Students should have an understanding of core introductory criminological theories and concepts (e.g. Anomie, Control Theory, Strain Theory, Labelling theory, Radical Criminologies, and Governmentality), and experience of applying them critically to make sense of real-world contexts and phenomena (e.g. essays, literature reviews, briefing reports).

This research-led module will introduce students to the sociological and criminological study of cybercrime and cybersecurity. After exploring the internet’s transformation of society and crime, the module will introduce students to different categories of cybercrime (computer targeted crime, computer-enabled crime, and computer content crime). It will then examine online safety and cybersecurity, the transformation of victimization, cybercrime and gender, and policing cybercrime. Each week students will critically consider how useful different criminological theories and research methods are for understanding cybercrime. The module will also introduce the ‘rapid evidence review’ as a form of assessment. In doing so, it introduces students to one way policy comes to be evidence informed, as well as the limits of that approach. It is important to note that this course is not technical in nature and knowledge of computing is not a prerequisite.

LO1: Describe and critically evaluate how the internet has reshaped existing crimes and enabled the emergence of new ones

LO2: Identify and examine different categories and features of 'cyber-enabled' and 'cyber-dependent' crime

LO3: Critically analyse contemporary approaches to internet policing, cybercrime prevention and cybersecurity

LO4: Examine and critically evaluate the usefulness of classical and contemporary criminological theories for explaining cybercrime, internet policing ,and online victimization

LO5: Operationalize the rapid evidence review methodology and apply it to a cybercrime context