The Bachelor of Criminal Justice and Criminology is the only degree of its kind in Victoria. It examines both the causes of crime (criminology) and its fallout (criminal justice).

In this course, you’ll study local and global criminality, traditional approaches and responses to crime along with emerging trends and practices in the field.

You’ll also learn about the international dimensions of criminal justice as well as the technological advances impacting the sector, including predicting the commission of crime, detecting and stopping criminal behaviour and implementing effective criminal sanctions. You’ll also get professional learning experience as you complete a Capstone Project in your final year.

This degree gives you the knowledge and skills to work in a range of sectors and industries; including policing, corrections, courts, offender rehabilitation, victim support and government policy development.

Course description

This course is delivered through Swinburne Online. Swinburne Online delivers Swinburne University of Technology programs designed to meet the needs of those who are unable to undertake on-campus study. These programs have been specifically designed for online delivery and support.

 

The criminal justice industry is becoming increasingly complex. The knowledge and skill base required to effectively and efficiently discharge the large number of activities in this area, including policing and corrections, has increased considerably in recent years as a result of the growing sophistication of crime and developments in evidence-based solutions to criminality. The Victorian government has committed billions of dollars in the next few years to the creation of new employment opportunities in this industry.

The proposed program encompasses both criminology and criminal justice. The criminology aspects of the course focuses mainly on the causes of crime and attempts to consider solutions that can reduce criminal behaviour. It provides a pathway for people who want to develop and monitor rehabilitation programs and also more broadly to work in the area of community safety (trying to anticipate where crime might occur).

Criminal justice deals mainly with the fallout of crime and activities that directly try to prevent crime in a manner that does not involve attempting to understand and change the mindset of offenders and potential offenders. Thus, the criminal justice aspects provides a pathway to jobs in policing, prosecution, the courts and prisons.

Ideally, most government funding should be directed to the front end of criminal behaviour (i.e. the causes of crime – criminology), but it is not. Most funding is directed at the back-end, i.e. dealing with the fall out of crime (i.e. criminal justice). Hence, the reason that the proposed course encompasses both criminology and criminal justice program.