Master of Arts - Criminology

Criminologists engage with some of the most pressing issues, decisions and dilemmas facing societies today. In this University of Essex course students explore the nature of crime, criminal justice and punishment within wider social contexts.

Criminology at Essex builds on strong sociological foundations and reflects the diversity of staff interests, including leading contributors to studies of women, young people and criminal justice, prostitution, homicide, victimization, visual criminology and media, organized crime and law enforcement, terrorism and surveillance, environmental crime and more. Essex's courses provide critical, conceptual and theoretical analyses of crimes and harms, from the local to the global. The course provides students with a strong grounding in the key theories, understandings and issues covered by cutting-edge criminology. Students explore a wide range of topics, including: the analysis, politics and prevention of crime; globalization and various forms of crime; security and the state; new criminological theory; terrorism, counter-terrorism, surveillance and human rights. Students also develop the skills needed to make their own contribution to the field, gaining a critical and coherent perspective on empirical research and examining the key assumptions and ideological underpinnings of qualitative and quantitative research. Essex's Department of Sociology was rated top 10 in the UK for research quality and 7th in the UK in the QS World University Rankings by Subject. This course provides excellent preparation for further academic study, and many of Essex's postgraduates go on to successful academic careers, both in the UK and overseas. Others have established careers in non-governmental organizations, local authorities, specialist think tanks, government departments, charities, media production, and research organizations.