Counselling Skills and Criminology BA (Hons)
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Course Summary
Criminology at Chester prepares you for a career in one of the largest growing areas of employment as you explore the relationship between society, the individual, crime, harm, punishment, victimisation, rights, and justice.
We explore the relationship between criminological theories and criminal justice policies and practices. On this dynamic and diverse transdisciplinary course, you will gain an understanding of a range of Psychological and Sociological perspectives on society's current key challenges, such as social inequality, and crime, harm and justice case studies that occur nationally and internationally.
Studying this course provides you with a chance to gain highly developed embedded counselling skills to help others and can provide the foundations for further therapeutic training for those who wish to continue onto professional counsellor qualification routes. It is a practical, reflective and academic course which combines theory with social and contextual considerations. You will learn about a range of counselling and therapeutic approaches, developing your self-awareness and ability to communicate with people in an ethical, empathic and professional way. It is in our view a unique chance to study for a multidisciplinary degree with a strong practical and employable component. 
What you'llStudy
You will enhance your understanding of key ideas about how crime and deviants are understood and responded to by criminologists, psychologists and sociologists, the criminal justice system and wider society. Key areas include youth justice and knife crime, forensic psychology and domestic violence, as well as crime histories, terrorism and dark tourism.
Module content:
The content of this module fulfils two functions. First, to introduce students to the breadth of criminological scholarship, providing a pathway into the discipline by identifying and exploring key debates and ideas. These will include such issues as the nature of 'crime', its distribution and patterning, major conceptual paradigms, the effects of crime as well as a range of criminal justice challenges such as victimisation.
In addition, the module also places an emphasis on developing academic and transferable skills, encouraging students to develop beyond the preceding sections of the education system by placing an emphasis on the requirements of independent learning and practical means of getting the most out of higher education. In so doing, it also encourages students to reflect upon how their developing academic skills might transfer over into purposeful and rewarding forms of employment.
Module aims:
Foundations in Criminology and Criminal Justice is a core module on the level 4 programme in criminology. It is intended to give students a comprehensive introduction to the key issues and debates in criminology that they will develop in levels 5 and 6 of their degree. Students will consider how crime is constructed, perceived and responded to within society. They will explore the interrelationships between crime, social problems and their context. The module is designed to provide students with a basic understanding of subject knowledge and to develop a range of key skills, including research, scholarship and academic practices, thus enabling students to identify, summarise and comment upon a variety of subject matters in a criminological manner, and to organise and articulate ideas and arguments. This module also requires students to consider their own academic and professional skills, and how (and in what ways) this will/can be developed.
Module content:
Underlying the module is an exploration of the role of policing within liberal democratic society. It will critically analyse the developments in policing and the police and detail the complex policy environment, theories and research on police and policing. This analysis will continue and evaluate policing institutions and operations in the UK and elsewhere with reference to their legal, political, social and cultural implications.
Module aims:
The study of policing has become one of the most contested and debated areas of criminology This module evaluates the historical, comparative, and contemporary development and nature of policing within a broader understanding of the socioeconomic, cultural, and political changes of the last half-century. It provides an assessment of historical and comparative perspectives; dissects and reflects upon the politics of the police, critically reviews areas of doing policing, and explores contemporary debates.
Within the module, students explore the role of the police and contemporary policing in society and its impacts. This will be reviewed within the context of the emergence, development, and contemporary transformation of policing in regional, national and international settings. We will evaluate the aims, functions, models, and cultures of contemporary policing, the marketisation of policing services, police powers, and accountability. The relationship between law, governance/regulation, and social order will also be explored. Major developments in contemporary policing will be appraised and students will evaluate future prospects for policing modern society.
Module content:
This module is intended to provide level 4 students with an introduction to Forensic Psychology & Criminal Justice. In this module, you will gain further knowledge about how criminologists theorise crime, who commits crimes, and how. This module scrutinises how investigative methods have evolved and influence the detection and management of criminality alongside courtroom procedures and ethics. Forensic psychology brings a heavy psychological application to criminology as we consider topics such as the influence fear of crime has on the general populace, prisoner mental health, prison-based therapeutic communities as a form of rehabilitative treatment, and the trustworthiness of memory recall in eyewitness testimonies.
