Course overview
Our short online Certificate of Higher Education (CertHE) in Law with Criminology course gives a specialised combined understanding of the two disciplines. Students will obtain a broad theoretical understanding of the rapidly changing environment, practice and operations in criminology while gaining a solid grounding in the fundamentals of the English Legal System and other key legal topics.
Law and Criminology are both widely recognised and highly respected subjects and the knowledge gained on our CertHE Law with Criminology will open up many opportunities for you to develop your career both inside and outside the legal and criminal justice fields.
Alongside subject-specific knowledge, this course helps you develop skills in a number of areas including research, presentation and critical thinking.
Job outcomes
Careers in:
- HR
- Civil Service
- Accountancy
- Criminal Justice
- Legal Services
- Police
- Probation
- Prison Service
Study method
- Online
- Blended
- In-class
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Duration study load
- 16 months – part-time
Entry requirements
We believe that education should be accessible for everyone, so we offer an open entry route that means you do not need any previous academic qualifications to start our CertHE Law with Criminology course.
You will be allowed to start the CertHE Law with Criminology course and make an assessment of whether it is right for you during the first three weeks. You must pass your first assignment set during this time in order to continue with your studies.
If English is not your first language, your English ability should be equivalent to an IELTS (academic) score of 6.0. If you do not hold an IELTS or equivalent qualification, we require students to pass a free online English test.
Pathways
- LLB (Hons) Law with Criminology
Course features
All of our courses have regular start dates throughout the year. Our academic year is organised into modules, typically with a one- or two-week break between modules and a structured three-week break for the Christmas period. Students will receive a course timetable during the application process.
Assessment
We adopt an assignment-based approach to assessment instead of exams. CertHE Law with Criminology assignments is based on real-life work experience and assessed by tutors on an ongoing basis.
You are always aware of your current provisional grade right from the start of the programme, allowing you to evaluate the success of your current study methods and clearly identify areas to improve.
We believe that this transparency gives you the information you need to make the most of your course. We achieve this by:
- Showing your marks clearly in your grade book, which can be viewed whenever you log onto the learning platform
- The rapid turnaround of work assessed to ensure that your grade book is always up to date
- Assessing your work throughout the module rather than waiting for the end of year exams
- Ensuring you have regular contact with your student adviser
- The simplicity and transparency in the design of our assessment criteria
We also have a policy of ensuring that the work submitted by students is authentic. As well as the fact that all work is frequently assessed, we use a well-established electronic monitoring system to check for plagiarism.
Delivery
As we are a 100% online university, we utilise a virtual learning environment instead of a traditional campus. The system tracks and manages the learning process in real-time and provides you with immediate access to your learning materials.
This learning platform allows both students and tutors to actively take part in real-time conversations and you can listen to, and view, live lectures and seminars over the internet. All courses are delivered in English only.
Subjects
The CertHE Law with Criminology is made up of the following modules and, upon completion, is equal to a total of 120 credits.
- Student online learning orientation
- Introduction to online legal information
- Researching legal issues
- Reading statutes
- Reading cases
- Academic honesty/originality checking
- Legal writing 1: legal essays
- Legal writing 2: Problem questions/problem solving (Problem-solving, application and critical thinking)
- Applying Law in practical situations: presentation, mooting and negotiation
- Introduction to substantive criminal law
- Actus reus 1: Principles
- Actus reus 2: Concurrence
- Actus reus 3: Causation
- Mens rea
- Homicide 1:
- Homicide 2
- Non-fatal offences against the person 1
- Non-fatal offences against the person 2
- Sexual Offences
- Theft 1: Actus reus
- Theft 2: Mens rea
- Robbery and Burglary and Criminal Damage
- General defences 1: Automatism and insanity
- General defences 2: Intoxication
- General defences 3: Mistake
- General defences 4: duress, duress of circumstances and necessity
- General defences 5: Inchoate offences
- Introduction to the English Legal System
- Sources of Law 1: Legislations
- Sources of Law 2: The common law/ The doctrine
of precedent - Sources of Law 3: Statutory interpretation
- Sources of Law 4: EU and Council of Europe
- The structure of the courts
- Dispute resolution 1: The Criminal justice system
- Dispute resolution 2: The Civil Justice System
- Dispute resolution 3: Tribunals and ADR
- Introduction to criminology
- Assess definitions of criminality
- Consider the scope of criminology and how
it differs from forensic psychology - Identify the development of crime and punishment through history
- Reflect upon historical perspectives on
criminology, particularly those that have had
a substantial influence on more contemporary theories
- First theoretical developments: classicism and positivism
- Understand the classical criminology approach
- Explore writings by Beccaria and Bentham
- Understand the positivist approach to criminology
- Assess writings by Lombroso, Ferri and Goring
- Critically reflect upon the impact of these theories
- Further developments 1: Biological
positivism- Understand the biological approach to criminology
- Examine old and modern research findings
- Explore the interaction between biological
and social factors in determining criminal
behaviour - Critically assess biochemical theories of criminality
- Further developments 2: Psychological positivism
- Understand the psychological approach to criminology
- Assess the connection between psychoanalysis and crime
- Understand learning theories and their approach to criminal behaviour
- Sociological criminology
- Understand Durkheim’s discussion on crime
and its influence on criminological writings - Understand the concept of anomie
- Examine the strain theory
- Understand Durkheim’s discussion on crime
- Social research and criminology
- Understand the impact of the Chicago School on criminological thoughts
- Assess major theories developed by the
Chicago School - Examine the development of culture and subculture sociological theories
- Reflect upon the difference between American and British subculture theories
- Social interaction and criminology
- Understand the interaction between deviant behaviour and criminology
- Examine the emergence of labelling theory
- Reflect upon the theory of stigma
- Assess the theory of shaming.
- Feminist criminology
- Understand in which way female offenders were presented and understood in early criminological research and theory
- Examine the rise of feminist criminology
- Reflect upon some of the variety of work undertaken within feminist criminology
- Assess the impact that feminism has had on
criminological thoughts
- Crime data and crime trends
- Identify the different ways of measuring crime
- Understand the official crime statistic
- Understand the victimisation survey
- Reflect upon crime trend
- Critically assess the validity and accuracy of crime statistics in measuring crime trend
- Crime and the media
- Examine how crime and criminals are portrayed on television and in the press
- Identify the impact that crime representation may have on public perceptions
- Understand the notion of ‘moral panics’
- The nature of constitutions
- Sources of the constitution
- Key principles of the Constitution: separation of powers
- Key principles of the constitution: the rule of law
- The Executive
- The Executive: Prerogative power
- The Executive: Accountability
- Parliament
- Primary and secondary legislation
- Parliamentary supremacy
- The Judiciary: judicial power and decision making
- Judicial Review: Grounds 1
- Judicial Review 2: Grounds 2
- The EU 1: Institutions and law-making
- The EU 2: Supremacy and direct effect
- The European Convention on Human Rights
- The Human Rights Act 1
- The Human Rights Act 2
About University of Essex Online
Online learning is a cost-effective, convenient and flexible way to enhance your career. Our quality-assured distance learning courses allow you to work towards your qualification in a unique virtual learning environment and still have access to all the support and facilities you would expect to receive on campus.
University of Essex Online courses are delivered by Kaplan Open Learning, an experienced online learning provider, part of Kaplan International Pathways. The University and Kaplan have developed their partnership since 2007 in order to offer high-quality online courses.
