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Study masters degree online with Macquarie University through Open Universities Australia. Explore all degrees, subjects and short courses now.

The Master of Criminology (OUA) at Macquarie University is a future-focused, interdisciplinary programme designed to meet the growing demand for ethical, evidence-based, and innovative responses to crime and justice. Positioned at the intersection of theory, practice, and policy, the programme empowers students and professionals to lead transformative change in an increasingly complex criminological landscape. The programme combines experiential learning, applied research, and professional skill development to equip students for leadership in practice, innovation and reform. Students and professionals engage with contemporary challenges through policy design, ethical leadership training, and diverse case studies that reflect real-world justice challenges.The Master of Criminology (OUA) explores the causes, consequences, and prevention of crime through a curriculum grounded in solutions building and justice innovation. Key areas include criminological theory, justice reform, and policy development, alongside the examination of contemporary challenges facing criminal justice systems, such as technological innovations and questions of social justice. Whether advancing in current roles or pursuing new opportunities, graduates will be equipped with the skills and knowledge to design and implement ethical, evidence-based solutions that lead transformative change across diverse justice contexts.

Build advanced criminology expertise. You’ll delve into practical, ethical solutions to current justice challenges. Explore policy, technology, and global crime trends. Hone professional skills to analyse and transform modern justice systems.

Master of Criminology

The analytical toolkit and professional know-how developed through Macquarie University’s Master of Intelligence can help you and your team navigate the uncertainty of today’s increasingly complex security challenges, from great power competition to transnational crime, climate change and beyond. In studying this course you will gain in-depth knowledge about the theory and practice of intelligence studies; the evolution of the intelligence enterprise in Australia and around the world; and the emerging domestic, regional and international challenges for intelligence. It will also equip you with a practical skill set to analyse intelligence challenges, based on real world examples. The core units focus on synthesising the latest developments in intelligence theory and practice in order to help build your profile as an intelligence professional. Elective choice allows you to also focus on other aspects of security, including counter terrorism, security and strategic studies, cyber security and criminology.

Dive deep into real world global intelligence issues. Secure practical skills analysing intelligence challenges. Think critically and make ethical judgements.

Master of Intelligence

Criminology at Macquarie University embraces a philosophy that revolves around fostering a critical understanding of crime and challenging commonly held assumptions regarding the causes, consequences, and approaches to crime control. Our programme offers a distinct interdisciplinary curriculum to provide an enriched perspective on the systems of power and inequality that shape the landscape of our criminal justice system. Throughout their studies, students will develop theoretical and methodological skills that empower them to critically evaluate and analyse systemic harm, inequality and injustice. Moreover, through collaboration with professional and governmental organisations, they will explore profound questions such as the nature of crime, the targets of criminal justice intervention, the perpetuation of injustice and inequality and the complex dynamics that increasingly exist between environmental security, justice and crime. This education will empower students to think innovatively and ethically when addressing the persistent challenges of crime, deviance and harm, with a critical focus on power and environmental security, whether they choose to pursue further education, engage in research, or enter the workforce.

Engage with advanced criminology theory, applied criminological research and criminal justice policy analysis. Apply your theory to a range of crimes. Get an understanding of motivations, reactions, and how we can work to alleviate crime.

Crime and Mental Health

Understanding Victims and Offenders

Fraud and Cybercrime

Crime and Criminal Justice

Gender, Crime and Justice

The Criminal Justice System

Psychological Contributions to Understanding Crime

Big Issues: Policy and Social Change

Mental Disorder and Crime

Crime, Society and Justice

In a rapidly changing world shaped by social change and, increasingly, crisis, criminological analysis is of increased importance, providing a critical, applied and ethical response to an ever wider and complex set of social, economic and political challenges. Utilising a wealth knowledge, theories and approaches, this unit undertakes a problem-based approach whereby students apply their skills to tackle an open-ended problem that mirrors real-world challenges. In thinking about how criminological research has explored and interrogated recent ruptures and their impact on the world at large and on disadvantaged and marginalised constituencies, this unit intentionally and purposefully looks outward rather than inward, towards the new frontiers of criminological concern. Focusing on contemporary social change, potential topics include concerns connected to security, the environment, migration and refugees, the economy, disasters, prison industrialisation as well as rapidly increasing inequality and injustice for marginalised communities. Such problems rarely exist in isolation, rather multiple and overlapping impacts that frame ethical questions of justice, inclusion and recognition. In completing this unit, students will be able to demonstrate their wealth of knowledge, applying their skills beyond the classroom, preparing them for the workplace.