Module aims:
This module critically engages learners in the study of forensic psychology and criminal justice through an in-depth appreciation of custodial and community sanctions. In doing so, the contemporary academic, political, legislative and policy contexts of criminal behaviour, forensic assessment, the psychology of law enforcement and the legal system, correctional psychology, victimology, and ethical treatment are investigated in this module. Each of these aspects are investigated through a critical academic lens that aims to scrutinise our understanding, investigation, and management of criminality.
In Year 2, you will explore the relationship between the state, corporate crime, genocide, and human rights; dangerous, risk, psychiatry and mental health; and harm and victimisation. You will also have opportunities for work placements and study abroad to enhance your career readiness.
Module content:
Part A:
Preparation for Experiential Overseas Learning will take place at the university of Chester during level 5 and will include:
- The multiple facets of Global citizenship
- Ethical engagement and practice
- Cross-cultural issues and sensitivity
- Intercultural communication
Theories, models and strategies of learning
- Theories and models Intercultural competence
- Theories and models of Integration and Multiculturalism
- Critical thinking skills and models of Reflection
- Experiential learning models
- Self-directed experiential learning
Personal and placement-related skills
- Enhanced independence
- Improved command of multicultural behaviour
- Increased knowledge and confidence in their individual facets of personal identity
- Effective time management and organisational skills
- Project management – working away from University and independent study
- Self-management and personal development
- Team building and team work
Part B: Overseas
Students will engage in experiential learning activities overseas for at least 150 hours
Module aims:
The purpose of this module is to enhance students’ prospects of completing an overseas placement to the best of their ability consequently it aims to:
- To equip participants with appropriate knowledge and skills to study or work in a different cultural, linguistic and/or social environment; enhancing ethical, cultural and intercultural awareness.
- To enhance students understanding of the ethical issues related to living and working abroad.
- To increase students Global Citizenship skills
- To provide an opportunity for students to reflect critically on their experience of living and learning within an unfamiliar culture, to their 'home' culture or ethnic group.
To challenge students to learn about themselves as global citizens in terms of life skills, career choices and academic development outside the classroom.
Module content:
Preparation for the year abroad will take place in Chester during level 5 and will include:
- Cross-cultural issues and sensitivity
- Host-country orientation, study methods– economic, political and social reality of the country
- Orientation specific to exchange – health, education, gender issues
- The United Nations Sustainable Development Goals
- Practical matters relating to living and studying in the wider world
Theories, models and strategies of learning
- Critical thinking skills, experiential learning and models of reflection
Personal and placement-related transversal skills
- Effective self-motivation and independent resourcefulness
- Effective time management and organisational skills
- Project management – working away from University and independent study
- Self-management and personal development
Whilst abroad:
Students will undertake study at one of UoC’s partner universities; it is expected that students will choose a series of modules at the university abroad, which equal a full-time study load. This must be agreed by the host institution and the International Tutor. Students must supply details of their courses/modules on a learning agreement within 4 weeks of arrival at the host university, note students who fail to supply this within 4 weeks may have the opportunity withdrawn.
Module aims:
- To experience academic life in country outside of the EU, enhancing cultural and intercultural awareness and increasing transversal skills.
- To reflect on the impact of the experience in their destination on one’s own personal, academic and professional development.
- To engage with the experience of study at a partner university to gain extensive first-hand knowledge and understanding of the relevant society from the perspective of the resident.
- To further develop independent learning techniques.
- To foster critical evaluation.
Module content:
- Foundations of research - ontology, epistemology, methodology
- Philosophy of the Social Sciences - Positivist, Interpretivist and Critical Philosophy.
- Methodology of the Social Sciences - Qualitative, Quantitative and Participatory Action methodologies.
