What can I do with my Criminology degree?

Posted on by Emily Siddall

As a criminology graduate with critical thinking, analytical and communications skills, you’re attractive to employers both inside and outside the criminal justice sector

see also: Lancaster University Criminology (Placement Year) BA Hons

Job options

Jobs directly related to your degree include:

  • Community development worker
  • Police officer
  • Prison officer
  • Probation officer
  • Social worker
  • Youth worker

Jobs where your degree would be useful include:

  • Adult guidance worker
  • Charity officer
  • Housing manager/officer
  • Local government officer
  • Social researcher
  • Solicitor

Remember that many employers accept applications from graduates with any degree subject, so don’t restrict your thinking to the jobs listed here.

Work experience

Employers value experience and a range of paid and voluntary opportunities exist. These include work with offenders, criminal justice agencies, social work and community education departments, and victims of crime. Specific roles include prison visiting, working as a special constable, and involvement in drug treatment schemes or youth/bail hostels for young offenders.

Some courses offer a placement year, which can be particularly useful in helping you to test out a certain area of work and build up good contacts for future jobs.

Think about the group or the environment you are interested in working with and how you could get involved with local support groups or projects. Narrowing down your preferences will allow you to focus on specific employers and voluntary organisations.

The placement year

You will have the opportunity to spend Year 3 on a placement with a public, private or voluntary organisation in the UK or overseas. This experience should boost your employment prospects and help you to decide on your career direction and the kind of organisation in which you want to work once you graduate. You will be doing a real, responsible job – with all the satisfaction that brings.

Lancaster University will use all reasonable effort to support you to find a suitable placement for your studies. While a placement role may not be available in a field or organisation that is directly related to your academic studies or career aspirations, all placement roles offer valuable experience of working at a graduate level and gaining a range of professional skills.

If you are unsuccessful in securing a suitable placement for your third year, you will be able to transfer to the equivalent non-placement degree scheme and would continue with your studies at Lancaster, finishing your degree after your third year. The University offers a range of shorter placement and internship opportunities for which you would be welcome to apply.

 

Typical employers

Major employers include:

  • central and local government;
  • the police and prison services;
  • the court services;
  • security services;
  • non-profit-making organisations, including the NHS, educational institutions and charities that work with young offenders or victims of crime.

Opportunities also exist in the private sector, for example in private security and in law practices.

It’s also possible to work in a range of social welfare posts, such as mental health support and drug rehabilitation, housing (as housing officers or in outreach support roles), as homelessness officers, and in refugee and victim support/counselling.

Skills for your CV

Studying criminology develops your understanding of the social and personal aspects of crime, victimisation and responses to crime and deviance, as well as building specific skills such as:

  • generating and evaluating evidence;
  • making reasoned arguments and ethical judgments;
  • critical thinking;
  • analysing and interpreting data;
  • report writing.

If you study other subjects alongside criminology, you should consider the complementary skills they provide you with, for example, an increased awareness of psychology or politics related to criminology topics.

Also consider your more general skills in areas such as research, written and oral communication, IT, time management and the ability to work productively both in a group and individually.

Further study

Most criminology graduates who go on to further study choose from a range of vocational areas including social work, teaching and law conversion courses.

Some students choose to progress to Masters courses, including MAs in criminology or criminal justice, which will enhance subject knowledge, possibly with a view to going on to further academic research. Courses relevant to specific client groups also exist, such as a Masters in alcohol and drug studies.

There are also many postgraduate courses where a degree in any subject is accepted for entry, offering the possibility to change career direction.

Postgraduate Criminology Courses at Lancaster University 

Boost Your Career Prospects – Placement Year, Internships and Employability at Lancaster University

Lancaster University Criminology Undergraduate Degree with a Placement Year

Sourced from Prospects.