Criminology QLS Level 3 and Criminal Psychology QLS Level 3

Criminology is relevant to a wide range of professions, within the police force, psychology, the criminal justice system, government, security management and social work, to name only a few. This combined course offers you the chance to study the theories of criminology, paired with studies in criminal psychology.

Course Content

Criminal Psychology QLS Level 3

Unit 1 Biological and Evolutionary Explanations of Criminal Behaviour

• Historical explanations
• Genetic explanations
• Biochemical explanations
• Neurological explanations
• Personality theories

Unit 2 Psychological Explanations of Criminal Behaviour

• Social learning theory
• Media and crime
• Psychodynamic theory

Unit 3 Criminological Explanations of Criminal Behaviour

• Vulnerabilities towards crime
• Sub-cultural theories
• Strain theory
• Status Frustration
• Differential Association
• Environmental Theory
• Social Bond Theory
• Risk Factors
• Relative Deprivation

Unit 4 Abnormal Behaviour and Psychopathy

• Diagnosing abnormal behaviour
• Cognitive approaches
• Beck's Negative Triad
• Psychopathy and Antisocial Personality Disorder
• Behavioural Theory
• Cognitive Theory
• Life Events
• Dissociative Identity Disorder

Unit 5 Research and The Criminal Justice System (CJS)

• Eyewitness testimony
• Leading question
• Anxiety and weapon effect
• Cognitive interview
• Detecting deception
• Juries and sentencing

Unit 6 Children Who Kill

• Mary Bell
• Thompson and Venables
• Kip Kinkel

Unit 1 Definitions and Measurement

• The complex and diverse nature of defining crime
• How crime is measured
• Police recording of crime and the Crime Survey of England and Wales

Unit 2 Criminological Explanations of Crime

• Key criminological theories
• Assess dominant views of crime
• Theories with statistical data

Unit 3 Marxist vs Realist Views on Crime

• Traditional and Neo Marxist views on crime
• Right realist views
• Fully social theory with statistical data

Unit 4 Discourses of Violent Crime

• What constitutes violent crime
• Different constructions of violent crime
• Key theories of violent criminality
• Critique dominant discourses

Unit 5 Role of The Police

• The main functions of the police service
• How policing has changed over the last 100 years
• The role of policing
• Assess the future direction of the police service

Unit 6 Crime and Punishment

• Different theories of punishment;
• The merits of different views on punishment;
• The dominant use of prison as a form of punishment in the UK
• Using statistical evidence that capital punishment acts as a deterrent