I don’t know what to do my criminology dissertation on!
I don’t know what to do my criminology dissertation on.
I need to choose something because I’ve done nothing on it yet, nothing!
But I don’t even know where to begin.
If this is you, don’t worry, because in this blogpost, I’m going to walk you through a super quick process you can use to develop a working title for a criminology dissertation.
Accompanying this blogpost is my Criminology Dissertation: Topic Cheat Sheet.
It’s full of ideas of different things you can use to assemble your dissertation topic as a criminology student. You can get it when you sign up for my email list by clicking on the button below.
In the rest of this blogpost, I’ll be explaining the process of choosing a criminology dissertation topic in a bit more detail, so you can get the most out of the cheat sheet!
I’ll start by introducing you to my PIC formula – people, issue or interest, context. We’ll then walk through each of them and I will give you some ideas of the type of thing you might consider underneath these headings.
The PIC Formula for choosing your criminology dissertation topic
Every decent criminology dissertation needs to have three things in the title: people, an issue or an interest, and a context.
You need a group of people who have at least one thing in common.
You need an issue that these people are experiencing or an interest that they have.
You need a context, a place or space, virtual or real, in which all of this is playing out.
Here are a couple of examples that include all three.
Male student’s experiences of robbery on nights out in Manchester.
(People – male students. Issue or interest – being a victim of robbery. Context – on nights out in Manchester.)
Probation officers’ experiences of work related stress under the Transforming Rehabilitation agenda in England and Wales.
(People – Probation officers, issue – work related stress, context – when the transforming rehabilitation policy was rolled out in England and Wales.)
When your dissertation title has all of these elements – people, issue or interest, context – you will be really clear on what you’re doing Your literature review will be laser focused and your supervisor will never say to you, “That’s way too broad, you need to narrow it down”.
Get your PIC sorted and you’re well on your way to a realistic, achievable, finished dissertation. If you don’t nail these things down, you might be able to make a start on your dissertation, but you won’t get very far with it. You’ll be blundering around saying, “What should I read now?”, “I don’t know where I’m going with this”, “I’m stuck”. It’s all about the PIC. Pick your PIC!
People
Now, let’s look at potential people to focus on in criminology dissertations.
Here we’re thinking about people who are affected by crime or potentially affected by crime. Which is everyone, right? But you need to be super specific, so you need to look at a particular group of people.
That might be victims or perpetrators of a particular type of crime, the families of victims or perpetrators.
It might be people who are at risk of becoming the victims or perpetrators of crime.
It might be people who get involved after a crime has taken place: criminal justice professionals like police officers and lawyers, or juries and judges.
It might be people who work in an organisation around the criminal justice system like local government, a charity or a voluntary sector organisation.
It might be people who are involved in making the law: legislators, members of the government.
It might be people who want to change the law – activists, campaigners, pressure groups.
There are lots of people you can choose from, so have a think about who you would like to focus on.
Issue / Interest
You need to identify an issue that your people are experiencing or an interest that they have. Something they’re struggling with, frustrated by, held back by, something they want or need. This can include a whole array of different things, some of which are related directly to crime, some of which are more tangential.
This might include actual crimes or harms – murder, assault, rape, burglary, theft, fraud, stalking. It might include types of crime – so called ‘honour’ based crime, gun crime, knife crime, cybercrime, gang crime, organised crime, street crime, sex crimes, the domestic context.
This might include specific things related to crime – for example fear of crime, risk of becoming a victim, risk of offending or reoffending, challenges related to being an ex-offender – like getting a job in a given field, or difficulties related to being a survivor.
It might include specific types of intervention like restorative justice.
It might include issues like poverty, inequality, discrimination, prejudice, racism, sexism, homophobia, Islamophobia. In terms of interests – things that people desire, things that people want to do, that might be something like leaving offending behind, desisting from offending, campaigning for change to the law, raising awareness of particular crimes or harms, prison reform, sentencing reform, accountability.
Context
Lastly, we have context. A place or space, virtual or real, in which this is all playing out.
That might be one of the obvious choices like a country, region, town or city or neighbourhood. It might be a social institution like education, political system or economy, or an organisation within a social institution like schools or universities, the criminal justice system or a business.
It might be a type of prison, a type of court, a particular organisation that works with victims, offenders or both.
Context can also refer to a period of time or a phase in someone’s life. After being released from prison. During their school years. Their first prison sentence. When they became parents.
It could refer to the period of time just after a change to the law, the duration of a particular policy initiative.
It might be an online space in which people are sharing their experiences of crime, reporting crime, committing crime. That might be a social media platform, an online forum, a website.
The context might be the media: you might want to explore how crimes, victims and /or perpetrators are portrayed in particular media like news, true crime, film or drama.
Choosing your PIC
There are a multitude of choices for your people, your issue or interest and your context. It’s worth spending some time brainstorming and thinking about them before you make a decision. It’s a good idea to come up with a shortlist of two or three people, two or three issues or interests and two or three contexts and spend some time thinking about which of each you want to move forward with.
As I said at the start, I have this cheat sheet that you can use, and it’s free when you sign up for my weekly emails. Every Wednesday I will send you a quick, relatable, easy-to-implement tip that will help you make progress with your dissertation. If you haven’t downloaded your cheat sheet yet, you can do so by clicking on the button below!
Next steps
If you’re ready to get into your dissertation in a bit more depth, check out my Dissertation Planner Shop for a range of PDF planners, more cheat sheets and worksheets!
