Criminology with Psychology BA (Hons)

Modules

• Year 1 at Sussex

  Core modules

  Core modules are taken by all students on the course. They give you a solid grounding in your chosen subject and prepare you to explore the topics that interest you most.

  Autumn teaching

  • Critical Reading and Writing for Criminologists
  • Psychology of Child Development
  • Themes and Perspectives in Sociology I
  • Thinking Like a Criminologist

  Spring teaching

  • Criminological Classics
  • Criminology in Theory and Perspective
  • Social Psychology and Individual Differences
  • Understanding the Criminal Justice System
• Year 2 at Sussex

  Core modules

  Core modules are taken by all students on the course. They give you a solid grounding in your chosen subject and prepare you to explore the topics that interest you most.

  Autumn teaching

  • Biological Psychology
  • Designing Social Research

  Spring teaching

  • Psychology of Cognitive Processes

  Options

  Alongside your core modules, you can choose options to broaden your horizons and tailor your course to your interests. This list gives you a flavour of our options, which are kept under review and may change, for example in response to student feedback or the latest research.

  While it’s our aim for students to take their preferred combinations of options, this can’t be guaranteed and will be subject to timetabling. Options may be grouped and if so, students will be able to choose a set number of options from the selection available in any particular group.

  Autumn teaching

  • A Sociology of Generations and Social Change? From Passive to Active Generations
  • Citizenship, Activism and Resistance
  • Crime and the Media (Aut)
  • Drugs, Crime and Deviant Leisure
  • Gender, Crime and Justice
  • Identity, Violence and Transgression
  • Lions Den: An Exploration (A)
  • Police and Policing
  • Sociology of Emotions and Mental Health
  • The Climate Crisis, Criminology & the Justice System
  • The Politics of Criminalisation (Autumn)

  Spring teaching

  • Doing Social Research: working with qualitative data
  • Drugs, Crime and Deviant Leisure
  • Gender, Crime and Justice
  • Precarity and the Politics of Work (Spr)
  • Punishment and Penology (Spr)
  • Social Research Methods: Analysing Quantitative Data
  • Sociology of Emotions and Mental Health
  • The Alchemy of Race and Racism (Spring)
  • The Sociology of Human Rights
  • Victimology and Emotion
• Experience Year

  Study abroad (optional)

  Apply to study abroad – you’ll develop an international perspective and gain an edge when it comes to your career. Find out where your course could take you

  If your application to study abroad is successful, you’ll have to meet the academic requirements at Sussex and also at the partner university. Find out more about studying abroad as a Sussex student

  Placement (optional)

  To help you gain experience and increase your employability, you can apply for an optional placement as part of your course. You’ll be responsible for applying for and securing your placement. Our dedicated careers team can provide you with information and advice. If you’re successful in obtaining a placement, this will form part of your course.

  Find out more about placements and internships

  Please note that if you’re receiving – or applying for – USA federal Direct Loan funds, you can’t transfer to the version of your course with an optional study abroad period in any country or optional placement in the USA if the number of credits for the placement/internship exceeds 25% of the total credits for your course. Find out more about American Student Loans and Federal Student Aid

• Year 3 at Sussex

  Core modules

  Core modules are taken by all students on the course. They give you a solid grounding in your chosen subject and prepare you to explore the topics that interest you most.

  Autumn and spring teaching

  • Criminology Project

  Autumn teaching

  • Understanding Clinical Psychology

  Spring teaching

  • Advanced Topics in Psychology

  Options

  Alongside your core modules, you can choose options to broaden your horizons and tailor your course to your interests. This list gives you a flavour of our options, which are kept under review and may change, for example in response to student feedback or the latest research.

  While it’s our aim for students to take their preferred combinations of options, this can’t be guaranteed and will be subject to timetabling. Options may be grouped and if so, students will be able to choose a set number of options from the selection available in any particular group.

  Autumn teaching

  • (Im)mobilities and the Criminal Justice System
  • Carceral Technologies
  • Class, Power and the State (Aut)
  • Crimes against Humanity (Aut)
  • Critical Perspectives on Terrorism
  • Digital Activism and Citizenship in Datafied Societies
  • Technology and the Human
  • The Death Penalty

  Spring teaching

  • Criminology of Violence and Death
  • Neurocriminology
  • Riots, Strikes, Revolts
  • Temporalities - Histories - Hauntologies (Spr)
  • The Death Penalty
  • Understanding Gangs (Spr)
  • Visual Criminology (Spr)

We regularly review our modules to incorporate student feedback, staff expertise, as well as the latest research and teaching methodology. We’re planning to run these modules in the academic year 2026/27. However, there may be changes to these modules in response to feedback, staff availability, student demand or updates to our curriculum. We’ll make sure to let you know of any material changes to modules at the earliest opportunity.

We’ll do our best to provide as much optional choice as we can, but timetabling constraints mean it may not be possible to take some module combinations. The structure of a small number of courses means that the order of modules or the streams you choose may determine whether modules are core or optional. This means that your core modules or options may differ from what’s shown here.