responds. Law provides you with a rigorous understanding of legal principles, institutions, and the processes by which rights and obligations are defined and enforced. Criminology brings in perspectives from sociology, psychology, and political theory to ask deeper questions about the causes of crime, the nature of deviance, the operation of police, courts, and prisons, and the crimes committed by those with power.

At the University of Portsmouth, this three-year, full-time programme includes a sandwich year and a year abroad, as well as work placement opportunities. You will study the core areas of English law including contract, tort, criminal law, and public law, developing the analytical and argumentative skills that legal education demands. The criminology strand expands your thinking into competing theoretical perspectives on crime and its causes, the social construction of criminal categories, the politics of law and order, and the international dimensions of crime including genocide, war crimes, and corporate wrongdoing.

The year abroad and sandwich year provide professional and international experience that broadens your perspective and strengthens your employability.

Graduates of Law with Criminology are well placed for careers in legal practice, the criminal justice system, probation, social work, policy analysis, and research. Many pursue the further qualifications needed to qualify as solicitors or barristers, while others enter the police, prison service, and related agencies with a more analytical and critically informed understanding of how those institutions work. Journalism, public affairs, and NGO work focused on criminal justice reform are also well-trodden paths.

Postgraduate study in law, criminology, criminal justice, or social policy offers a route to more specialist or research-oriented careers.