7 Best Online Criminology Courses to Improve Your Career

Criminology is an interdisciplinary field that studies crimes and criminal behaviour. You study the reasons why a crime occurs, what events lead to the same, and what preventive measures people can take to mitigate those crimes.

Every developed country relies on the expertise of criminologists to combat their rising crime rates. Even though it’s a relatively new field in India, it is among the most significant fields due to its applicability. 

If you’re interested in a career where you study criminals, conduct research and analyses, and figure out how you can prevent their crimes, then you should pursue a career in criminology.

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This article will discuss the best criminology courses in India to help you identify the right choice for you!

Top Online Criminology Courses in India

At upGrad, we offer several criminology courses in partnership with the University of Essex. The University of Essex is a UK-based university and has a stark reputation for providing quality education. 

All of the courses we have discussed below are online. This means you can study from anywhere at any time according to your leisure. With these online courses, you don’t have to go anywhere to study your subjects. Online learning also ensures that your professional life doesn’t face any interruptions.

The courses allow you to study from leading industry experts through videos and lectures. You’ll study all the fundamental and advanced concepts of this vast subject. The teaching approach helps you learn in a structured manner. These courses provide you access to upGrad’s exclusive student success corner which helps you prepare for interviews and get placement support to bag lucrative roles in your chosen field. 

Now that you know the advantages of our criminology courses, let’s discuss them in detail.

Specialized Criminology Courses

If you want to specialize in criminology and learn all the ins and outs of this field, then you should take the following courses. They cover all the fundamental and complex topics of this field, allowing you to become a skilled criminologist. 

1. PG Certificate Criminology and Criminal Psychology

This course lasts for eight months and lets you learn from the University of Essex’s Centre for Criminology. You’ll learn how to hypothesize and solve criminology problems. 

You get to study the various challenges you might face during your studies and how to apply theoretical concepts to real-life situations and solve such problems. It is among the best criminology courses for studying the fundamentals of this subject. 

2. PG Diploma Criminology and Criminal Psychology

This 16-month course gives you a detailed look at criminology’s various concepts. The modules for this course are designed by a former Detective Chief Superintendent from the Homicide and Major Enquiries Team in one of the UK’s top police forces.

It will help you understand the psychology of criminals and try to predict their behaviours to aid investigations. This course teaches you how to examine different perspectives on gender, class, race, and sex within the criminal justice system. You’d get to study the different kinds of offences so you can understand their unique characteristics and how to differentiate them. 

This course gives you a more detailed studying experience and helps you understand plenty of criminology and criminal psychology concepts. 

3. MSc Criminology and Criminal Psychology

This 2-year course is specifically beneficial for students who want to pursue senior careers in criminology. You’d get to study the basic and advanced concepts of criminal psychology and criminology while understanding how to lead tough investigations, make rational decisions, and reasoned arguments. 

The course will make you acquainted with the various criminal justice departments including justice, prison, and police. Apart from teaching you about the justice department, this course helps you understand the applications of psychology in criminology and how you can deal with the existing and arising challenges of this field. 

Like the previous two courses, this one lets you study from the University of Essex’s Centre for Criminology through leading experts in criminology. 

Also Read: Psychology vs Psychiatry 

Criminology Courses in Law

As we have discussed earlier, criminology has multiple branches. The following courses focus on the legal branch of criminology.

The following are perfect courses for students who want to pursue a career in criminal law: 

4. Certificate of Higher Education Law with Criminology

This 16-month course teaches you the fundamental concepts of criminology and law. You’d study the psychological, criminological, sociological, and biological explanations of crime while developing a legal perspective on the same. 

This is equivalent to the first level of undergraduate study and it’s certainly one of the best criminology courses for those interested in pursuing a legal career. After completing this course, you can pursue many careers in criminal law including paralegal, assistant, etc. 

5. LLB (Hons) Law with Criminology

This course helps you study law with criminology, giving you a combined perspective into the various aspects of criminal law. It’s a four-year program and it teaches you all the concepts of law and criminology. 

By the end of this course, you’d be a lawyer specialized in criminology. 

This specialization allows you to pursue senior roles in criminal law. You can become a public prosecutor or start pursuing a career in defence law after completing this course. 

Criminology complements the legal topics and is a useful specialization for those interested in entering the field of criminal justice and crime. You can also pursue careers in journalism, politics, a criminal investigation, and business after this course. 

Criminology Courses in Psychology

Are you interested in understanding how a criminal’s mind works in detail? If so, then the following criminology courses in psychology would be suitable for you. These courses cover the psychological branch of criminology helping you understand why a criminal commits crimes. 

6. Certificate of Higher Education Criminal Psychology

If you want to get familiar with the fundamentals of criminal psychology and what goes on within a criminal’s mind, you should get our Certificate of Higher Education Criminal Psychology. 

This course will cover the core principles of criminology and psychological theories while uncovering the relationship between the two. You’d get to study the history, progress, and limitations of criminal psychology. 

You can modify your learning experience by choosing from multiple optional modules according to your interests and aspirations. This course lasts only for 16 months and is certainly one of the top online criminology courses in India. 

7. BSc (Hons) Criminal Psychology

This course will throw light on the psychological aspect of criminology. You’ll study what prompts a person to commit certain crimes and what goes on in a criminal’s mind. This course will teach you about various psychological and criminological topics including offender rehabilitation, risk management, and offender profiling. 

You’d study the importance of evidence-based practise and how to integrate psychological theory with criminological subjects to understand and prevent offending behaviour.

This program lasts for four years and makes you familiar with the advanced concepts of psychological criminology. After completing this course, you can pursue a career in forensic psychology, criminal psychology, and plenty of relevant fields. 

Conclusion

Picking the right course can be quite challenging. Before you select a course, we recommend going through a set of questions to get an idea of what you want from your career:

• What kind of job do I want?
• How much does money matter for my career?
• Where do I see myself 10 years in the future?

By answering such questions, you can easily figure out your professional aspirations and interests. You should choose a career that matches your professional aspirations as progressing in that field would be much easier for you. 

If you have any questions or thoughts about the top online criminology courses we discussed in this article, please share them in the comment section below. 

The best pathway to establishing a solid foundation in Psychology is to take up courses or programs in this domain. While you can opt for traditional undergraduate courses, you can also opt for diploma or certification programs in Psychology. For instance, upGrad has partnered with the University of Essex Online to deliver a host of excellent choices in Psychology.

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