Psychology with Forensic Psychology

Bangor University

Alongside general psychology modules, you’ll specialise in understanding the psychological factors behind why people may commit criminal or deviant behaviour. You’ll use critical skills and evidence, based on research, to explore how forensic psychologists may contribute to debates on policing, crime, the criminal justice system, and rehabilitation. As well as understanding some of the reasons why people may commit offending behaviours, you will also explore the ways in which forensic psychologists can work to treat and rehabilitate offenders.On this course, as well as gaining a thorough understanding of the broad range of topics relevant to modern-day psychology, you’ll learn in-depth about why people engage in behaviour that is harmful to others and what makes a psychopath. In addition, you’ll explore what happens to victims of crime or deviant behaviour and how we, as psychologists, can support them. You’ll also gain a real understanding of offenders and learn about developing interventions for people convicted of crime and how these people might be rehabilitated and supported. You’ll be introduced to how forensic psychologists use evidence from research to inform policies on crime, policing, criminal justice, and rehabilitation. Some examples of the factors influencing criminal behaviour that you may explore include substance abuse issues and mental health disorders, as well as exploring the incidence of offending behaviours in different populations, e.g. children and youth. As well as being taught by staff from psychology you’ll also be taught by staff from areas such as social sciences and education with expertise in the criminal justice system, policing, and serial killers alongside students on courses such as Criminology and Criminal Justice and Childhood and Youth Studies.Psychology at Bangor University was founded in 1963 and is one of the UK's oldest and largest psychology departments. We regularly rank among the top 10 in the National Student Survey for overall student satisfaction and with over 1,000 students we're also one of the largest departments in the UK. Not only are we highly ranked for our teaching but we also have a global reputation for the quality of our research. In the most recent Research Exercise Framework, we ranked in the top 20 in the UK with 85% of our research considered either 'Internationally Excellent' or 'World leading'. This research feeds directly into our teaching ensuring a fresh, vibrant learning experience and a large and varied range of modules studied with academics who have an international reputation in their specialist area.Placement Year and International Experience Year AvailableCareersBSc Psychology with Forensic Psychology focuses on forensic psychology and other related areas (e.g. criminology) so is particularly relevant if you want to forge a career in that area or related professions such as the prison service, probation service or the Police. It is also suitable for students who want to follow any of the main psychological professions (clinical psychology, educational psychology, counselling psychology, health psychology etc). In addition, there are careers open to graduates and postgraduates from any discipline. These include, for example, careers in management training, accountancy, teaching, nursing, social work and the armed forces. Employers are usually looking for general or transferable skills, and a psychology degree provides a unique combination of these as it is both a literate and numerate discipline. Employability is a key theme of all the psychology programmes you can follow at Bangor and we have embedded a large number of opportunities within our degrees that provide you with as strong a CV as possible and equip you with a host of transferable skills that are relevant to both psychology and non-psychology related careers.