BA (Hons) Crime and Criminal Justice (HE6 top-up)
The University of Bolton’s BA (Hons) Crime and Criminal Justice (Top-up) degree investigates the approaches applied to crime, deviance and victimisation. Our industry experienced academic staff will support you to develop Honours-level skills in safeguarding the public, supporting victims, protecting the vulnerable, and helping to rehabilitate offenders.
Course details
Crime is evolving. New technologies and more complex societal pressures are leading to new criminal activities. This Honours-level course is designed to educate future and present criminal justice professionals to ensure their readiness for the challenges of this changing crime environment. We’ll support you to extend your existing Level HE5 professional and academic knowledge and skills, ready to achieve the status of BA (Hons) Crime and Criminal Justice (Top-up) graduate. You can study advanced aspects of this fascinating field, enhance your professional skills, and boost your employability.
Focusing on areas of contemporary importance, including trafficking, sexual exploitation, gender violence, practices in the penal system, and philosophies and approaches to offender rehabilitation, we’ll guide you as you build your knowledge of the theoretical concepts and models that underpin research, policy and practice in criminal justice.
We’ll invite you to investigate the interrelationships between the individual, social, legal and political forces that shape both crime and how it is controlled. You’ll also explore the role of research and critical thought in producing new knowledge, applying existing knowledge in innovative ways, and driving evidence-based practice.
- Location: The University of Bolton
- Award: BA (Hons)
- UCAS code: L305
- Duration: 18 months
Course highlights:
- Our academic staff come from a diverse range of professional criminal justice backgrounds. They’ll support you to develop and enhance relevant competencies in evidence-based practice and apply them to your chosen area of criminal justice.
- 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.
- The course covers two of the four knowledge modules required by the National Offender Management Service (NOMS) as prerequisites for Probation Officer training. If you have not yet completed the other two required areas of knowledge, it may be possible to complete these are stand-alone professional development modules here at the University of Bolton. We’ll also encourage you to gain the relevant experience necessary, and can advise and support you as you approach potential placement providers.
- We’ll work to help you to develop the high-level skills in research and critical thinking that successful and ambitious professionals use in the analysis of situations, construction and defence of persuasive arguments, production of high quality management reports, and in their application of evidence-based practice.
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
- Location: The University of Bolton
- Award: BA (Hons)
- UCAS code: L305
- Duration: 18 months
You’ll be required to attend an interview with the programme leader and participate in a small group discussion. This will allow us to explore your prior learning and establish where you may start on the programme.
It’s essential that your prior experience and learning is considered when deciding on any advanced standing to which you may be entitled. This process, known as Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL), may recognise qualifications you have already gained or evidence of relevant work experience you have undertaken.
Normally, you’ll have successfully completed a recognised criminal justice, crime or criminology-related qualification comprising at least 120 credits at HE4 and 120 credits at HE5. For example, you might have a Foundation Degree, Higher National Diploma (HND) or Diploma of Higher Education (DipHE) in a subject such as Police Studies, Public Services, Sociology, or Psychology & Criminology. If you have a relevant professional qualification and/or substantial experience in a relevant field of practice, then we’ll be delighted to consider your application.
To successfully complete the course, you’ll be required to undertake voluntary work with relevant organisations, unless you’re already in professional practice. The timing and amount of voluntary activity is flexible, but as a guideline we’d expect you to undertake 4-10 hours per week. 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.
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. Find out more
Career opportunities
Whether you have recently completed a HND/Foundation Degree or have many years’ experience of working in the criminal justice sector, this fascinating degree offers to extend your already significant knowledge of crime and criminal justice ready to enhance your career opportunities 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 and plan for your future. 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.
Completing your Honours-level studies should prove valuable in helping you achieve your career goals.
What can I do with this qualification?
Our BA (Hons) Crime and Criminal Justice (Top-up) course has been designed to meet the needs of the criminal justice sector, which includes a wide range of public, private and not-for-profit organisations that provide crime prevention, victim support, and offender management and rehabilitation services.
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
- 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
Professional recognition
Fees & funding
No fee information is currently available, please contact Student Data Management on 01204 903059 or SDMenquiries@bolton.ac.uk for more 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.
The University is currently awaiting Government guidelines as to EU fee charges for students commencing study in 2019/20.
UK undergraduate tuition fees are subject to UK government approval and are subject to the outcome of the Teaching Excellence Framework.
Contact The University
Key facts
-
UCAS code:
L305 -
Course type:
Part-time -
Location:
The University of Bolton -
Award:
BA (Hons) -
Duration:
18 months
Contact us
Wendy Bateman
Programme Leader
Email: W.Bateman@bolton.ac.uk
Telephone: +44 (0)1204 903679
Enquiry Team
University of Bolton
Email: enquiries@bolton.ac.uk
Telephone: +44 (0)1204 903903