Criminological Futures

In the 21st century, environmental harm is an ever-present reality of our globalised world, with criminologists increasingly asking questions relating to how different political, social and criminal justice systems respond – or fail to respond – to the harm imposed on ecosystems and their human and non-human components. Such work has crystallised into the rapidly evolving field of green criminology. However, much of what we may think of as green crime is not in fact defined as &#39;criminal&#39; by criminal justice agencies. In response, as leading criminologist Nigel South (2010: 242) states, the study of crime, justice and the environment requires not just &quot;a new academic way of looking at the world but also a new global politics”. Drawing on a harm perspective, students will examine questions concerning rights, justice, moral and the nature of victimisation. Central topics include social justice, ecological consciousness, the destructive nature of global capitalism, the role of the nation state (and regional and global regulatory bodies) as well as inequality and discrimination as these relate to class, gender, race, Indigeneity and nonhuman animals. These debates enable students to think beyond a narrow focus on street-level and interpersonal crimes, turning their critical attention to the destructive and harmful effects of human activities on local and global ecosystems.

Crime, Justice and the Environment

The spread of transnational crime is one of the most significant challenges facing governments around the world today. For all its benefits, globalisation has opened new avenues for criminal enterprise to expand across traditional domestic borders, creating new challenges for global security, risk governance and crime control. Traditionally crime has tended to be - and largely still is - viewed as a security concern within nation states. By contrast, this unit examines how crime has evolved through the globalising process, creating global and regional instability. Moreover, many state responses to crime, such as illicit drugs, wholly fail to address to systemic, global networks that underpin the trade. Across this unit, students will evaluate a variety of transnational criminal issues, from drug trafficking to people smuggling, money laundering to counterfeiting, and will examine the regional implications of for national and transnational security. In many instances, as students will discover, underpinning civil conflict and terrorist organisations are crime networks. Engaging with these debates will enable students to think beyond traditional, state-based crime, and better understand the global challenges and preventative strategies required to combat transnational crime.

Transnational Crime

Why are we so fascinated by crime and deviance? What role does the media play in engaging people&#39;s fascination? To what extent can – and does – the media tap into and increase people&#39;s fears about crime? How does the media create subtle biases that inform our perceptions of crime? In addressing such questions, this unit brings together analysis from criminology, sociology, media studies and cultural studies to provide a critical understanding of the relationships that underpin our understanding of crime as a mediated phenomenon. Throughout the course, students will be introduced to the theoretical frameworks that help us understand media influence, examining, amongst other topics, the media&#39;s contrasting approach to children as victims and perpetrators of crime, the often misogynist portrayals of women who offend, the impact of social and mobile media in accelerating sensationalism of news reporting, the changing nature and impact of public surveillance culture as well as the news values that determine which crime events are considered worthy of media attention. Concerned with the ways in which crime is represented and &#39;manufactured&#39; through the media, students will be able to critically evaluate the production, representation and consumption of crime in the media, analysing how these processes, in turn, shape our perceptions of crime, risk and security.

Media, Representation and Crime

When we think of crime, we often have a tacit, common sense understanding of what it is, who it targets and the practices it seeks to prevent. However, when we look at crime more closely it often eludes us. Crime is flexible and fluid, it changes upon variations of time and space as well as social context of power. As a discipline, criminology continually questions how and why societies define and respond to crime and approaches to punishment, examining in the process the ongoing legacy of colonisation and other forms of exclusion and marginalisation throughout society. This unit introduces the study of criminology, including a broad overview of key developments, theories and practical implications. The intention is to situate criminology, and its various strands, within its particular social, political and intellectual contexts and to outline some of the key approaches associated with the field. The unit does not arrive at a simple understanding of crime. Rather it seeks to locate and understand the reasons for crime within wider power relationships. This is to recognise that the study of crime is the study of power, injustice as well as social, cultural and economic marginalisation.

