Welcome to Criminology at Reigate College.
My name is Daniel Sharp and I’m the Head of Department for the Eduqas Level 3 Award in Criminology. We’re very much looking forward to welcoming you to the department in person at the start of the academic year. In the meantime, we’d like you to do some research into the subject by completing a series of tasks and activities.
Criminology will be a new subject for most of you, so it’s important you know what to expect when you start. We’ve put together some tasks and activities for you to carry out on your own, and then when we meet together in September, we can share what you’ve discovered.
The tasks are organised in three distinct steps and should all be completed by Choices Day on 27 August 2025. This is to give you the best insight into what the courses will be like and/or help prepare you for them.
Please note, some Course Leaders (for example for Music) may release their tasks earlier, as they may form part of the College’s audition process. If this applies to you, you’ll be notified separately.
New Starters Course Tasks and Activities
| Release date | Suggested Completion Dates | |
| Explore your Subject | 1 June | 1 July |
| Get Going | 1 June | 1 August |
| Aim High | 1 June | 1 September |
Criminological Theories
One of the units we study in Criminology is ‘Criminological Theories.’ A key theme of this is understanding the difference between crime and deviance.
Task 1: Research the definition for crime and deviance and consider the different factors that might influence whether a behaviour is criminal or deviant.
Write a paragraph explaining the difference between crime and deviance and provide examples of behaviours.
Task 2: One real life case study we examine as part of the course is the Jeremy Bamber case. Using the skills you’ve just practised, navigate your way round the following site and come to a judgement. Should Jeremy have been convicted or acquitted of this crime? Explain your reasoning.
https://www.jeremy-bamber.co.uk/
Statistics, statistics, statistics
Task 3: Criminology requires good research skills. This often involves using statistics to illustrate the changing trends in criminality and the effectiveness of prison as punishment in the UK. Use this fact file to research last year’s UK statistics.
Now use the fact file to answer the following questions (using specific stats to back up your answers):
- Is there anything you find surprising?
- Do you think prison is an effective form of punishment based on these statistics?
- Are there gender differences in criminality?
- Do prisons provide enough support for offenders?
- Do you think prisoners should have the right to be provided with support?
Personality types
Task 4: Criminologists are interested in trying to explain why certain individuals commit crime. One psychological theory is based on Eysenck’s research into personality. Have a go at completing the online questionnaire. At the end this will give you a percentage for each personality type. http://similarminds.com/eysenck.html
Remember there are lots of limitations of carrying out online questionnaires such as this so don’t take the results too literally!
Task 5: Once you have completed this, do some research and find out what combination of personality types are suggested to be linked to criminal behaviour. Make notes on your findings.
These tasks will have introduced you to some of the key areas in the study of Criminology.
Real life case studies
Throughout the four units of the Criminology course, you’ll become familiar with a number of real case studies that illustrate both a range of different criminal behaviours and also how the criminal justice system works.
Before you continue to Task 1, please be aware that it contains some sensitive issues. If you are concerned or affected by any of the content below, please ensure that you talk to either a member of staff at your current school or a member of your family. If you would prefer to skip straight to Task 2 then please do. All the cases below form part of the content of the Criminology course.
Task 1: Below is a gallery of victims and offenders.
Please create a fact file for each of the above examples. You should include the following information:
- The crime – did the person in the photo commit the crime or were they the victim?
- Details of the crime committed – what type of crime was committed (e.g. tax fraud, murder etc).
- Details of the outcome – what happened as a result of the crime? Was there a sentence?
- Information about the perpetrator’s background which might explain their criminal behaviour – had they experienced a head injury, mental illness, childhood abuse?
Make sure you keep hold of the fact files you create as they’ll come in useful in the first year of the course.
What Statistics can tell us – understanding crime in the local area
In Unit 1 of the course, we look at methods of collecting statistics about crime.
TASK 2: Use the link below to look at crimes in your local area by typing in your postcode.
https://www.police.uk/pu/your-area
Now answer the following questions:
- What is the most reported type of crime in your area?
- Click on the ‘crime map’ tab. Where seems to be the ‘hotspot’ for criminal activity? Can you suggest why this might be the case?