- Ethics of the Social Sciences.
- Research Design in the Social Sciences - developing research questions; objectives, aims and hypotheses, literature review, sampling, correlation.
- Research Methods in the Social Sciences - archives, documents, surveys, observation, focus groups, interviews, ethnography, visual methods, evaluation research, PAR, dialogue.
- Analysis - statistics; contextual, content, narrative and discourse analysis; triangulation; implementation.
- Writing and dissemination of research.
Module aims:
This module is designed:
- To introduce students in the Social and Political Sciences to the foundations of social scientific enquiry.
- To enable such students to distinguish between, and to apply, a variety of ontological, epistemological and methodological approaches.
- To enable students to assess the strengths, weaknesses and 'fitness for purpose' of research methodologies and methods.
- To enable students to understand the significance of, and to choose between, the methods of the social sciences in a variety of contexts.
- To make students aware of the significance of ethical practice when planning and conducting research.
- To enable students to choose between different forms of research analysis.
- To enable students to critique research and to select different forms of research design.
Module content:
- Classical & Positivist Criminology
- Biological Criminology
- Chicago School and Environmental Theory
- Anomie and Strain Theory
- Subcultural Theory
- Labelling Theory
- Realist Perspectives
- Gendered Criminology
- Cultural Criminology
- Peace-making Criminology
- Public Criminology
- Zemiology and Social Harm
- Contemporary Developments in Criminology
Module aims:
This core module is designed to develop discipline-specific abilities in the competent use of criminological theory and concepts to understand crime, victimisation and responses to crime and deviance. It is intended to:
- Provide students with a comprehensive grounding in the varieties of criminological theory.
- Familiarise them with the different assumptions, explanations and proposed solutions embedded within these theories.
- Sensitise students to the importance of the social contexts in which theories are produced.
The module is also designed to develop students learning about 'crime' and 'criminal justice', in that they are not fixed and settled entities but complex and shifting processes whose different characteristics are revealed (and concealed) when viewed through the lenses of different theories.
Module content:
- Crime, harm, and victimisation
- Victimology, victims and zemiology (the study of social harms)
- Non-conventional forms of crime and harm including crimes and harms that go beyond traditional frameworks
- Crimes and harm committed by the powerful
- Regulatory frameworks, criminal justice, social justice and injustice
- Resistance and redress
Module aims:
- To explore non-conventional victims and victimisation.
- To examine harm and victimisation beyond traditional frameworks.
- To investigate crime and harm committed by the powerful.
- To introduce students to victimology and zemiology.
- To examine regulatory frameworks and to assess the extent to which they deliver criminal and/or social justice.
- To acknowledge and understand resistance and redress.
Module content:
This module develops students’ abilities to critically analyse state crime and mechanisms for the resistance of state crime through engagement with leading criminological and sociological theoretical ideas in this field and historical and contemporary case studies. Drawing on theories from agnotology, cultural studies, and studies of survivor testimonies, the module gives attention to strategies for informing public sense-making to motivate active consent, acquiescence and resistance. It gives focus to mechanisms for the resistance of state crime including international responses such as humanitarian law and mechanisms of transitional justice, activism by non-government organisations, public social science and civil activism. Students will be supported with the application of theories to a range historic and contemporary state crime resistance movements. Academic skill development will be embedded throughout the module with activities focussed upon skills such as effective reading and note taking, developing an argument, group working and creative thinking.
Module aims:
To examine definitions of state crime, and the various forms of state crime
To explore the extent to which the prevalence of state crime can be captured
To utilise relevant studies from a range of disciplines to understand sense making in relation to conflict through a criminological lens
To develop an understanding of a range of key mechanisms for resisting state crime and evaluate their abilities to achieve justice and change.
To study a range of historical and contemporary cases utilising key theories
Module content:
Pre-placement:
- Structured approaches to researching, selecting and securing a suitable work placement relevant to the student’s interests and career aspirations*.