Introduction to Criminology

Computer systems and networks, and the applications that they support, are essential to information flows, economic transactions and critical infrastructure in the twenty-first century. While early computer hackers were more interested in exploration, modern cybercrime is increasingly driven by activist or malicious sentiment (hacktivism), espionage and/or the desire for profit. This unit will present an overview of cyber security in practice with reference to both public and private sector organisations. The unit will look at the motives and perpetrators of cybercrime. It will explore how individuals and organisations face specific threats from their use of technology and identifies challenges in maintaining cyber and information security. It further examines the protective security measures required to protect physical and digital access to information through people, infrastructure and computer systems.

Cybercrime

The subject was formerly known as PICX889 Applied Criminology Practice and PolicyThis unit analyses the effectiveness of contemporary criminal justice practice. Students will critically evaluate crime reduction and prevention strategies employed in Australia and internationally as well as formulate practical and effective solutions to contemporary crime problems. Students will be able to critically understand the structure and functioning of the criminal justice system, evaluate criminal justice policies and practice, develop crime prevention and reduction strategies, as well as evaluate the efficacy and possibilities of a range of approaches to both crime prevention and incarceration. The unit examines the historical development of crime policy, key concepts such as the ‘policy cycle’, the barriers in changing criminal justice, why some approaches are successful and others are not, as well as the role the design and implementation of criminal justice practice and policy. Doing so, students will be able to develop a criminological understanding of the operation of various facets of the criminal justice system, particularly police, courts and corrective services and their limitations.

Drawing on your knowledge of Australian and international criminal justice practices and policies, formulate solutions to real-world crime problems. With a focus on police, courts and corrective services, evaluate current crime reduction strategies.

Crime Prevention in Practice

This subject was previously known as MAQ-PICX888 Advanced Criminology Theory.What is criminological theory and how can it help better understand and respond to ongoing social challenges? Delving into the intricate landscape of criminological theories, the unit addressing this foundational question by offing an advanced understanding of the historical and contemporary frameworks shaping the discipline. The course navigates through key theories, examining their historical evolution and contemporary applications. Starting with early positivistic approaches, through to more critical perspectives that focus on issues relating gender, race, sexuality and Indigeneity, students will be able to critically analyse the theoretical underpinnings of crime and deviance as well as explore the diverse perspectives from classical to critical criminology. Emphasis is be placed on synthesizing and applying theories to ‘real-world’ contexts, fostering an applied and nuanced comprehension of criminal behaviour and justice systems.

Understand how crime intersects with social, political, cultural and economic elements of life. Learn and evaluate advanced contemporary criminology theory. Cover left and right realism, cultural criminology, opportunity and deterrence theories.

Advanced Criminology Theory

The subject was formerly known as PICX862 The Crimes of the PowerfulThis subject examines crimes committed by powerful individuals and institutions: white collar crimes, corporate crimes and state crimes. From the Nazi death camps of WWII, to the Bhopal and BHP Gulf oil spill environmental disasters of more recent decades, the most harmful crimes are not those committed by offenders on the &#39;street&#39;, but rather by individuals and organisations occupying the most influential and privileged positions in our societies. This unit reorients the criminological gaze upwards, away from traditional street offenders and towards the most powerful criminals who occupy corporate boardrooms, parliaments and military organisations. Students will explore contemporary examples of each of these types of offence, examine the characteristics of powerful offenders, and address why crimes of this magnitude often go unaddressed by both contemporary criminologists and our systems of criminal justice.

Gaze back at some of the most powerful and criminal individuals and institutions. Categorise types of crime, such as white collar and state crime. Study notorious offenders and criminal acts, including the BHP oil spill and Nazi death camps.

The Crimes of the Powerful

This subject was previously known as GENX310 Gender, Crime and Violence.
A growing body of research from criminology, psychology, sociology, media studies and gender studies focuses on gender in relation to crime. How are the social constructions of masculinity and femininity, within and across cultures, implicated in the conduct and character of crime? The unit explores this central question across a range of topics such as domestic violence and terrorism. We also consider intersecting identities, including race and ethnicity, class, sexuality, and religion, in the construction of both perpetrators and victims of crime. The unit&#39;s focus on conflicts and displacements allows it to move from the personal to the transnational, from the intimate sphere to global geopolitics.

Study gender in relation to crime. Look at masculinity and femininity – alongside race, ethnicity, class and religion – and the parts they play. Learn about feminist approaches to criminology and gendered accounts of crime.

Gender, Crime and Violence

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