1. Handbook
  2. Bachelor of Arts
  3. Majors, Minors and Specialisations
  4. Criminology
  5. Print

Criminology

Bachelor of ArtsMajorYear: 2019

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Overview

Criminology draws knowledge and perspectives from a range of disciplines such as law, sociology, psychology, psychiatry and history. Initially, criminology had a strong practical focus: its role was to advise governments on issues such as policing, the management of prisons, sentencing and offender treatment. Concern with policy and practice remains, but criminologists now work in a much wider range of fields including crime prevention, corporate and white-collar crime, business regulation, drug policy and consumer and environmental protection. Criminology doesn’t take crime and criminal law for granted. As an academic discipline it continually questions why different societies define and respond to crime in different ways, and why approaches to punishment and other forms of social control have varied so much from era to era. Increasingly criminologists also study the ways cultures depict crime: whether in newspapers, television and other mass media or in films, novels and art.

Intended learning outcomes

On successful completion of this major, students will be able to:

  • understand the socio-economic, political, cultural and historical conditions influencing crime, justice and deviance, the criminal justice system, and crime control mechanisms from an Australian and international perspective; and
  • critically discuss criminological and socio-legal theories and concepts; and
  • understand the relationship between the institutions and practices of criminal justice and wider social control; and
  • evaluate social, cultural, historical and legal responses to criminalisation, criminality and crime control from an interdisciplinary perspective; and
  • demonstrate an understanding of research processes in the social sciences including design, methodology and methods, analysis, interpretation, and the diversity of approaches to research; and
  • recognise the importance of ethical standards of conduct in the research and analysis of social and political phenomena; and
  • work productively in groups; and
  • communicate effectively in oral and written formats.

Last updated: 2 February 2021

Structure

100 credit points

Criminology is available as both a 100 point major and a 75 point minor area of study.

Major
Level 1 (25 points)

  • CRIM10001 From Graffiti to Terrorism or SOLS10001 Law In Society

and

Level 2 (37.5 points)

  • 37.5 points from the level 2 subjects listed below, including the compulsory subject MULT20003 Critical Analytical Skills.

Level 3 (37.5 points)

  • 37.5 points from the level 3 subjects listed below, including the capstone subject MULT30018 Applied Research Methods.

Total 100 points

Minor
Level 1 (25 points)

  • CRIM10001 From Graffiti to Terrorism or SOLS10001 Law In Society

and

Level 2/3

  • 50 points of Criminology subjects (4 subjects) including MULT20003 Critical Analytical Skills (compulsory at level 2).

The capstone subject is not available in the minor or as breadth studies outside the BA.

Total 75 points

Subject Options

Level 1 Subjects

Code Name Study period Credit Points
CRIM10001 From Graffiti to Terrorism
Semester 1 (On Campus - Parkville)
 12.5
SOLS10001 Law in Society
Semester 2 (On Campus - Parkville)
 12.5

Level 2 Compulsory Subject

Code Name Study period Credit Points
MULT20003 Critical Analytical Skills
Semester 1 (On Campus - Parkville)
 12.5

Level 2 Elective Subjects

Code Name Study period Credit Points
CRIM20002 Criminal Law and Political Justice
Semester 1 (On Campus - Parkville)
 12.5
CRIM20003 Policing
Semester 1 (On Campus - Parkville)
 12.5
GEND20003 Genders, Bodies & Sexualities Not available in 2019 12.5
MULT20008 Australian Indigenous Politics
Semester 1 (On Campus - Parkville)
 12.5
CRIM20008 Terrorism: Shifting Paradigms
Semester 2 (On Campus - Parkville)
 12.5
CRIM20004 Order, Disorder, Crime, Deviance
Semester 2 (On Campus - Parkville)
 12.5
CRIM20006 Punishment and Social Control
Semester 2 (On Campus - Parkville)
 12.5
SOLS20001 Law, Justice and Social Change
Semester 1 (On Campus - Parkville)
 12.5
CRIM20007 Cybercrime and Digital Criminology
Semester 2 (On Campus - Parkville)
 12.5

Level 3 Compulsory Capstone Subject

The capstone subject is compulsory for student completing a Criminology major. The capstone is not compulsory for students completing a minor.

Code Name Study period Credit Points
MULT30018 Applied Research Methods
Semester 2 (On Campus - Parkville)
 12.5

Level 3 Elective Subjects

Code Name Study period Credit Points
CRIM30006 Crime and Culture
Semester 1 (On Campus - Parkville)
 12.5
CRIM30010 Managing Justice: Agencies and the State
Semester 1 (On Campus - Parkville)
 12.5
CRIM30011 Young People, Crime and Justice
Semester 1 (On Campus - Parkville)
 12.5
MULT30017 Australian Indigenous Public Policy
Semester 2 (On Campus - Parkville)
 12.5
SOLS30001 Law in Social Theory
Semester 1 (On Campus - Parkville)
 12.5
CRIM30001 Crime and Public Policy
Semester 2 (On Campus - Parkville)
 12.5
CRIM30002 Global Criminology
Semester 2 (On Campus - Parkville)
 12.5
CRIM30005 Crimes of the Powerful
Semester 2 (On Campus - Parkville)
 12.5

Links

http://ssps.unimelb.edu.au/study-areas/criminology

Last updated: 2 February 2021