- Click on the ‘statistics’ tab. What’s the general trend from looking at the graph over the last year? Has crime increased or decreased over the year?
- Can you suggest resources that should be implemented in the area to combat these crimes?
- Do your own research and find out how crime levels changed during the COVID-19 pandemic. Write a paragraph summarising these changes. Can you suggest why this might be the case? Are there differences depending on what the crime is? Include references underneath your paragraph (i.e. where did you get your information and statistics from?)
Looking for the reasons behind the crime
In Unit 2 of the Criminology course, you’ll be asked to ‘analyse’ scenarios / real life cases and suggest reasons for criminality. In other words, you need to be able to examine the facts methodically and in detail in order to try to explain and interpret individual cases.
TASK 3: Read the following scenario about Paul:
Paul, aged 25, has been unemployed since leaving school at 16. His father and two older brothers have all been to prison, but so far Paul has not been convicted of any crime. His girlfriend is moaning about not having a nice house and holidays like her friends. Paul is very prone to depression as a result of his car accident two years ago, when he received head injuries. Last week, in an attempt to put some excitement into his dull life, Paul took part in an armed robbery of a local post office. However, he was subsequently arrested and is now on remand in prison.
Write down three possible causes that you think could have been behind Paul’s offending.
When you start the Criminology course in September, the first unit you’ll study will be ‘Changing awareness of crime’. This unit covers a variety of different types of crime, the reasons why crime might be underreported, plus a range of campaigns that have led to change. You will be required to plan your own campaign for change as part of the assessment.
Hate Crime
Hate crime is one of the types of crime you’ll be required to analyse*, so we’d like you to have a go at the following task in preparation for the course.
*By analyse, we mean to ‘examine something methodically and in detail, typically to explain and interpret it.’
TASK 1: Using the sources below (and any others you feel are appropriate) answer the questions that follow. There is a lot of extended writing as part of the diploma, so please answer the questions in full sentences providing detailed answers:
https://www.victimsupport.org.uk/crime-info/types-crime/hate-crime
https://www.stonewall.org.uk/lgbt-britain-hate-crime-and-discrimination
- What is hate crime?
- Who are the potential victims?
- Find two examples of victims of genuine hate crimes and write a summary of each case.
- Find two examples of support groups who help victims of hate crime and outline their aims and objectives.
TASK 2: Watch the following documentary on YouTube (BBC3, The Ugly Face of Disability):
While you’re watching, consider why this is a hate crime. Consider how this will affect the individual’s everyday life. What type of punishment do you think would be appropriate for this type of crime?
Campaigning for Change
Campaigns for change relate to a set of planned activities that people carry out over a period of time in order to achieve something such as social or legal change.
TASK 3: Imagine you are running a campaign for change based on healthy eating within schools. Plan your campaign under the following headings.
- Aim (what do you hope to achieve by campaigning?):
- Justification (why it is important that you run this campaign; can you find some statistics that support the reason for your campaign i.e. obesity in children etc.):
- Methods and Materials (what methods are going to use to promote your campaign i.e. social media, merchandise, radio, adverts, leaflets, events and why do you think these will be effective methods):
- Design (use the following template – or something similar – to design a poster for your campaign. Consider logos, colour themes, text and images): https://www.postermywall.com/index.php/g/event-flyers/all/image/#
Extra Resources
TV Programmes:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0004p7f/episodes/player
https://www.channel4.com/programmes/catching-a-killer
Books:
Wilson J Q and Herrnstein R J Crime & Human Nature: The Definitive Study of the Causes of Crime (Free Press, 1998) ISBN 9780684852669
Muncie J and McLaughlin E (editors) The Problem of Crime (Sage Publications Ltd, 2001) ISBN 9780761969716
Becker H S Outsiders: Studies in Sociology of Deviance (Simon & Schuster Ltd, 1997) ISBN 9780684836355
Swale J (2007) Sociology of Crime & Deviance (Philip Allan Updates) ISBN 9781844896332
Websites:
Criminological Theory (Florida State University)
I hope you’ve enjoyed this introduction to some of the topics we’ll be exploring in Criminology and I look forward to seeing the work you’ve produced when we start the course.
Head of Criminology