- Writing an effective CV. Constructing a letter of application.*
- Interview skills.*
*Note: Students are required to undertake these pre-placement tasks during term 1 level 5, as part of the placement acquisition process and will be supported by the Work Based Learning team and the Careers and Employability department.
Induction Programme and Placement:
- The organisational context: research-informed analysis of the placement organisation’s aims, structure, culture.
- Self- assessment of needs: identification of the range of transferable skills, competencies and attitudes employees need and employers expect graduates to possess. (Employability Skills: e.g. verbal and written communication, analytical / problem solving capabilities; self-management; team working behaviours; negotiation skills; influencing people; positive attitude, resilience, building rapport).
- Devising a strategy for integrating into the workplace and work based teams
- Completion of online assignment tasks covering sourcing and obtaining placement; health and safety procedures in general; general workplace integrity; placement requirements.
During and post-placement: Learning effectively in and from the workplace:-
- Devising and implementing strategies to improve own approach and performance
- Critical analysis/evaluation of approach to skill development and performance in the workplace;
- Influencing the Placement Provider’s appraisal;
- Devising an action plan to develop gaps in transferable skills based on the placement experiences;
Module aims:
This module aims to enhance students’ prospects of gaining graduate level employment through engagement with a University approved work placement**, which will enable them to:
- Develop their understanding of workplace practice and lifelong learning;
- Enhance their work readiness and employability prospects through development of transferable skills;
- Take responsibility for their own learning and acquisition of workplace employability skills;
- Articulate, in writing, their employability skills.
In Year 3, you will critically analyse crimes and harms against the environment and wildlife; capital punishment; risk and harm reduction, and media representations of crime. You also have the opportunity to undertake a dissertation.
Module content:
Content will vary according to individual dissertation proposals
Module aims:
The Dissertation is designed to provide an opportunity for sustained and independent study in the final year of social science programmes. It intends to develop knowledge of, and critical insight into, a topic of the student's choice within the subject area under study. Students are enabled to undertake first-hand enquiry and encouraged to develop an analytical and reflective approach to the subject identified for study. The module aims to encourage the articulation of a critically informed perspective on the subject being studied. It also intends to enable the production of a coherent document of rigorous academic standards.
Module content:
This module will enable students to focus upon representations of crime in diverse cultural forms. The module will advance student’s knowledge and capacity to analytically consider ‘the politics’ regarding crime production and reception across a multitude of platforms. Supplying students registered upon the module with the skills to critically contemplate criminal representations found embedded throughout practice and debate thematic issues uncovered with their peers
The main themes of this module include – among others:
- Crime and harm in the media,
- Crime (non-)fiction,
- Crime and social divisions,
- Crime and digital/technology,
- Representations of the criminal justice system, criminal events, offenders and victims.
Module aims:
The module aims to:
Enable students to understand the significance of popular cultural representations of crime and criminal justice. By the end of this module, students should be able to deconstruct and critically analyse a wide range of criminal representations. Students will explore historical, geographical, social and political contexts of criminal representations. As well as develop the skills necessary to apply criminological and victimological theories and concepts to criminal representations.
Module content:
This module will enable students to critically analyse and evaluate theoretical and philosophical justifications of punishment together with political ideology that impact upon penal policy and practice. In addition, this module will locate this analysis in an appreciation of the consistencies, contradictions and conflicts that relate not only to theoretical discussion but to the less abstract level of policy formulation and actual penal practice. Considerations of class, gender and ethnicity constitute key aspects of the conceptual framework and the principles of ‘security, control and justice’ are critically examined in the operational context. A critical assessment of the ethos of incarceration will be a major theme of this module.
The main themes of this module include – among others:
- Philosophical and theoretical understandings of punishments,
- Policy developments in penal practice,
- The wider instrumental role of prison in the criminal justice process,
- Determining contexts and punishments; gender, race, age, class, disability,
- Comparative penologies and penal abolitionism.
