Study Criminology Online with this specialist certificate
For a career working in criminology, supporting law enforcement or security, the Certificate in Crime Studies covers topics for a understanding the who, what, why and how of solving a crime.
This online course looks at:
- criminal profiling
- forensics
- criminal psychology
- legal terminology
You can then choose two electives to suit you and your needs. For example -
- Journalists and writers may choose to specialise in writing courses to enhance their crime writing skills
- People workin with people with mental health difficulties in the
criminal justice system may also study two mental health electives
The course is suitable for anyone who would like to work in the
criminal justice system, or would like to advance their existing career.
The course is therefore suitable for -
- youth workers
- social workers
- law enforcement
- police
- security officers
- writers
- journalists
- counsellors
Modules
Note that each module in the Certificate in Criminal Studies is a short course in its own right, and may be studied separately.
Sample Course Notes From Our Criminal Profiling Course
Who Commits Crimes?
Research has found that the following factors can influence who commits a crime.
Gender
In the Western world, 90% of murders are committed by males. Males are also the victims in 75% of murders.
In terms of police prosecutions, about three quarters of
proceedings annually are against males. The most common offence for both
males and females is acts intended to cause injury which accounts for
about a quarter of both the male offender group and female offender
group.
We will consider more on gender shortly.
Age
Age also affects murder rates, there is an increase in murders
between the ages of 17 and 30. People are less likely to commit murder
as they age, but murders committed by children and adolescents are also
rare. However, if we look at research across different countries and
cultures, the patterns do not always appear similar. For example, in
Korea, according to the Asian Correspondent newspaper, 37.4% of
murderers are men, which is obviously less than in America. But all the
criminals had committed their crimes in their 30s.
With regards to crimes, the peak age for committing crimes is
the teenage years. In many societies, rate of offending rises sharply
from late childhood peaking at around 18 years, slowly declining to age
40 years, and then tailing off quickly into late adulthood. However, the
proportion of young offenders is significantly less than adult
offenders. Also, while adolescents are more likely to commit crimes
against the person, the seriousness of their offences is less than for
adults.
Relationships
We often watch movies and TV programmes where we think it is
going to be the spouse who did the murder. But the Crime Prevention
Research Centre in America found that –
- 9.4% of murders were committed by a husband, wife,
common-law husband or wife, father, mother, son, daughter, brother,
sister-in-law, stepfather, stepmother, stepson, or stepdaughter.
- 1.8% were other family members.
- 4.2% were boyfriends, girlfriends, ex-husbands, or ex-wives.
- 14% were acquaintances. This is a broad category can include taxi drivers to prostitutes and their customers.
- 3.1% were a friend.
- 5.4% were other known.
- 11% a stranger.
- 39% was an unknown relationship. For example, they
participated in a gang fight but there was no apparent direct
relationship between the victim and murderer.
- 1% a neighbour.
But even looking at these statistics, it is not so clear cut.
With family murders, the murderers tended to also have a criminal record
for other crimes, so it is not just a simple someone in the family murdered the person.
Any Questions?
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