Module aims:
This module aims to:
Develop a student’s critical knowledge of penological research, through debate and exploration of punishment and its justifications in a wider societal context. Students will analyse the links between crime and its control, building a critical understanding of penal policy formation, implementation and practice. Critical knowledge of contemporary penal policy and practice using comparative contexts will be developed and allow students to locate major perspectives and paradigms in the sociology of punishment. With connections made between social theory, critical analysis, and political debates regarding the development of penological knowledge. Finally, the module content will enable students to approach the subject of punishments using skills that appreciate the structural contexts of gender, race, class, age, and disability, inclusive of their impact on community and custodial punishments.
Module content:
This module is intended for students with an interest in death penalty in particular and international justice and injustice more broadly. Accordingly, it is organised around two related areas.
The first half of the module explores the philosophical, political, legal and cultural contexts within which the death penalty either survives or is abolished. This exploration is organised around three themes: 1) The place of the death penalty in the philosophy and sociology of punishment. 2) The current state of play on the death penalty worldwide and the rise of abolitionist politics (especially in the European context). 3) Current debates/controversies surrounding the application of the death penalty in the United States through relevant criminological/legal literature and cases of established or suspected miscarriages of justice.
The second half of the module explores the relationship between criminalisation, marginalisation and state-sanctioned ‘social death’ in an international context. Lectures will be organised as a series of case studies focused on differential disavowed and rightless populations, exploring barriers to legal compliance and civic life. Students will be encouraged to develop a critical understanding of related issues in their historical, geographical and political contexts.
Module aims:
This module aims to explore international justice and injustice in general, and the death penalty as a form of injustice in particular. Focus is given to understanding the social, political, and historical processes behind such injustice. The module provides an overview of the current scope and use of capital punishment around the law and the influence of international law and the human rights movement. It provides a framework for a comparative study of the policies of abolition in national and transnational penal policies. Attention is given to a range of key issues including arbitrariness, discrimination, and marginalisation of miscarriages of justice. Students will develop a critical understanding of the concept of social death and critically explore processes of marginalisation and criminalisation in an international context.
Module content:
This module supports students to explore and examine the contemporary Criminological landscape and its political and social context. Through studying a range of relevant topics, students examine existing policy and legislation responses to key criminological issues and identify and apply relevant theories. Students of this module critically assess how contemporary criminological issues and debates emerge and develop. A key area of focus is the power and control of some social groups to dominate narratives and debates on contemporary criminological issues. In turn attention is given to claim makers influence over what becomes defined as desirable and undesirable, legitimate and illegitimate responses to issues of key social and political importance.
Within the module, students will also engage with discussion regarding the challenges associated with a move towards a more ‘public criminology’ and will consider how criminology can be more accessible to those outside of the discipline. They explore perspectives on Criminologists’ social and political responsibilities to move beyond the boundaries of academia and seek to engage with, co-learn and educate wider communities. They critically consider their roles and responsibilities as potentially informed advocates for progressive change on key social and political issues and on behalf of marginalised groups. Through formative activities and summative assessments they enhance their skills on communicating knowledge and alternative ideas to a range of audiences in an accessible way.
The module is designed to develop students’ key skills as they assess contemporary and future aspects of criminology. The module will also help to develop students' critical thinking as it will encourage them to consider the complex and nuanced backdrop of these issues and the criminal justice responses. Communication skills are also integral to the module as students will be required to present academic literature in a way that is accessible to a public audience.
Module aims:
To critically consider the social and political context of what constitutes criminological study and criminological knowledge.
To develop a critical understanding of the interrelationships between contemporary and emerging crime and social issues.
Examine societal responses and debates concerned with contemporary and emerging crime and social issues and how they change over time within media narratives, policy and legislation.
Develop understanding of experiences of marginalised groups and critically reflect on discourses around these within media and policy.
Explore the future of ‘public criminology’ and the role that criminology can have in engaging with wider audiences to inform and promote criminal justice narratives.
Dr Jayne Price
Deputy Head, Social and Political Sciences
Emily Fozard
Programme Leader, BA Counselling Skills; Senior Lecturer